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Native Storytellers

Native Storytellers

The latest collection of stories added to the HearHere library.

HearHere subscribers viewing this story on their phone can tap the stories below to open them in-app.


Maritime Museum Entrance

We have collected and narrated more than 8700+ stories of people, places, and events from – as Katherine Bates wrote in her 1893 song “America the Beautiful” – “Sea to Shining Sea.” While the majority of the stories in the HearHere library were generated in-house, there are also several collections of tales written and narrated by people and organizations that we've collaborated with.

One of those organizations is The Tipi Raisers. They’re a non-profit group that began working on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota over ten years ago and since has expanded to work with Indigenous communities across the west and southwest.

They are recognized nationally through Great Nonprofits as one of the United States’ top-rated nonprofits. And The Tipi Raisers have compiled these stories for HearHere with absolutely no compensation.

This ambitious organization works in four areas: reconciliation between Native and non-Natives addressing generations of racism, genocide, and broken treaties; alleviating devastating poverty in Indigenous communities; youth leadership through their grant-funded Gen7 programs; and finally sharing and honoring Indigenous Wisdom through programs such as their Lakota Language and Culture classes and educational/cultural presentations across the country.

Reuben Fast Horse

Reuben Fast Horse, an Educational and Cultural Ambassador for the Lakota Nation, in a story titled “The Tribes,” describes what life is really like growing up on the reservation and being a “Master of Adaptation” between the native and non-native worlds. It’s an amazing first-person, and personal, story.


Listen here — The Tribes 🔊


In the story titled “The First Boots,” Reuben Fast Horse talks about how life for the Indigenous Peoples’ – again from sea to shining sea – forever changed the day the first boots of non-native people set foot in North America. It’s a positive story that, although it hasn’t always been perfect (or even good), there are many instances where the non-native and native people helped each other out (something that is at the core of the Tipi Raiser’s mission).


Listen here — The First Boots 🔊


These are just a few stories from The Tipi Raisers and more are in production as this blog post goes to press. The organization is doing tremendous – and hard – work and they could use your support. You may want to consider giving them a tax-deductible donation which you can do by following this link.

There are over 8700+ stories in the HearHere library about America the (not always) Beautiful, and your first five are free when you download the HearHere app. You can choose one of three different plans to enjoy the vast amount of entertaining and educational tales we have from “Sea to Shining Sea.” 


If you enjoyed these stories, and are ready for thousands more across the US, download the HearHere iOS App today. 

Comments 2

  1. 1) Unsiyaya Chechecheyelo, Unsiyaya Chechecheyelo,
    Chechecheyelo (yonahini)

    = Waniwaciyelo, Omakiyayo (yonahini),
    Wakan Tanka (yonahini), Nisnala, Waunsiyalalo [yonahenejoa]

    2) Wakan Tanka leciya, Ahitunwanyo, Ahitunwanyo (yonahini)

    =.Waniwaciyelo, Omakiyayo (yonahini),
    Wakan Tanka (yonahini), Nisnala, Waunsiyalalo [yonahenejoa]

    3) Wakan Tanka niyeye, Unsiya chechecheyelo,
    Chechecheyelo (yonahini),

    = Waniwaciyelo, Omakiyayo (yonahene),
    Wakan Tanka (yonahini), Nisnala, Waunsiyalalo [yonahenejoa].

    Could someone please translate this for me; I’d like to be able to tell the meaning when I sing it for others.
    Wopila Tanka!

  2. I have come across small pull along vehicle trailer well not that small but unusual .it says Tipi Time Storytellers on it and has been in the parking lot where it is for i believe more than a year i don’t really have an email homeless in what they say is Denton tx my general delivery mail at 101 E. McKinney street Denton tx 76201 you may also try to leave a msg with Glenn at Freedom House ..a good pantry. on ft worth drive here in denton…would like to know why they abandoned it seems their trailer and who they are and how many people are in the troup. Thanks. Alane Fowler I was supposedly registered with the Cherokee nation by Kenneth Scott Bell Tacoma Indian center Tacoma WA

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