Native American Heritage Month

Learn more about USET, Native American history, and Native American Heritage Month.

 

"One can tell a great deal about a country by what it chooses to remember ... One can tell even more by what a nation chooses to forget."  Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

 

Indian Country 101

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Events

  • November 1-30 - The Smithsonian’s National Museum celebrates Native American Heritage Month with numerous events honoring American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian veterans. Visitors can celebrate the diversity and contributions of these Native cultures with a variety of free public events in Washington, D.C., New York City, and online. Programs include festivals, performances, talks and family activities.
  • November 1-29 - The Carnegie Art Center announced "All of Our Relations," a month-long celebration in honor of Native American Heritage Month, featuring the rich cultural heritage of the Seneca and Tuscarora nations. This event will take place at the Carnegie Art Center, 240 Goundry St., North Tonawanda.
  • November 1-30 | Every Tuesday and Thursday - The Anderson-Lee Library in New York will be having an annual speaker series in honor of Native American Heritage Month.
  • November 2 at 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm Eastern and November 3 at 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Eastern - Legacies of Indigenous Enslavement, Indenture, and Colonization at Harvard and Beyond Conference in Cambridge, MA. Learn more.
  • November 4 at 10:00 am - 3:00 pm - Machicomoco State Park is hosting its annual Indigenous Peoples Celebration  at the Interpretative Area. The celebration will include dance performances at 10:30 a.m., noon and 1:30 p.m. by the Rappahannock Native American Dancers & Maskapow Drum Group. The performances will be held at the Demonstration Circle of the Interpretive Area.
  • November 4 - ONLINE | Native Knowledge 360° and Teaching for Change Virtual Teach-In: Indigenous Education 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm Eastern
  • November 8 at 4:00 pm - 4:45 pm Eastern - Department of Transportation NAHM event hosted by USDOT Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg and USDOT Assistant Secretary for Tribal Affairs Arlando Teller. To access the link to the NAHM event, go to the USDOT webpage at www.transportation.gov. At the top of the main USDOT webpage, go to the drop-down menu under the CONNECT tab and then click on the SOCIAL MEDIA tab. On the menu column located on the left side of the SOCIAL MEDIA page, you can click on the EVENTS tab where you will then see a posting for the NAHM event. The posting will include a link to the live showing of the NAHM event.
  • November 11 - DC | Honoring Native Veterans 10:00 am - 5:30 pm Eastern
  • November 11 - Cherokee History Day will be held at the Cradle of Forestry from 11:00 am - 4:30 pm Eastern. The Tsalagi Touring group will present activities on Cherokee history, arts, crafts, culture, dance and more.
  • November 17-24 - 2023 Native Cinema Showcase  (online)
  • November 23-24 - The Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ 51st annual Thanksgiving Pow Wow will be held Nov. 23-24, 2023 on the Pow Wow Grounds in Poarch. The Pow Wow is held to celebrate the cultural heritage and rick tradition of the PBCI. The event is two days filled with dance and drumming competitions, unique crafts from local artisans, barbecue, fire-roasted corn, buffalo burgers, fried chicken and a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. General admission is $10. Two-day wrist band is $15. Read more.
  • November 24 - DC | Native American Heritage Day: Honoring the Jingle Dress Dance 11:30 am - 5:00 pm Eastern
  • November 24 - NY | Native American Heritage Day: Akwesasne Women Singers 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm Eastern
  • November 29 at 10:00 am Eastern - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and other House members will hold a roundtable titled, “Strengthening Historic and Cultural Preservation” | Livestream: FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE | TWITTER
    In-Person: Capitol Visitor Center, Room CVC 217, Washington, DC

 

 

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Recommended Books

  • "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus" by Charles C. Mann (2006).
  • "Black Elk Speaks" by J. Neihardt (2014).
  • "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Kimmerer  (2013).
  • "Brave Are My People: Indian Heroes Not Forgotten" by Frank Waters (1993).
  • "Great Speeches by Native Americans" Edited by Bob Blaisdell (2000).
  • "Buffalo Tiger: A Life in the Everglades (Indians of the Southeast)" by Buffalo Tiger and Harry A. Kersey Jr. (2008)
  • "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West" by Dee Brown (1970).
  • "Ceremony" by Leslie Marmon Silko (1977).
  • "Code Talker" by Chester Nez (2011).
  • "Crazy" by Joy Harjo.
  • "Custer Died For Your Sins" by Vine Deloria, Jr. (1988).
  • "Even As We Breathe" by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle (2020).
  • "Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask" by Anton Treuer (2012).
  • "Fire Keeper's Daughter" by Angeline Boulley (2021).
  • "Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England" by Jean M. O’Brien (2010).
  • "Forgotten Founders: How the American Indian Helped Shape Democracy" by Bruce E. Johansen (1982).
  • "Heart Berries" by Terese Marie Mailhot (2018).
  • "House Made of Dawn" by N. Scott Momaday.
  • "If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving" by Chris Newell (2021).
  • "Killers of The Flower Moon" by David Grann (2017).
  • "Killing the White Man's Indian: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century" by Fergus Bordewich (1997).
  • "The Life and Traditions of the Red Man: A rediscovered treasure of Native American literature" by Joseph Nicolar (2007).
  • "Lost Bird of Wounded Knee" by Renee Sansom Flood (1995).
  • "Love Medicine"(1984) and "The Round House" (2013) by Louise Erdrich.
  • “Medicine Trail:  The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon” by Melissa Jayne Fawcett (2000)
  • "Motorcycles & Sweetgrass" by Drew Hayden Taylor (2010).
  • "Reservation "Capitalism" by Robert J. Miller (2012).
  • "The Round House" by Louise Erdrich (2013).
  • "Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation" by Peter Cozzens (2020).
  • "There, There" by  Tommy Orange (2018).
  • "Unsettling Truths" by Mark Charles (2019).
  • "Winter In the Blood" by James Welch (1974).
  • "Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country" by Sierra Crane Murdoch (2020).

Children's Books

  • "Bowwow Powwow" by Brenda J. Child (2018).
  • “Cranberry Day: A Wampanoag Harvest Celebration” by Jannette Vanderhoop (2002).
  • “Fighting Eagles/Dear and Turtle” by Sesostrie Youchigant to Mary Haas (2011).
  • “Flip and Flop” by Leslie Pearson (2019).
  • "Frybread" by Kevin Noble Maillard (2019).
  • "An Indigenous Peoples’ History for Young People" by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza (2019).
  • "Journey of the Freckled Indians" by Alyssa London (2020).
  • "Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story" by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, and Alexis Buntern (2022).
  • "Race to the Truth: Colonization and the Wampanoag Story" by Linda Coombs (Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah) (2023).
  • "Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie (2016).
  • "We Are the Water Protectors" by Carole Lindstrom (2020).

 

 

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The 574 Federally Recognized Tribal Nations