New Zealand Filmmaker Taika Waititi
Credit: © Xavier Collin, Image Press Agency/Alamy Images

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. All month long, Behind the Headlines will celebrate the accomplishments and heritage of Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Taika Waititi is a New Zealand filmmaker known for his comedies. In 2020, he became the first person of Māori ancestry to win an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay. He won for the motion picture Jojo Rabbit (2019), based on the novel Caging Skies (2008) by Christine Leunens. He was also the first Indigenous (native) writer to be nominated for an Academy Award for a screenplay. Jojo Rabbit tells the story of a German boy whose mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home during World War II (1939-1945). The boy struggles with his beliefs in Nazism and anti-Semitism (prejudice against Jews). He confronts these ideas in part in the form of his imaginary friend, a buffoonish Adolf Hitler, played by Waititi in the film.

Taika Cohen was born on Aug. 16, 1975, in Raukokore, on the North Island of New Zealand. For his professional career, he later adopted the surname of his father, the Māori artist Taika Waititi, who also went by Tiger. Taika means tiger in the Māori language. The young Taika grew up in Wellington with his mother, the educator Robin Cohen. He graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 1997 with a degree in theater and arts. At the school, he formed a comedy duo called The Humourbeasts with the comic musician Jemaine Clement. Waititi later directed and wrote a few episodes of the television series “The Flight of the Conchords” (2007-2009) in which Clement co-starred with Bret McKenzie.

Waititi made his screen acting debut in the motion picture Scarfies (1999). He showed his first short film, John & Pogo (2002), at the New Zealand International Film Festival. His next short film, Two Cars, One Night (2003), was nominated for an Academy Award. Waititi’s first feature-length film was Eagle vs. Shark (2007). Both Eagle vs. Shark and his second feature film, Boy (2010), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Boy is a comedy-drama about the reunion of a Māori son with his father, played by Waititi. Waititi wrote and directed Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). It surpassed Boy as the highest-grossing New Zealand-made film of all time.

Waititi and Clement co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the short film What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews with Some Vampires (2005). It was expanded into a mockumentary (satirical documentary) film What We Do in the Shadows (2014), followed by a television series of the same name starting in 2019.

Waititi directed the Marvel Studios film Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and its sequel Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), which he also cowrote. He provided the voice for the rocklike warrior Korg in these and other Marvel Studios productions. Waititi has also worked on projects set in the “Star Wars” universe. Starting in 2022, he produced the comedy series “Our Flag Means Death.” The show follows Stede Bonnet, an aristocrat turned pirate who sailed with the famous Blackbeard, played by Waititi.

Wilma Mankiller, shown in this photograph, served as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985 to 1995. She was the first woman elected to that position.
Credit: © Peter Brooker, Rex Features/Presselect/Alamy Images

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Wilma Mankiller led the Cherokee Nation as its first woman principal chief. The Cherokee are one of the largest Indigenous tribes in the United States. As chief, Mankiller restructured the tribal government to better balance the distribution of power between men and women. She also increased tribal membership and improved the tribe’s health, education, and housing programs. In addition, Mankiller took an active role in nationwide social movements to fight the oppression of women and Indigenous people.

Wilma Pearl Mankiller was born on Nov. 18, 1945, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. When she was 12, her parents moved the impoverished family to a housing project in San Francisco under a federal Indigenous relocation program. Wilma married Hugo Olaya in 1963 and pursued a career as a social worker. In 1969, Mankiller became involved with a civil rights organization called the American Indian Movement (AIM). That year, protesters with AIM occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. The group was protesting the breaking of treaties and the violation of Indigenous human rights by the federal government. Mankiller visited the protesters and raised money for their support. Her participation in AIM inspired her to become involved in bettering the lives of the Cherokee people.

Mankiller returned to Oklahoma with her two children in 1976, following a divorce. She worked as the community development director of the Cherokee Nation. She married Charlie Soap, a Cherokee community developer. Mankiller served as deputy chief of the Cherokee under Principal Chief Ross O. Swimmer. In 1985, Swimmer resigned to become assistant secretary of Indian affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior. Mankiller became principal chief of the Cherokee.

Mankiller stepped down as chief in 1995 due to poor health. However, she remained an important advisor in Cherokee affairs. Mankiller was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. Her books include the autobiography Mankiller: A Chief and Her People (1993) and Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women (2004). She died on April 6, 2010. The U.S. Mint announced in 2021 that Mankiller would be one of five women commemorated on the quarter in their American Women Quarters series.

