University of Arkansas Hosts 10th Annual Indigenous People's Day Observance

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas will observe Indigenous People’s of the Americas Day with a film screening, book panel, commemorative walk and other events Monday, Oct. 13. Guest scholar Joanna Hearne, associate professor of English and film studies at the University of Missouri, will be featured at several of the events.

The day will begin with “Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative” at 9:30 a.m. in rooms 508-511 of the Arkansas Union. This program will focus on the role of indigenous communities in feeding America and fighting hunger in the past, present and future.

An Indigenous People’s Day book panel begins at 11:30 a.m. in the Walker Room at the Fayetteville Public Library. Hearne will be joined by J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences faculty members Sean Teuton, associate professor of English, and Toni Jensen, assistant professor of English, to discus “Ramona: A ‘Corrective Novel’ to Combat the Mistreatment of Native Americans.” Ramona was a popular novel by activist Helen Hunt Jackson written in 1884 to draw attention to the injustice suffered by Native Americans. 

Students and faculty will present readings from historical and contemporary Native American writers at 1 p.m. in the Arkansas Union Connections Lounge.

At 2 p.m., a group will leave from the mall in front of the Arkansas Union for a commemorative walk to the Trail of Tears Marker at the intersection of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Stadium Drive. Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan will give a public pronouncement at 2:30.

The premier event, a screening of the newly rediscovered 1928 film version of Ramona, begins at 7 p.m. in Old Main’s Giffels Auditorium. The silent film will be accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Hearne will lead a discussion, “A Chickasaw Filmmaker in 1920s Hollywood: Edwin Carewe, Dolores Del Rio, and the Story of Ramona,” before the screening, and the day’s events will close with a reception and book signing.

Hearne, a Ramona expert, was among the scholars who assisted in the film’s restoration.

Schedule at a glace:

9:30-11:30 a.m.                 Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.       Indigenous People’s Day Book Panel

1-2 p.m.                             Readings from Native American Writers

2-3 p.m.                             Commemorative Walk to Trail of Tears Marker

7-9 p.m.                             Ramona screening featuring Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

The day of events is sponsored by: The Department of Communication’s Film Appreciation Society, Native American Symposium Committee, Native American Student Association, City of Fayetteville, Fayetteville Public Library, Department of History, Latin American and Latino Studies, Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies, Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, School of Law, College of Agriculture, College of Engineering, Farm Journal and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology.