Self Determination Project

For over 20,000 years, humans have inhabited the North Americas - people such as the Wyaatch, Umatilla, Tlingit, and Yurok, to name a small few. These are Native American societies whose rich cultures have been misunderstood, misinterpreted and trivialized in our history books.

The prominent activities of native communities in the late 1960s and early 1970s sparked an awakening, when the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those that first suffered began to take control. By using advantages that come with national sovereignty, these self-taught generations are learning how to both define themselves and preserve their tribal identities. The Self Determination Project is an effort to document this progressive social change among indigenous people of North America, encourage viewers to discuss and explore those rich cultures, and compile an educational body of work for future generations.