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ETV Features American Experience: We Shall Remain

For Immediate Release
March 25, 2009

They were charismatic and forward thinking, imaginative and courageous, compassionate and resolute, and, at times, arrogant, vengeful, and reckless. For hundreds of years, Native American leaders from Massasoit, Tecumseh, and Lalawithika, to Major Ridge, Geronimo, and Fools Crow valiantly resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture. Sometimes, their strategies were militaristic, but more often they were diplomatic, spiritual, legal, and political.

From PBS’s acclaimed history series, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, in association with Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT), comes WE SHALL REMAIN, a groundbreaking mini-series and provocative multi-media project that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. Five 90-minute documentaries spanning three hundred years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective. ETV will broadcast the series with its premiere on Monday, April 13 at 9 p.m.

Beginning in the 1600s with the Wampanoags, who used their alliance with the English to strengthen their position in Southern New England, and ending with the bold new leaders of the 1970s, who harnessed the momentum of the Civil Rights Movement to forge a pan-Indian identity, WE SHALL REMAIN upends two-dimensional stereotypes of American Indians as simply ferocious warriors or peaceable lovers of the land.

Chris Eyre, director of the first three episodes of WE SHALL REMAIN, has been involved with the series from its onset. “You can’t understand America in the 21st century if you don’t understand the Native experience,” he says. “What connects these five films is the resolve of their characters. This country is founded on people striving, being tenacious and moving forward… this is a look at that, through Native eyes.”

The five-part documentary series is the product of a tremendous collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers, advisors, historians, and community leaders, placing Indian voices at the heart of the series.

“The tale of European settlement of North America has been told countless times, but not from the perspective of the land’s original inhabitants,” explains executive producer Sharon Grimberg.

“WE SHALL REMAIN tells the story, not from the point of view of the white people looking West, but of Native people looking East.”

“AMERICAN EXPERIENCE has a track record of taking on difficult and contested history,” says series executive producer Mark Samels. “In the case of WE SHALL REMAIN, it’s a history that has also been marginalized, distorted, and often forgotten. In bringing these little-known stories to the forefront, we want to break through the stereotypes that have defined Native Americans for centuries.”

The five episodes can be seen at 9 p.m. on the following dates:

• April 13
  After the Mayflower begins in New England in 1620, at the time of the so-called “first Thanksgiving.” In March of 1621, Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag, negotiated a diplomatic alliance with a scraggly band of English Pilgrims for the benefit of his people. It was a gamble that paid off for several decades, as Indians and Puritans coexisted in relative peace. A half-century later, as brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians, the wisdom of Massasoit’s choice seemed less clear.

• April 20
  Tecumseh’s Vision tells the story of the Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother, Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet. In the years following the American Revolution, the Prophet led a spiritual revival movement that drew thousands of followers from tribes across the Midwest. His brother forged a pan-Indian political and military alliance from that movement, coming closer than anyone since to creating an independent Indian state.

• April 27
  Trail of Tears explores the resolve and resilience of the Cherokee Nation, who resisted removal from their homelands in the Southeast in every way they knew: assimilating, adopting a European styled government and legal system, accepting Christianity, and even taking their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

• May 4
  Geronimo takes place at the end of the Indian Wars, near the close of the nineteenth century. Here, desperate times catapulted a controversial character to the leadership of an Apache band. To angry whites, Geronimo was an archenemy, the perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties. To some Apaches, he was a stubborn troublemaker whose actions needlessly brought the enemy’s wrath upon them. To his supporters, he remained the embodiment of proud resistance, leading the last Native American fighting force to surrender to the United States government.

• May 11
  Wounded Knee tells the gripping story of the 1973 siege of Wounded Knee, examining the broad political and economic forces that led to the emergence of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1960s. For 71 days, activists engaged in a standoff with the U.S. government, bringing the nation’s attention to the desperate conditions on Indian reservations. Perhaps even more important, the siege united Native people across tribes, creating a pan-Indian identity and a new path into the future.

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.

This series establishes Native history as an essential part of American history, telling five heart-breaking yet inspiring stories that highlight Native ingenuity and resilience over the course of 300 years. The five documentaries upend two-dimensional stereotypes of American Indians. Benjamin Bratt narrates. Credit: ©B. Charlo/Kalispel Nation