PBS Utah's Native American Heritage Collection

PBS Utah has a long history of producing documentaries and outreach projects that give voice to Utah’s Native American population. PBS Utah's award-winning documentaries explore stories, past and present, of Native American boarding schools, veterans returning from war, the debate over the Bears Ears Monument, and Utah’s five tribes. Education Resources enhance these films and bring them to life in the classroom. Explore PBS Utah's Native Heritage Education Collection.

We Shall Remain

Learn about the indigenous Paiute, Goshute, Navajo (Diné), Northwestern Shoshone & Ute peoples who have lived on the land we now call Utah for generations. Unprecedented collaborations between Native and non-Native filmmakers place native voices at the heart of five heartbreaking yet inspiring stories.

Battle Over Bears Ears

At its heart, it’s a battle for homeland and sovereignty. Bears Ears, a remote section of land lined with red cliffs and filled with juniper, sage, is at the center of a fight over who has a say in how Western landscapes are protected and managed.

Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools

PBS Utah (formerly KUED) takes a moving and insightful look into the history, operation, and legacy of the federal Indian Boarding School system, whose goal was total assimilation of Native Americans at the cost of stripping away Native culture, tradition, and language.

Healing the Warrior's Heart

This film looks at PTSD through the prism of Native American ceremony, and explores the ancient healing traditions that continue to help returning American Indian soldiers, as well as non-native veterans suffering from this affliction.

PBS Learning Media & PBS Utah

• Multi-Media Interactive Lesson | Battle Over Bears Ears - In December 2016, a distinctive area of Southeastern Utah called Bears Ears was established as a national monument. In this interactive lesson, you will learn about the Bears Ears region through various media and content that will help you understand the evolving issues surrounding this land. By the end of the lesson, we hope you are able to reflect and respond to the different viewpoints and come to your own conclusion about the pros and cons of the monument.

Book Club in a Box

Engage your book club in a discussion about Native Lands by registering for our free toolkit for book club hosts. 
Book | Finders Keepers by Craig Childs & Film | Battle Over Bears Ears

Bears Ears Curriculum

Curriculum focusing on the complex social, cultural, and scientific issues surrounding Bears Ears drawing on the principles of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy. Learn ideas for introduction, role-play, and follow-up ideas to engage students of all levels.

• Creating a Bears Ears Curriculum
• Bears Ears Curriculum Notes

Critically Informed Cultural Texts

Explore challenges and opportunities associated with using culturally sustaining texts in an era of commercially packaged curriculum. Design K-12 lessons that encourage the development of a critically informed stance toward text.

• Critically Informed Comprehension Small Group Lesson Plan
• Designing Critically Informed Comprehension Lesson for Elementary
• Designing Critically Informed Comprehension Lesson for Secondary

Books and Written Material About and For Indigenous Peoples

• Native American Children’s Literature Recommended Reading List
• Learn to Evaluate Books and Written Material
• Explore the tool for evaluating material about indigenous peoples for use in the classroom.

American Masters
Zitkála-Šá: Trailblazing American Indian Composer and Writer

Zitkála-Šá co-composed and wrote the libretto for the first American Indian opera and co-founded the National Council of American Indians to lobby for increased political power for American Indians.