Native American

Social Concerns
Barbara Braided Hair, left, teaches members of First United Methodist Church in Sheridan, Wyo., how to make fry bread. Barbara is the late wife of Otto Braided Hair Jr., a Sand Creek Massacre descendants representative of the Northern Cheyenne tribe in Lame Deer, Mont., who helped educate church members about the 1864 massacre led by Methodists. The dialogue sparked a two-decade relationship between the church’s Native American Committee and the Northern Cheyenne tribe. File photo courtesy of First UMC Sheridan.

Church forges ties with Sand Creek Massacre descendants

Being a consistent presence has helped the Native American Committee of First United Methodist Church in Sheridan, Wyoming, gain acceptance.
Social Concerns
“The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal That Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever” will be on display Nov. 10-Dec. 1 at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. The exhibit, normally a permanent installation at the History Colorado Center in Denver, is being co-hosted by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and Commission on Religion and Race. Photo Courtesy of History Colorado.

Agencies host Sand Creek Massacre exhibit in DC

During Native American Heritage Month, the United Methodist Building will host a display that acknowledges a brutal part of church history as “both an act of confession and a witness of faith.”
Racism
Bishop David Wilson. Photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

Silence is complicity: Responding to racist mascots

The recent effort by President Trump to revive the former names of two professional sports franchises is traumatic for Native Americans.
Human Rights
Great Plains Conference Bishop David Wilson, left, and Eugene Ridgely Jr., a Sand Creek representative of the Northern Arapaho tribe, gather in an Arapaho tipi located at the History Colorado Center in Denver. Both men are part of the United Methodist Responses to the Sand Creek Massacre Team, which met Sept. 20-21 at Iliff School of Theology to formulate next steps in the denomination’s work to atone for its role in the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. Photo by Joey Butler, UM News.

Church restarts response to Sand Creek Massacre

Church leaders and Sand Creek representatives from the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes gathered at Iliff School of Theology to identify concrete ways the denomination can continue to work toward repentance.

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