A new report says women living on Native American reservations face major obstacles to accessing Plan B emergency contraception. The report also criticizes the Indian Health Service for not implementing standard policies and protocols dealing with sexual assault and rape. Joining us is the co-author of the report, Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center.  

Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Indian who was born in upstate New York in 1656, has been approved for sainthood by the Catholic church. She embraced Catholicism after smallpox left her disfigured and partially blinded. Eventually, she left her tribe to join a mission in Canada. With her canonization, she'll become the first Native American saint. But given the Church's history of violence and oppression against Native Americans, this isn't necessarily news to celebrate.

We've been asking listeners to tell us: What does the phrase 'My America' means to you? Mary Joe Mercer from the Osage Nation Reservation in Oklahoma, told us about the Native Americans that have called this country home for thousands of years. On the Fourth of July, Mercer joins us to give us another perspective on what 'America' means.

In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. His name was Caleb, and a new novel imagines what his life was like, and who the people were that helped shape him. The new book is called “Caleb’s Crossing.” Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and journalist Geraldine Brooks is the author. She joins us in studio.

The mythology of Native American warriors permeates a vast swath of American history and culture: from the stories we see played out on the big screen to the questionable names of some of our professional sports teams. And among the American Indian warriors, the name that is perhaps best known is that of Crazy Horse, the Sioux warrior famous for his involvement in Custer’s last stand.

The University of Arizona has agreed to pay $700,000 to 41 Havasupai tribal citizens to settle claims that the university misused DNA samples given by tribe members over a decade ago.

Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to be elected chief of the Cherokee Nation. She died Tuesday from Pancreatic cancer at age 64. She was chief from 1985-1995. The tribe flourished under her leadership. She tripled the tribe's enrollment and fought for better education, health and housing for her tribe. Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation talks to us about her legacy.

All this week, we’ve been focusing on the State of Our Union. President Obama offered his version on Wednesday night. Today in Washington, Jefferson Keel, the president of the National Congress of American Indians and a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, offers his take on the state of the Indian union.

The Federal government will spend $3.4 billion to settle a 13-year-old lawsuit over mismanagement of American Indian land and resource trusts. According to the settlement [PDF, 648k], The U.S. Interior Department will distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 Native American tribe members, and will spend $2 billion more to buy back tribal land lost by previous generations. We speak with Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs. We also speak with Ivan Posey, chairman of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. 

Forty years ago this month, a group of Native Americans staged an occupation of the Island of Alcatraz. The occupation lasted nineteen months and was part of a protest movement that was intended to bring the rights of Native peoples into the public consciousness. This morning, a group of Native Americans will gather for a sunrise meeting to commemorate the takeover. We talk to Andrea Carmen, executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council.

Today, President Obama follows up on a campaign promise: He is sitting down with 564 Native American and Alaskan Native leaders as part of the White House Tribal Nations Conference. It is the first time tribal leaders have been invited to the White House since Bill Clinton did it in the '90s. Can something be gained from bringing so many leaders together in one place, or is it all just for show? For answers, we turn to Ivan Posey, chairman of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe in Wyoming; Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, director of Indian Health Service for the Obama administration; and Victor Merina, senior correspondent for Reznet, a Native American news web site.