Native American Heritage Month

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

Resources

 

 

Articles

 

 

Events

  • November 1-30 - Native American Heritage Month Virtual 5K; Run, walk, bike, swim, hop, skip, jump the equivalent of a 5k from wherever you live! You will be joining a National effort to raise funding and awareness for NCUIH’s critical work supporting American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) urban communities. Sign-up
  • November 1 at 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm Central/7:30pm - 8:45 pm Eastern - Lecture: Good Medicine: Finding Your Voice After Collective Trauma by Kyle Ethelbah, White Mountain Apache, Director for College Programs, Center for Academic Enrichment & Outreach, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Zoom link
  • November 4 at at 1:00 pm Central/2:00 pm Central - Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World USET Watch Party; This documentary tells the story of a profound, essential, and until now, missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. RSVP
  • November 6 at 10:00 am - 3:00 pm Central/11:00 am -4:00 pm Eastern - Reflections of the 16th Century: A Paddle and Outdoor Living Experience. Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with a free family fun Bronx River paddle through the fall foliage, and explore the traditional lifeways of the Eastern Algonquin peoples.
    RSVP
  • November 6 at 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm Central/1:30 pm - 3:30 pm Eastern - Voices: An Indigenous Reading Circle; In this Reading and Learning Circle, you will hear from prominent young adult and children's authors about their work and what it means to create space. In this conversation, you will hear from authors Cherie Dimaline, Christy Jordan-Fenton, and David A. Robertson on the power of young adult fiction and the importance of Indigneous storytelling tradition. Register
  • November 10 at 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Central/7:00 pm - 8:30 pm Eastern - The world premiere of the new Upstander Project film, BOUNTY. Register for free. Here is the synopsis of the film, by Dawn Neptune Adams, Maulian Dana, Adam Mazo, Ben Pender-Cudlip, and Tracy Rector:We are citizens of the Penobscot Nation. For this film, we bring our families to Boston to read our ancestors’ death warrant. This abhorrent proclamation, made in 1755 by the colonial government, paid settlers handsomely to murder Penobscot people. It declared our people enemies and offered different prices for the scalps of children, women, and men. Bounty proclamations like this, some even paid in stolen land, persisted for more than two centuries across what is now the United States.The memory of being hunted is in our blood. We know this to be true, and the science now affirms that trauma can be passed down from generation to generation. In BOUNTY we step into the future together with our children into the colonizer’s hall of injustice, to read their hateful words and tell the truth about what was done to our ancestors. We exercise our power by sharing the horrors of this hard history as an act of resistance, remembrance, and a step toward justice.Join Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Dana, film participant Dawn Neptune Adams (Penobscot), and filmmaker and Upstander Project director Adam Mazo for a conversation after the film. Learn more about the film at bountyfilm.org.
  • November 12-18, 2021 - Watch the Inhabitants documentary
  • November 12–18, 2021 - Native Cinema Showcase
  • November 16 at 10:00 am Central/11:00 am Eastern - Webinar from the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation: "Traditional Gathering Methods of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians" - Register
  • November 16 at 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm Eastern - CMS Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights presents, "“Native Wellness Institute: Historical Trauma and AIAN Resilience”: Gene Tagaban, “One Crazy Raven,” who is a storyteller, speaker, mentor, teacher and counselor of the spirit, as well as a board member and trainer with the Native Wellness Institute. He will speak on historical trauma, healing and resilience. Zoom link
  • November 18 at 6:00 pm Central/7:00 pm Eastern - The Jamestown Settlement museum will be hosting a special free public lecture at 7 p.m. given by documentary photographer, Matika Wilbur. As part of the museum’s year-long special exhibition, “FOCUSED: A Century of Virginia Indian Resilience,” Ms. Wilbur will speak on, “Changing the Way We See Native America: Dismantling Native American Stereotypes.” Those wishing to attend this free lecture should be advised that admission is limited. To register, please visit the website for Jamestown Settlement.
  • November 20 at 10:00 am Central/11:00 am Eastern - The Martha’s Vineyard Museum is celebrating Native American Heritage Month with a presentation on Saturday, Nov. 20 by Darius Coombs, cultural outreach coordinator for the Mashpee Wampanoag. The event is called Wampanoag and Noepe as One, and it traces the history of the Wampanoag people on the Vineyard, which goes back thousands of years. The event begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday and advance registration is required. The cost is $15/member; $20/non-member. The event can also be viewed virtually by Zoom. For tickets, Zoom links and more information, visit mvmuseum.org or call 508-627-4441.
  • November 23 at 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Eastern - CMS Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights presents, “Native Cuisine with Chef Craig”: Nephi Craig, who is an Apache chef and the Native American Culinary Association founder. His goal is to use food as medicine for his Native people. He will speak on Native American cuisines and food practices. Zoom link
  • November 29 at 12:00 pm Eastern - House Committee on Natural Resources and the Library of Congress will host a virtual event to commemorate Native American Heritage Month. Zoom link
  • November 30 at 3:00 pm Eastern - The Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) is celebrating National Native American Heritage Month! OELA is hosting a panel discussion and audience Q&A with award-winning authors whose work highlights the diversity of heroes and heroines within the Native American community. Register
  • Smithsonian Native American Indian Museum events

 

 

Initiatives and Calls to Actions

 

 

News

 

 

Podcasts

 

 

Publications

 

 

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).
  • "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).
  • "Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie (2016).
  • "We Are the Water Protectors" by Carole Lindstrom (2020).

 

 

Thanksgiving Day Myths and Facts

 

 

Videos and Films

 

 

The 574 Federally Recognized Tribal Nations