New Rochelle Public Library Programs Celebrate Indigenous People’s Day

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle Public Library is celebrating Indigenous People’s Day with two unique programs that celebrate the achievements of Native American people.

On Saturday, October 1, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Native American crafts expert and museum consultant, Barry Keegan will lead a Lenape Technologies Workshop for children ages 8 and up. Keegan will demonstrate early life and technology of Native American peoples who lived along the Hudson River Valley from 12,000 years ago. Participants will engage in hands-on activities, including making arrowheads and twine from local plants, and Lenape technologies including flintknapping of stone tools, spear points, making animal glue, and using a mortar and pestle for grinding grains and nuts.

Keegan is the former Supervisor of Native American Programs at the NYS Historical Association and Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. He has constructed over 80 wigwams and longhouses for museums, nature centers and educational institutions, and regularly demonstrates early technologies for these organizations, as well as others such as the History Channel.

On Saturday, October 8, at 2 p.m., Truth 2 Power Presents: Honoring Indigenous Futures With Storytelling featuring two short film screenings followed by a discussion with filmmaker and actor, Brooklyn Demme, son of Academy Award-winning director, the late Jonathan Demme.

• Protection Not Protest: The People of Standing Rock (25 min. — Jonathan Demme’s final film) tells the 2016 story of the Lakota people of the Standing Rock Reservation having to defend their watershed and sacred burial sites from an invading oil company.
• The Community of the River Wachirpas (15 min. — a film by Brooklyn Demme) brings viewers into the heart of the Amazon, where oil contamination is risking the lives and culture of an Achuar community living on the Wachirpas River. The screenings are followed by a discussion with Demme on film, activism, mentorship, and building community at home and abroad.

Brooklyn Demme is a community storyteller who learned working in the field with his father and mentor, Jonathan Demme. Combining his love of film with his experience in executive non-profit leadership, Brooklyn founded Truth 2 Power in 2021 to keep telling the stories which strengthen communities.

Both programs will take place at the Main Branch of the New Rochelle Public Library, located at 1 Library Plaza. Both programs are free and open to the public, but registration is requested here for the Lenape Technologies Workshop and here for the Honoring Indigenous Futures program, or by calling 914-813-3706.