Independent Lens

Facing the Storm: Remembering Big Medicine and the Big Bison

In 1933, a white buffalo was born on the National Bison Range in Montana. He was named "Big Medicine" by the Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Valley. White buffalo are sacred to many Native American tribes. In the companion video to the documentary "Facing the Storm," we see a special ceremony held in 2006 commemorating this earlier appearance.

Facing the Storm: Remembering Big Medicine and the Big Bison

4m 44s

  • Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen

    S26 E2 - 1h 25m

    Riddled with survivor's guilt after his unit lost 17 men during "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan, Marine veteran Anthony Marquez makes it his mission to reconnect with the Gold Star families of the fallen. By carving and hand-delivering a battlefield cross for each of the families affected by loss, Anthony finds the path to heal himself.

  • All God's Children | The History of White People in America, Episode 5: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    All God's Children | The History of White People in America, Episode 5

    4m 15s

    In this moving, animated short, poet Ashley M. Jones offers a lyrical historical account of Ann Williams, an enslaved Black woman who won her freedom in the 1830s. When faced with the torturous fate of being separated from her family and sold into Southern slavery, Williams took a literal leap of faith to avoid the dreadful mandate.

  • The Diary of Afong Moy | The History of White People in America, Episode 4: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Diary of Afong Moy | The History of White People in America, Episode 4

    4m 52s

    Acclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao narrates the animated history of Afong Moy, America’s first recorded Chinese woman. She was brought to America by merchants and was exhibited as a circus oddity in 1830s New York City. She was eventually managed and exploited by circus showman P.T. Barnum as a sideshow attraction.

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