Honor & Celebrate Native American Heritage Month
Honor & Celebrate Native American Heritage Month
November is?Native American?Heritage Month,?or as it is commonly referred to, American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
This is a chance to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions and histories, as well as the important contributions of Native people. It's also an opportunity to help raise awareness about the unique challenges they have faced both throughout history and today, as well as the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.
Since 1990, every sitting president has signed a proclamation in November declaring the month Native American Heritage Month. President Joe Biden signed the 2021 proclamation on October 29.
"Despite a painful history marked by unjust Federal policies of assimilation and termination, American Indian and Alaska Native peoples have persevered," Biden stated in his?proclamation .
He also named Friday, Nov. 26 — the day after Thanksgiving, also known as "Black Friday" — Native American Heritage Day.
In early October,?Biden made history for issuing the country's first-ever proclamation ?to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day, which many acknowledge as Columbus Day.
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"We the Native peoples of this land, have always been here. Long before this great country was founded, we thrived as stewards of the land and caretakers of our communities — and we will continue to do so for countless generations onward," the National Congress of American Indians said in a?Twitter thread ?dedicated to Native American Heritage Month on Monday, Nov. 1.
November presents a poignant time of helping to educate and spread awareness to non-Indigenous people about current Native American culture. Not just the past.
Honor and Celebrate Native American Heritage Month through Literature
Reading work by Indigenous authors should be something we do all year long, but November is a good month to add some new titles to your bookshelves. To pick up these books isn’t the same as?taking direct action ?to support Indigenous rights and culture. But they will broaden your perspective, as well as your reading list. An excellent place to start is with any book by author Louise Erdrich. Buy a Louise Erdrich book from Bookshop.org, an online bookstore that supports local businesses,?here .
Other books to consider:
These books don't attempt to encapsulate the entirety of a culture that's complex and complicated. Even the best read can't do that. They're just good books, full-stop, that happen to be written by Native and Indigenous writers.?