Commemorating Native American Heritage Month, ABC Owned Television Stations have produced an hour-long documentary, Our America: Reclaiming Turtle Island, streaming online beginning November 18th.
What’s Happening:
- Our America: Reclaiming Turtle Island is an hour-long documentary special that will inform viewers about Native sovereignty, the inherent authority of American tribes to govern themselves and honor and preserve their cultures and traditions.
- Told through the lens and imagery of National Geographic Explorer and photographer Kiliii Yüyan, the special is produced by Nzinga Blake, Race and Culture executive producer at ABC Owned Television Stations, and edited by Tracy Quezada.
- The documentary brings to life the July 2022 cover story for National Geographic magazine, "We Are Here," with text by Charles C. Mann and photography by Yüyan, and features powerful individuals discussing the strides their nations and communities are taking to reclaim Turtle Island – a common Indigenous name for North America.
- Featured in the documentary are:
- Taboo, a cultural activist Marvel comic creator, writer, and global music icon known for 1/3 of the pop group Black Eyed Peas
- Quannah Rose Chasinghorse, a model and activist known for appearing on the 2020 Teen Vogue list of Top 21 under 21 and more
- Jody Potts-Joseph, traditional tattoo practitioner and subject of the National Geographic series Life Below Zero: First Alaskans
- Historian and Native American artist G. Peter Jemison, whose art is featured in the documentary
- Traditional corn grower Angela Ferguson.
- The special will begin with Taboo reading the creation story about the origin of how and why North America is referred to as Turtle Island. Viewers will then journey from Minnesota to Southern California and then Western New York, connecting with tribes and Native American change-makers as they define what Native Sovereignty means to them and share how they are contributing to the movement through their platforms and activism.
- Our America: Reclaiming Turtle Island will aim to inform and serve those underrepresented in the United States today by amplifying the voices of the Indigenous activists featured in the documentary.
- Watch Our America: Reclaiming Turtle Island beginning November 18th here or wherever you stream ABC Owned Television Stations.