Ben N. Campbell was a member of the United States Senate from 1993 to 2005. Campbell, a Republican, represented Colorado. Before becoming a senator, Campbell had served in the Colorado House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Senate

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne chief, was a member of the United States Senate from 1993 to 2005. He represented Colorado. When he was elected, Campbell became the first Native American person since the late 1920′s to hold a U.S. Senate seat. Charles Curtis, whose mother was part Native American, served in the Senate from 1907 to 1913 and again from 1915 to 1929. Campbell was elected as a Democrat. In 1995, he switched to the Republican Party.

As a senator, Campbell focused on such issues as water conservation and environmental preservation. He worked to protect Colorado’s water resources.

Campbell was born on April 13, 1933, in Auburn, California. His father was Northern Cheyenne, and his mother was of Portuguese descent. Campbell served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1953. He earned a bachelor’s degree from San José State University in 1957. He also attended Meiji University in Tokyo. Campbell became a judo expert and was a member of the U.S. judo team in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. During the late 1960′s and the 1970′s, he built a successful business as a jewelry designer and jewelry maker and became a resident of Colorado.

Campbell was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1982. He served from 1983 until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He won reelection to the U.S. House in 1988 and 1990. In 1992, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and he took office in 1993. He was reelected in 1998.

In 2004, Campbell announced that because of concerns about his health he would not seek reelection that year to the Senate. His final term as senator ended in January 2005.

Joseph Medicine Crow was the last surviving war chief of the Crow people. He was a tribal historian and anthropologist, teaching the culture and history of the Crow and other Plains peoples. He is pictured here receiving the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.
© EPA/Alamy Images

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Joseph Medicine Crow was an activist, author, historian, and leader of the Crow people. He served as tribal historian and anthropologist, teaching others the culture and history of the Crow and other Plains peoples. He was the last surviving war chief of the Crow people.

Joseph Medicine Crow (also known as High Bird) was born on Oct. 27, 1913, in southern Montana, near Lodge Grass. He was raised in the tradition of Crow warriors by his grandfather, named Yellowtail. Medicine Crow learned the history of the Crow from various elders. His great-uncle, named White Man Runs Him, had served as a scout for United States Army officer George Armstrong Custer just before the Battle of the Little Bighorn. White Man Runs Him told Medicine Crow about this experience. Medicine Crow later studied at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, graduating in 1938. He earned a master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1939, becoming the first Crow person to receive a graduate degree. Medicine Crow later worked as a teacher at a Native American school in Oregon.

Medicine Crow enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and fought against Germany during World War II (1939-1945). Among Plains peoples, acts of bravery in battle are often considered more prestigious than killing. Such acts, sometimes called counting coup, can be recorded against any enemy. During his military service, Medicine Crow accomplished the four acts of bravery necessary to achieve the status of war chief. These acts are (1) successfully leading a war party against an enemy; (2) entering an enemy camp and stealing a horse; (3) disarming an enemy in battle; and (4) touching a living enemy. A Crow council of elders named Medicine Crow war chief in 1946 after learning of his exploits against German soldiers.

The council appointed Medicine Crow official tribal historian and anthropologist in 1948. Medicine Crow wrote and lectured widely on the Battle of the Little Bighorn and other topics of Plains history. His books include From the Heart of the Crow Country: The Crow Indians’ Own Stories (2000) and Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond (2006). In 2009, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the preservation of the culture and history of Native Americans. He died on April 3, 2016.

Native American politician Deb Haaland
© Romie Miller, Shutterstock

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants. 

Deb Haaland is a Native American politician. In 2018, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from New Mexico. In 2020, President-elect Joe Biden nominated Haaland as the first Native American secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Debra Anne Haaland was born Dec. 2, 1960, in Winslow, Arizona. She is of Pueblo ancestry and is an enrolled citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna. Her parents both served in the military, and the family moved frequently when she was growing up. In 1994, she graduated from the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in English. She then started a business making and canning salsa. She earned a J.D. degree from the university’s law school in 2006.

