It was before dawn when we arrived at the Sacred Way Sanctuary in Florence, Alabama. We wanted to be there before Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin and her team of caregivers went out to meet the day and their audience of hungry Indigenous Native American horses, more than 100 in total, drawn together from every corner of the USA.

We met Tony “Two Bears” Francis at his home studio in Maine. It was 2018, midsummer, with temperatures climbing into the 100s. Here, Tony makes his collection of native flutes for young people on the local reservations and for seasoned musicians alike. His “grandfather” method for measuring out each instrument is as interesting as the native flute’s origin story.

We interviewed James Neptune on the bank of the Penobscot River, on Indian Island, the one and only Penobscot Reservation in the USA. Penobscot is one of only four surviving tribes in Maine. (The others are the Passamaquoddy, Micmac, and Maliseet.) As a Penobscot elder and former curator of the Penobscot Nation Museum, Mr. Neptune had stories for days.

Debbie Mclavey is the president of the Haida Descendants Dancers, a community that gathers in Ketchikan, Alaska to share the stories, songs, and dances of their ancestors with one another and the rest of the world. By doing so, they unite the generations, keep the traditions alive, and reinforce a sense of pride and belonging in the next generation.

Nathan Jackson is a renowned Tlingit totem carver in Ketchikan, Alaska. We met him at Saxman Village Totem Park (which is exactly what it says it is: a park of totem poles) and experienced his delightful joy and humor while going about his work sculpting ancient stories into wood.