Judy Woodruff moderates a one-hour conversation with filmmaker Ken Burns and three experts: Jason Baldes, Rosalyn LaPier, and Dan Flores. The discussion explores lessons from the film - the early history and special relationship between native American people and the buffalo; its relation to the larger grassland and prairie ecosystems; and Tribal contributions to restoration of the buffalo today.
For untold generations, America’s national mammal sustained the lives of Native people, whose cultures were intertwined with the animal. Newcomers to the continent bring a different view of the natural world, and the buffalo are driven to the brink of extinction.
By the late 1880s, the buffalo that once numbered in the tens of millions is teetering on the brink of extinction. But a diverse and unlikely collection of Americans start a movement that rescues the national mammal from disappearing forever.
Homecoming follows Jason Baldes, an Eastern Shoshone and a member of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, as he leads historic transfers of bison to Indigenous communities which will maintain their herds to supply a healthy food source and cultural touchstone for their tribal citizens. The film explores what living among the bison once again means for Native people—today and for future generations.
