Where the buffalo roamed

Oct. 13—About 45 minutes into the Ken Burns series The American Buffalo, John Gast's haunting 1872 painting American Progress flashes on the screen.

The painting depicts Manifest Destiny as a towering, robed, floating white woman, drifting west as small Caucasian figures beneath her advance from the right to the center of the frame. On the far left — being pushed nearly out of the picture — are retreating buffalo and Indigenous people.

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The American Buffalo

Part one: Blood Memory

7 and 9 p.m. Monday, October 16; 2 p.m. Wednesday, October 18; and 11 a.m. October 22, channel 5.1 and streaming on the PBS App.

7 a.m. and 1 p.m. October 21; and 6 p.m. October 22, channel 5.4.

Part two: Into the Storm

7 and 9 p.m. Tuesday, October 17; 2 p.m. Thursday, October 19; and 1:30 p.m. October 22, channel 5.1 and streaming on the PBS App.

8:30 p.m. October 22 and 7 a.m. October 28, channel 5.4

The often-analyzed painting comes off as especially sinister in the context of The American Buffalo, as viewers are told about the massive toll European migration took on the buffalo, the people who'd lived here for hundreds of generations, and the rugged land itself. The four-hour series airs Monday and Tuesday, October 16-17, on PBS. Like much of the public network's programming focusing on the West, this series has a footprint in New Mexico.

The series picks a motif as a starting point to tell a story about American life, mirroring the approach taken in other Burns series such as Civil War and Jazz. Indeed, The American Buffalo is as much about horses as America or the buffalo, and the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 is mentioned within the first 30 minutes. Knowledge about that monumental event is not widespread in the U.S., despite the fact that it's the only successful Indigenous uprising ever against a colonizing power on this continent.

The revolt drove the Spanish out of what's now New Mexico and parts of other states for 12 years, but some of their belongings and horses stayed behind. Tribes quickly learned that these imported beasts were hugely beneficial in buffalo hunting — allowing them to kill many more than before. Later, trade value would provide a hunting incentive for buffalo that went beyond just acquiring food.

"It is a heartbreaking story of a collision of two different views of how human beings should interact with the natural world," interviewee Rosalyn LaPier (Blackfeet-Métis) says early in the series. "And there's a tragedy at the very heart of that story."

The American Buffalo producers and filmmakers Julie Dunfey and Julianna Brannum (Comanche) visited Santa Fe for an early screening and discussion in mid-September. They met with Pasatiempo at a classic Santa Fe breakfast establishment to discuss the series, New Mexico, and audience sensibilities. (Their responses are edited for length and clarity.)

Some people understand a lot more about the decimation of Indigenous and buffalo populations in the U.S. than others. How much do you assume your audience knows?

Julie Dunfey: Most people probably have some dim recollection that the buffalo were destroyed, and it was kind of part of our Indian policy. But I think we are trying to not assume too much about the knowledge of this particular subject.

Julianna Brannum: The beauty of a Ken Burns series is that we take the time to go through every little step of a story. So even if you come in not knowing anything about the history, you're going to get it in this series. It covers everything. I think some people are like, "You're making a film about buffalo, and it's four hours?" It could have been even more than that.

Dunfey: On the other hand, as the narrative progresses, it will say, "after the Civil War." So there is an assumption that people know when the Civil War happened and that the nation had been divided. It's a lens on 19th century American history.

What did you learn in the making of this series?

Brannum: It was a lot, even though I'm Native American. The level of destruction, not just of the buffalo but other wildlife at that time. The fur trading and all the different animals that were being [killed], because of consumerism. The fact that in the East, salted buffalo tongue was a delicacy.

Dunfey: For me, getting a better understanding of that spiritual link [between Indigenous people and buffalo]. The complete and utter destruction of all wildlife in the western U.S. was the biggest destruction in human history. That was astonishing and dismaying on all levels to me.

It's fascinating to think about globalism back in the late 18th and early 19th century. You see Plains Indians were pulled into the global market economy, and I'd had a dim sense of all that.

You mentioned earlier that the series could have been longer than four hours. Because the name Ken Burns is so respected, it's easy to assume that a Ken Burns series is the definitive statement on an issue. Is that incorrect?

Dunfey: We've always hoped that we were kind of setting the table. Yes, we're hoping to tell a compelling story, but we hope people will want to go take their own dive into something we've made them question or something they didn't know and build on it on their own.

Are there any links to Santa Fe in The American Buffalo that might not be readily apparent?

Dunfey: N. Scott Momaday [Kiowa], who's a Santa Fe resident and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and novelist, is a key interview. Sara Dant and Dan Flores [both live in the Santa Fe area]. She teaches at Weber State, and he's a retired professor.

All three of those people have doctorates. Are there any educational requirements for the people quoted as experts in a Ken Burns series?

Brannum: Years ago, certain parts of PBS would say, "You have to have scholars, and they have to have Ph.D.s." Well, our Native scholars don't have Ph.D.s, which meant no Indigenous voices. And the reason there were so few Ph.D.s is that we've learned to trust oral history. Obviously, we rely on professional historians, people with Ph.D.s, but we really interweave people who are telling family stories. It's very important, because sometimes that kind of history is awfully compelling.

It's easy to assume that European settlers were solely responsible for the destruction of buffalo populations, but it's not that simple, is it?

Dunfey: Trade became another source of pressure on the buffalo. [Horses] allowed Indigenous people to travel farther into the Plains, which then puts even more pressure on the buffaloes there. It allowed Plains Indians to not only hunt for themselves and their sustenance, but to hunt for the market.

Brannum: If you weren't living in the heart of the buffalo range, you were still eating it, because you were trading with people who had [access to it].

Has this project inspired or furthered any interests on your part?

Dunfey: I'd like to work in restoration of bison lands, however I might be useful. Maybe it means I wind up making little videos for groups. I am passionate about the animal and what it represents.

This series documents the slaughter of tens of millions of docile creatures. How upsetting do you think that will be for the audience?

Brannum: People are very sensitive, because animals are helpless. They're almost like children.

Dunfey: We [visited] Montana in June, and after one of the Bozeman events, a tiny lady came up to me in tears. I wanted to say, "It's not your fault."