In this episode, Dr. Farina King and guest co-host Dr. Kiara Vigil talk with the editors and contributors of the new book Lyda Conley and the Fight to Preserve Huron Indian Cemetery, which tells the story of a trailblazing Wyandot lawyer and activist who defended the burial grounds of her family and ancestors in Kansas City. This work focuses on the life and legacy of Eliza ("Lyda") Burton Conley, a Wyandot woman whose fight to protect her people’s burial ground continues to shape how we think about federal Indian law, sovereignty, and memory in the United States. Lyda is widely recognized as the first Indigenous woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, but as our guests remind us, she never stood alone. Her sisters Ida and Helena, and generations of Wyandot women, shared in the labor of defending their cemetery and their community, both in the courts and on the ground.

Our guests—historian and educator Dr. Tai Edwards, Wyandot Nation of Kansas member and editor Stephanie Bennett, researcher and writer Samantha (Sam) Gill, and Wyandotte playwright Madeline (Maddie) Easley—discuss how their collaborative book brings together biography, archival documents, oral histories, and theater. They talk about reading newspapers and treaties against the grain, navigating access to scattered archives, and recording oral histories with living relatives and tribal leaders. The book offers not just a narrative of Lyda’s life but a source reader and teaching tool that invites more research and classroom conversation.

Together, the editors and contributors frame Lyda’s story as a refusal to accept erasure—what they call “fighting for memory, fighting for honor.” Their work reminds us why this story matters now, in a moment when Indigenous lands, ancestors, and rights are still contested, and when community-based scholarship and art can help chart more just futures.

The University Press of Kansas launched the Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures several years ago named in honor of Lyda Conley. Kiara Vigil, Tai Edwards, and Farina King serve as co-editors of the series, and they have hoped for a book to acknowledge and highlight the life and work of Lyda Conley. Finally, that hope is realized with this new book.

Resources:

Order the book Lyda Conley and the Fight to Preserve Huron Indian Cemetery

Samantha Gill, blog piece titled, “Lyda Conley: Women’s History Everyone Should Know” (March 2026)

“As a thank you for reading the UPK blog, enjoy 20% off this new book when you order directly from the University Press of Kansas website. Use code: 24BLOG2026 at checkout. Because protecting scholarship and empowering informed citizens starts with readers like you. Good through the end of 2026.”

Madeline Easley website

Native Circles Episode 20: The Lyda Conley Series on Trailblazing Indigenous Futures

In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Davina Two Bears and Dr. Farina King speak with Dr. Carlton Shield Chief Gover about how Indigenous scholars are reshaping archaeology from within. Carlton reflects on his journey into a field long seen in Native communities as a “colonial science,” and how he now practices what he calls American Indian archaeology, which is centered on tribal sovereignty, government-to-government relationships, and the specific histories and priorities of Native Nations such as the Pawnee Nation.

A citizen of the Pawnee Nation, Carlton is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Assistant Curator of Archaeology at the University of Kansas, with affiliate appointments in Museum Studies and Indigenous Studies. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Colorado-Boulder, where his dissertation, "The Seeds of Ethnogenesis," examined the formation of Central Great Plains Villages through Indigenous perspectives and advanced chronological modeling. His research focuses on Great Plains archaeology, Indigenous/American Indian archaeology, and the integration of oral traditions with archaeological science.

The conversation highlights how treating oral traditions as rigorous historical records, combined with tools like radiocarbon dating, can overturn long-standing academic narratives about migration, corn agriculture, and the deep homelands of Native Nations. Carlton, Davina, and Farina also discuss the emotional and spiritual realities of working in museum collections, the importance of NAGPRA and tribal cultural centers, and why public-facing work like the Great Plains Archaeology Podcast is vital for sharing knowledge with Native communities and inspiring the next generation of Indigenous archaeologists.

Resources:

Carlton Shield Chief Gover official University of Kansas Department of Anthropology faculty webpage

Great Plains Archaeology Podcast
A podcast hosted by Dr. Carlton Shield Chief Gover on the Archaeology Podcast Network, focusing on the archaeology, histories, and communities of the Great Plains region.

NAGPRA and Tribal Sovereignty in Practice
For listeners interested in the legal and ethical context Carlton discusses (sovereignty, compliance, and NAGPRA), see the U.S. National Park Service’s official NAGPRA page.

Indigenizing Archaeology: Putting Theory into Practice (University Press of Florida)

In this episode of Native Circles, co-hosts Dr. Farina King and Eva Bighorse speak with Dr. T. Christopher (Chris) Hoklotubbe and Dr. H. Daniel (Danny) Zacharias, co-authors of Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Indigenous Interpretation (2025). Chris Hoklotubbe, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, holds a ThD from Harvard and serves as Director of the Indigenous Theology Circle and Coordinator of the Graduate Studies Group for NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, the first accredited theological institute designed, developed, delivered, and governed by Indigenous peoples.

Danny Zacharias is a Cree-Anishinaabe/Métis and Austrian scholar from Winnipeg, Manitoba (Treaty One Territory) with ancestral ties to Treaties Two, Three, and Five. He lives in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) and is Associate Dean and Professor of New Testament Studies at Acadia Divinity College, as well as adjunct faculty and journal editor for NAIITS.

Together, they explore what happens when the Bible is read from Turtle Island through Indigenous histories, geographies, and intellectual traditions. The conversation examines scripture’s entanglement with colonization, missionization, and boarding schools, and highlights Indigenous survivance, responsibility, and resurgence. Rather than treating the Bible as a text detached from land and power, Chris and Danny open space for Indigenous-centered approaches that honor both sacred text and sacred place.

Resources:

Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Indigenous Interpretation by T. Christopher Hoklotubbe and H. Daniel Zacharias

Civilized Piety: The Rhetoric of Pietas in the Pastoral Epistles and the Roman Empire by T. Christopher Hoklotubbe

Stringing Rosaries: The History, the Unforgivable, the Healing of Northern Plains Boarding School Survivors by Denise K. Lajimodiere

NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community