The culture of Pueblo Indians is explored in this 1950s color film, produced by the Ford Motor Company. Opening with shots of the far southern United States, the picture cuts to a Native American village (mark 00:46) where men and women go about their daily routines of cleaning, doing laundry, and other chores. At mark 01:40, one of the men receives an invitation to the end of summer Indian festival and the man and his son began preparations. The young boy tries to learn a native hoop dance at mark 03:05, before being shown how it properly performed (mark 03:35). As the film continues, the man explains the ways of the Pueblo people to his son (and the audience) starting at mark 04:45 — a peaceful people whose homes began in high cliffs before moving into the valleys. “We have defended our homes against the war makers but never have we gone out to make war on others for the glory of combat,” he explains. As he speaks we see scenes of men and women making pottery or working in the fields of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas as Native American songs play in the background. After harvesting corn and wheat beginning at mark 07:35, the narrator explains how it is important not to waste anything from a harvest as “waste is the brother of famine.” We see life inside a classroom (mark 09:55) as other young men learn a trade and participate in other native dances (mark 12:30). At mark 16:55, discussion returns to the time of the Native American festival in Gallup, New Mexico — an annual event where representatives of all Native American tribes gather to celebrate. Beginning at mark 18:20, the film shows Pueblos, Navajos, Comanches, Apaches, Hopis, and several other tribes — “all one great people” — participating in the celebration as crowds line the streets.
The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who have in common their style of living in towns constructed of adobe, stone and other local materials; their buildings are constructed as complex apartments with numerous rooms, often built in strategic defensive positions. The Pueblo peoples speak languages from several different groups and are also divided culturally by their kinship systems and agricultural practices, although all cultivate varieties of corn.
In addition to differing kinship systems, the peoples have differing marriage practices: exogamous (or outside connections) or endogamous (within the clan or band). Those who have a matrilineal system, in which children are considered born into the mother’s clan and her line is used for inheritance and descent, are the Hopi, Keres, Towa and Zuni. The non-Towa Tanoan have a patrilineal system, with clan membership, inheritance and descent all passed through the father’s line. All the Pueblo peoples have traditional economies based on agriculture and trade.
At the time of Spanish encounter beginning in the 16th century, these peoples were living in complex, multi-story villages often built around a central courtyard. The Spanish called these pueblos, meaning “towns,” and applied the name to all the peoples living in such complexes. In the 21st century there are 21 surviving pueblos in the Southwest of the United States. Taos, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are the best-known. The main pueblos are located primarily in the present-day states of New Mexico and Arizona.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
