Monday, October 12, is Indigenous Peoples' Day, a day that has been formally adopted in an increasing number of places including the state of Vermont over the last several years to replace Columbus Day, the holiday named after the Italian-Spanish explorer who bumped into the “new world” while sailing toward India on October 12, 1492.
To mark this day, the University of Vermont is screening the documentary "Amá" and featuring a panel discussion on it on Monday at noon. The documentary tells the story of the involuntary sterilization of Native American women by the U.S. government in the 1960s and 1970s, contextualizing this within the much longer history of forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples in this country.
The panel will feature Vermont Abenaki artist and educator Judy Dow, author Nancy Gallagher (“Breeding Better Vermonters: The Eugenics Project in the Green Mountain State”), and UVM professors Lacey Sloan and Adrian Ivakhiv. It will be followed by a Q & A. The film is viewable until 6pm Monday by all UVM affiliates at this link using the case-sensitive password “uV@Ma.” The panel discussion can be joined on Teams Live at this link.
Further information is available here: https://www.uvm.edu/ccp/indigenous-peoples-day-panel-and-film-discussion.