10 Things to Watch on WTTW for Native American Heritage Month

This November, celebrate Native American Heritage Month with 10 programs on WTTW that honor the history, culture, and traditions of Indigenous peoples. This year features new programs on topics including food sustainability, an unsolved murder, the fight for an independent tribal press, and more.

She Cried That Day

Sunday, November 1 at 2:00 pm on WTTW 
She Cried That Day chronicles the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis through the story of one Indigenous woman haunted by her older sister’s unsolved murder. As her family navigates a broken system in search of justice, we bear witness to the emotional journey through which thousands of families suffer. The film reveals how this crisis affects a family, community, state, and nation, while also highlighting the strength and power of these incredible women as they fight to bring their lost sisters home.

Bad Press

Sunday, November 1 at 3:00 pm on WTTW 
Imagine you lived in a world where your only reliable news source became government propaganda overnight. That’s exactly what happened to the citizens of the Muscogee Nation in 2018. Out of 574 federally recognized tribes, the Muscogee Nation was one of only five to establish a free and independent press – until the nation’s legislative branch abruptly repealed the landmark Free Press Act in advance of an election. Refusing to accept this flagrant act of oppression, one defiant journalist, Angel Ellis, charges headfirst into a historic battle against her tribal government’s censorship and corruption.

Coming Home: From Shadowland to Spiritworld 

Monday, November 2 at 9:00 pm on WTTW 
Follow the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians as they undertake an extraordinary effort to reclaim their ancestral lands on the Sonoma Coast after 170 years of displacement. Interweaving the little-known history of Russian colonization in California with a modern story of negotiation, diplomacy, and ceremony, the film shows how land repatriation becomes a powerful act of cultural renewal.

Indigenize The Plate

Saturday, November 7 at 11:00 am on WTTW Prime
Extraction, water displacement, and climate change have impacted food sustainability in Indigenous communities, and the combination of these challenges has also affected cultural sustainability. In Indigenize the Plate, a Diné woman travels from the Navajo Nation to a Quechuan community in Peru to see how they address these issues in their region. The program tells the stories of Indigenous people across the world and shows viewers how their communities are working together to address some of the many challenges that the world faces collectively.

Medicine Ball 

Monday, November 9 at 9:00 pm on WTTW 
Medicine Ball follows Native college athletes Lexus Redthunder and Leroy Staples-Fairbanks IV at a university built on a former Native boarding school site, revealing basketball’s role as a source of resilience, hope, and cultural pride.

Native America

Saturday, November 14, 11:00 am- 2:00 pm on WTTW Prime
This four-part PBS series challenges everything we thought we knew about the Americas before and since contact with Europe. It travels through 15,000 years to showcase massive cities, unique systems of science, art, and writing, and 100 million people connected by social networks and spiritual beliefs spanning two continents. The series reveals some of the most advanced cultures in human history and the Native American people who created it and whose legacy continues, unbroken, to this day.

Racing the Rez

Sunday, November 15 at 6:00 am on WTTW Prime
This film offers a rare view into the surprising complexity and diversity of contemporary reservation life, from the point of view of five teenage cross country runners on the cusp of adulthood. The documentary follows Ryan, Dennis, Billy, Johnny, and Joyai from the classrooms to their remote, un-electrified homes, from grueling runs across canyons and mesas to their ultimate day of reckoning – the state meet – and beyond.

Finding Your Roots: Family Recipes

Sunday, November 15 at 4:00 pm on WTTW Prime
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the ancestry of celebrity chefs José Andrés and Sean Sherman, traveling from small-town Spain to Native American lands in the Dakotas to reveal his guests’ hidden connections to history and to food.

The American Buffalo

Sunday, November 15 at 7:00 pm on WTTW Prime
Once numbering in the tens of millions and sustaining the Native people of the Great Plains, America's national mammal is driven to the brink of extinction. An improbable collection of unforgettable characters rescues it from disappearing forever.

A Sacred Thread

Sunday, November 15 at 11:00 pm on WTTW Prime
A Sacred Thread follows the Snowbird Cherokee of western North Carolina as they fight to preserve their language, customs, and ancestral traditions before they disappear. Through intimate storytelling about the Snowbird Cherokee’s art, culture, and deep connections to their sacred land, the film offers a powerful portrait of a resilient community safeguarding its heritage.