Alcohol and Native Americans
Videos
Many Native Americans in the United States have been harmed by, or become addicted to, drinking alcohol. Among contemporary Native Americans and Alaska Natives, 11.7% of all deaths are related to alco
European fur traders doing business with Native Americans in 1777, with a barrel of rum to the left
Aztecs depicted in the Codex Magliabechiano (folio 85r) drinking pulque on the feast of Quecholli. In the center, the god Mixcoatl drinks from a jug using a straw. To the left, a woman vomits.
The making of pulque, as illustrated in the Florentine Codex (Book 1 Appendix, fo.40)
Two young Chemehuevi Native girls making an alcoholic drink from mesquite beans, taken by Charles C. Pierce, ca. 1900
Native Americans are the Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the lower 48 states and Alaska. They may also include any Americans whose origins lie in any of the Indigenous peoples
Alcohol and Native Americans
…Many Native Americans in the United States have been harmed by, or become addicted to, drinking alcohol. Among contemporary Native Americans and Alaska Natives, 11.7% of all deaths are related…
Shriver Circle Earthworks and the Mound City Group (on the left), c. 200 BCE to c. 500 CE, depicted in a 2019 portrait
The Discovery of America (1844) sculpture, depicting a triumphant Columbus and a "female savage" (Native woman)
Native peoples are concerned about the effects of abandoned uranium mines on or near their lands.
National Indian Youth Council demonstrations, March 1970, Bureau of Indian Affairs Office