Native American Heritage Month

By: Sam Barrett

November marks the beginning of Native American Heritage Month! Native American Heritage Month is a great opportunity for the general public to not only celebrate Indigenous culture, but to also educate ourselves and others on Indigenous history.

In 1990 President George H.W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Since then, every president has signed a proclamation in November declaring the month Native American Heritage Month. President Joe Biden signed the 2021 proclamation on October 29th. Biden also made history in October issuing the country's first-ever proclamation to recognize Columbus Day also as Indigenous People’s Day, recognition that has been long fought for. 

Although, for most Indigenous people the fight for equality and recognition is still not over. According to the Indian Law Resource Center:

  • More than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence.

  • Alaska Native women continue to suffer the highest rate of forcible sexual assault and have reported rates of domestic violence up to 10 times higher than in the rest of the United States.

  • More than four in five of American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3%) have experienced violence in their lifetime.

  • More than one in three (39.8%) of Indigenous women are estimated to experience violence in a year.

Today, there are 574 federally recognized tribes and 324 Native American reservations across the U.S. In Indiana there are now only two tribes that have land locally. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi in northern Indiana has 166 acres. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma also owns land in Indiana, with its headquarters in Fort Wayne. The most prominent tribes in Indiana were the Miamis, Delawares, Shawnee, and Potawatomi, according to the Conner Prairie Interpreter Resource Manual by Dr. David G. Vanderstel.

"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," - from the National Congress of American Indians’ Twitter in honor of Native American Heritage Month.

W4C