Native American

A Tree Reborn, a Commitment Renewed

A 40-foot-tall buckeye — among the first trees to be planted in the UC Davis Arboretum 85 years ago — broke apart. Juan Ávila Hernandez, a member of the Committee to Honor the Patwin and Native Americans, noticed and set in motion a replacement project culminating in a tree-planting ceremony on March 4, 2022. Three saplings will vie to be the buckeye that takes over the spot overlooking the Native American Contemplative Garden.

Sophia’s Story: Reclaiming an Orphan From an ‘Indian School’

Lauren Peters, a UC Davis Native American studies doctoral student, and her family recently returned the remains of their grandmother's aunt, Sophia Tetoff, to her native Aleut island in Alaska. In 1896 the 12-year-old orphan was sent to an Indian school in Pennsylvania where she died five years later and was buried. The Peterses are among the hundreds of Native families retrieving their ancestors from school cemeteries in the United States and Canada. They are believed to be the first to return a Native child to Alaska.

UC Davis Visiting Writers Tap into Their Heritage

The 2017–2018 Creative Writers series at UC Davis will showcase writers exploring their Native American, African American, Sri Lankan and Hmong heritage as well as LGBTQ and feminist issues.

2017 Arts Season Takes Off

The academic year and arts season at UC Davis is kicking off. Here’s a look at the College of Letters and Science resources and the first offering in each for the fall. All exhibitions and talks and many concerts are free.

Mapping Out Standing Rock

As a professor in the UC Davis Native American Studies Department, Liza Grandia was looking for a way to help her students and the public better understand unfolding events about the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy.