November is National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. It is celebrated to recognize the intertribal cultures and to educate the public about the heritage, history, art and traditions of American Indians and Alaska Native people. The month includes many celebrations and opportunities for reflection and learning. Click here to read President Barack Obama’s proclamation.
President George H.W. Bush first designated the month of recognition in 1990, and in 2009, legislation was passed that established the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving Day of each year as Native American Heritage Day.
On the first day of the November, let’s look back at the history of how the month came to be.
• Arthur C. Parker (Seneca) from New York, is credited with persuading the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the “First Americans,” in the early 20th century. For three years, the Boy Scouts celebrated it.
• In 1914, Red Fox James (Blackfeet) rode 4,006 miles on horseback to collect endorsements from 24 governors for a holiday, which he delivered to Washington, D.C., and presented to the president on Dec. 14, 1915.
• The president of the Society of American Indians, Rev. Sherman Coolidge (Arapahoe) issued a proclamation on Sept. 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday of May as American Indian Day and contained the first formal appeal for recognition of American Indians as citizens. Read the proclamation, as published by The New York Times, here.
• The first American Indian Day to be celebrated in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of New York. Today, other cities and states, such as the state of South Dakota and the city of Berkeley, Calif., have decided to celebrate Native American Day on Columbus Day.
Over the past century, efforts to establish a Native American Heritage Day have lead to today’s celebration of an American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
Check the Native American Heritage Month website for more information. Does your community have any special events happening this month? We’d love to hear about it. Leave us a comment below.