Haaland began her political career as a campaign volunteer for Democratic Party candidates, working to increase voter turnout among Native Americans. She worked as a tribal administrator for the San Felipe Pueblo people from 2013 to 2015. In 2014, she ran for lieutenant governor of New Mexico but was not elected. She served as chair of New Mexico’s Democratic Party from 2015 to 2017.

Australian tennis player Ash Barty
© Oleksandr Osipov, Shutterstock

Australia is famous for its unique culture, metropolitan cities, and unusual wildlife, among other things. Each week, this seasonal feature will spotlight one of Australia’s many wonders.

Many tennis players spend their careers in pursuit of the legendary Wimbledon. Considered tennis’s most prestigious championship, the tournament has inspired athletes, children, and even a romantic comedy. The latest player to earn the coveted title of Wimbledon champion is Ash Barty, a woman of indigenous Australian descent.

In 2021, Barty won the Wimbledon singles title. Barty is a talented Australian professional tennis player. Barty is a versatile right-handed player with an excellent serve. She has won a number of singles and doubles titles.

Barty’s first grand slam event win came in doubles at the 2018 US Open (with partner CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States). The grand slam consists of the Australian, French, and US Open tournaments, and the All-England (Wimbledon) Championships. Barty won her first grand slam singles title at the 2019 French Open, after which the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her as the top singles player in the world. Barty became only the third Australian woman to achieve a number one ranking. Evonne Goolagong Cawley briefly held the WTA top slot in 1976, and Margaret Court was named number one several times in the 1960′s and 1970′s, before the WTA began releasing its rankings.

Ashleigh Barty was born on April 24, 1996, in Ipswich, Queensland. She began playing tennis at age five, reaching professional status in 2010 at age 14. In 2011, Barty won the girls’ singles title (for players aged 14 through 17) at Wimbledon, in England. She joined the WTA Tour in 2012 but quit tennis in 2014 to play semi-professional women’s cricket. Barty returned to tennis in 2016. She won her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open in 2017.

Barty’s family has roots among the Ngarigo Indigenous people. In 2018, she was named National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador by Tennis Australia, the country’s governing body for the sport. In 2020, Barty was named Young Australian of the Year for her achievements.

March 11, 2020

Tonight in Mexico, many communities will celebrate the eve of the Aztec New Year, an annual holiday that marks the beginning of the 365-day Aztec solar calendar. The Aztec were a native American people who ruled a mighty empire in Mexico during the 1400′s and early 1500′s. Aztec New Year celebrations include traditional songs and dances, fireworks, and the burning of aromatic ocote (pine resin) candles. The Aztec year, which begins at sunrise on March 12, consists of 18 months of 20 days each plus 5 extra days.

Quetzalcoatl was a creator god and a wind god worshiped by early peoples of Mexico and Central America before the Spanish conquest. Among other things, he was associated with fertility, learning, and the Aztec calendar. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration by George Suyeoka

Aztec New Year celebrations take place in such cities as Huauchinango, Mexico City, Xicotepec, and Zongolica. The holiday is also celebrated by some Mexican-American communities in the United States. The Aztec New Year is called Yancuic Xihuitl in Nahuatl, the Amerindian language spoken by the Aztec as well as the modern Nahua people of central Mexico. Nahuatl belongs to a large group of Indian languages known as the Aztec-Tanoan or Uto-Aztecan family. Many Mexican place names, including Acapulco and Mexico itself, come from Nahuatl, as do the English words avocado, chocolate, and tomato.

The Aztec had one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. They built cities as large and complex as any in Europe at the time. They also practiced a remarkable religion that affected every part of their lives. To worship their gods, the Aztec developed a sophisticated ritual system, built towering temples, and created huge sculptures. They held impressive religious ceremonies featuring dancing, musical performances, and the bloody sacrifices of animals and human beings. In addition to the 365-day solar calendar, the Aztec had a 260-day religious calendar. Priests used the calendar to determine lucky days for such activities as sowing crops, building houses, and going to war.

The name Aztec is commonly applied to the people who founded the city of Tenochtitlan, the site of present-day Mexico City, in 1325. In the 1400′s, the city and its allies conquered many groups in central and southern Mexico, forming the Aztec Empire. Tenochtitlan became the capital. The empire was destroyed by the Spanish, who conquered Tenochtitlan in 1521. The Spanish forbade Aztec ceremonies, and the annual New Year holiday went unobserved until its revival in the late 1920′s.