It’s a history of Native America very few are familiar with. And unlike most we read and see, this true story isn’t one of defeat, disease, genocide, and deprivation. This history is about a success; the story of an Indigenous war and religious leader whose triumph has allowed the people of his region to thrive more than 300 years later.

Po’pay may not be a household name, but his leadership in the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 accomplished what  Crazy Horse, Tecumseh, Chief Joseph, and others heroically tried and failed at doing.

Soon, we will know who this man was.

But who Po’pay was can’t be expressed by a marble statue, even one in Statuary Hall in the Rotunda of the Nation’s Capitol.

Several years ago, the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in New Mexico teamed up with filmmakers Derek Stokes and Catherine Angeles of Skalalitude Productions to change all that. Their upcoming feature-length documentary, Po’pay, A True American Hero,  will pay tribute to the man, and perhaps even more importantly, the legacy of his victorious revolt against the Spanish in the lives of modern-day Natives seeking to maintain their languages and traditions.

“What is so inspiring about the story it is really the only time during the colonial onslaught that an Indigenous people were able to stand up and defeat that force and save their culture in the process,” explains Stokes. “It is such a wonderfully, positive story people aren’t familiar with, although they really should be. It’s because of this revolt that the culture in the Southwest is still so strong comparatively to other Native American tribes.”

With an eye on a 2008 Sundance premiere, Po’pay, A True American Hero  provides more than a typical History Channel retrospective. The film includes traditional art, music, dances and insightful interviews from tribal members and ties it all together to explain how the events of so long ago matters so much today.

The Ohkay Owingeh are using the documentary's message to advance a larger purpose. Following the film’s release, they will embark on their educational “Knotted Cord Tour,”  introducing the art, dance and traditions of the Pueblo and Hopi tribes to communities worldwide and earmarking proceeds from the project to support tribal substance abuse programs.

Stokes explains why. “Dancing and art to the Pueblos, to the Hopi, and to a lot of Indigenous cultures, is not about entertainment at all. It is really about healing, it’s about blessing, and it’s about stating a part of traditional life and culture as the ultimate way of reclaiming themselves. That’s what we’re trying to do—support this model which brings about balance and harmony.”

Now entering post production, Stokes and Angeles have more than 100 hours of film to edit—including interviews, exhibitions and commemorations. They’ve listened and learned, done copious research, and sought the expertise of historians and Pueblo elders like Herman Agoyo, who is the film’s co-director. They’ve stood for hours in the stifling New Mexico summer heat to witness the unveiling of Po’pay’s statue. This is not a passing fancy—not for the Ohkay Owingeh and not for their production team.

But they also realize who Po’Pay was can’t be expressed by a marble statue. Not in New Mexico, not in Statuary Hall in the Rotunda of the Nation’s Capitol.

Soon, the Pueblo people with their filmmaking partners will be ready to unveil Po’pay, the man. Not the  statue. The hero; the Native American hero; the hero  every American  child should be learning about in addition to Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln.  

“The people of Ohkay Owingeh would like to see Po’pay’s name alongside the other Native American heroes like Geronimo and Sacagawea,” Stokes concludes. “This hero deserves to be embedded in our national consciousness.”

Sure—that’s a tall order for one humble documentary; especially one humble documentary about a virtually unknown warrior hero of eons past. But humble doesn’t preclude the impact this man has had on the lives of thousands of Indigenous Pueblo and Hopi in the Southwest.

This fact alone makes Po’pay, A True American Hero  a film worth waiting for; even if it’s taken us more than 300 years to understand why.

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Watch the following eight-minute promo video for a glimpse of what's to come….:)