Video (4min 14sec): Taos Pueblo: Spirit of Indigeneity. Award commemorating Taos Pueblo's struggle to regain sacred Blue Lake from government control is given by American for Indian Opportunity August 14, 2008. LaDonna Harris, founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity, presents the Spirit of Indigeneity award to Paul Martinez, Taos Pueblo Governor.
The history of Taos Pueblo include the plotting of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680, a siege by U.S. forces in 1847, and the return by President Nixon in 1970 of the Pueblo's 48,000 acres (194 km²) of mountain land taken by President Theodore Roosevelt and designated as the Carson National Forest early in the twentieth century.
Blue Lake, which the people of the Pueblo traditionally consider sacred, was included in this return of Taos land. The Pueblo's web site names the acquisition of the sacred Blue Lake as the most important event in its history due to the spiritual belief that the Taos natives originated from the lake itself. An additional 764 acres south of the ridge between Simpson Peak and Old Mike Peak and west of Blue Lake were transferred back to the Pueblo in 1996.
Shot and edited by Rick Romancito for The Taos News Media Center, taosnews.com.
Some test: wikipedia.org
