Wikipedia:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America

A special note for our Indigenous contributors

We welcome all Indigenous peoples of North America and beyond who are reading this page! We hope you enjoy participating in Wikipedia. We are especially happy to have your help in improving the diversity of Wikipedia coverage. Please feel free to leave a note on the talk page of this WikiProject, or at Wikipedia:Systemic bias if you run into problems here. And yes, it is possible to start your own Wikipedia in your own language. We'd be happy to support you in this. (Leave a note if you need help setting up a new language, or with fonts.)

Our articles by category

Essays and Guidelines

• Determining Native American and Indigenous Canadian identities – what category does that bio belong in? What to do with the person claiming a "WP:CHEROKEEPRINCESS" grandmother?

Manual of Style and Policy on Wikipedia

• MOS:CITIZEN, MOS:NATIONALITY and MOS:ETHNICITY are direct links to the Context section of Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography, which includes this under Nationality Examples:

Native American and Indigenous Canadian status is based on citizenship, not race. Indigenous people's citizenship can be listed parenthetically, or as a clause after their names.

For example:

• Wilma Pearl Mankiller (Cherokee: ᎠᏥᎳᏍᎩ ᎠᏍᎦᏯᏗᎯ, romanized: Atsilasgi Asgayadihi; November 18, 1945 – April 6, 2010) was a Native American (Cherokee Nation) activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

1. ↑ For additional guidelines on naming conventions and sourcing Native American and Indigenous Canadian identities, see Determining Native American and Indigenous Canadian identities.

• WP:TRIBE is the shortcut to Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ethnicities and tribes) and also covers many of issues addressed above.

Style Guides

Style Guides on Indigenous terminology and other issues. Like Native American, Indigenous is capitalized when referring to people.

From the Associated Press

• AP changes writing style to capitalize "b" in Black. By The Associated Press, June 19, 2020. "The news organization will also now capitalize Indigenous in reference to original inhabitants of a place."

From APA style

• APA Style – Racial and Ethnic Identity. Section 5.7 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition, September 2019.

  Racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized. ... capitalize terms such as Native American, Hispanic, and so on. Capitalize Indigenous and Aboriginal whenever they are used. Capitalize Indigenous People or Aboriginal People when referring to a specific group (e.g., the Indigenous Peoples of Canada), but use lowercase for people when describing persons who are Indigenous or Aboriginal (e.g., "the authors were all Indigenous people but belonged to different nations").

From The Chicago Manual of Style

• Capitalization: 'We would capitalize Indigenous in both contexts: that of Indigenous people and groups, on the one hand, and Indigenous culture and society, on the other. Lowercase indigenous would be reserved for contexts in which the term does not apply to Indigenous people in any sense; for example, indigenous plant and animal species.'

From the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association)

• Reporter's Indigenous Terminology Guide (archive)
• "So you need an Indigenous Expert... Start here"
• NAJA AP Style Guide
• More reporting guides, on water protectors arrested at actions, etc.
• Indigenous Media Guides

Some example of WP:RS publications and media outlets that capitalize Indigenous when referring to Indigenous people (not a complete list, by any means)

• The New York Times
• Chicago Tribune
• Los Angeles Times
• The Christian Science Monitor
• Forbes
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC):
• The Guardian

Reference books

• Phillip M. White (October 2004). Bibliography of Native American bibliographies. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-31941-9.
• Fagan, Brian M. (2000). Ancient North America: The archaeology of a continent (3rd ed.). New York: Thames and Hudson.
• Landar, Herbert. (1973). The tribes and languages of North America: A checklist. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Current trends in linguistics: Linguistics in North America (Vol. 10, pp. 1253–1441). The Hague: Mouton.
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978–present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1–20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1–3, 16, 18–20 not yet published).
• Poser, Bill. (2006). The Names of the First Nations Languages of British Columbia.
• Sonneborn, Liz (2007). A to Z of American Indian Women. A to Z of women (Rev. ed.). New York: Facts On File. ISBN 9780816066940.
• Younging, Gregory. (2018) Elements of Indigenous style : a guide for writing by and about Indigenous Peoples, ISBN 9781550597165

Indigenous press reference sources

To assist in finding reliable sources for referencing articles on Indigenous topics and news.

• List of Indigenous newspapers in North America
• List of Indigenous periodicals in Canada
• Native American Tribal Resources and Newspapers: Online U.S. Tribal Newsletters and Newspapers (from OSU Edmon Low Library)

Native American and First Nations law resources

External links

• Tribal newspapers, TV, journals, contacts – even if not necessarily WP:RS, if there might be useful info, resources or links therein, add it here.

Arts and Artists

• Everett, Deborah (2008). Encyclopedia of Native American Artists. Artists of the American mosaic, ISSN 1939-1218. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313337628.
• "Native American Artists Resource Collection". Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives. Phoenix, AZ: Heard Museum.
• Reno, Dawn E. (1995). Contemporary Native American Artists. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Alliance Publishing. ISBN 0964150964.
• Roger Matuz, ed. (1998). St. James Guide to Native North American Artists. Detroit: St. James Press. ISBN 1558622217.

Redlinked entries in List of Native American politicians

Lists of missing articles

• Concise Encyclopedia of the American Indian
• Encyclopedia of Native American Biography
• Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492–1890