Special Topics & Events: Native American Heritage Month

Celebrating and Honoring NAHM

This guide is meant to provide resources for celebrating and Honoring Native American Heritage in this and every month. Below is a list of suggested ways to celebrate Native American Heritage by the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness:

• Read a book by a Native American author.

• Listen to a podcast by a Native American.

• Visit one of many Native American museums, heritage centers, or historical sights.

• Try a delicious Native American recipe.

• Watch a movie or documentary about or by a Native American.

• Participate in or watch a game of Lacrosse.

• Follow Native American activists, educators, and organizations on social media.

• Attend one of many seminars, performances, or events honoring Native American culture.

• Research a Native issue in your area, join it, and/or take action.

• Make a donation to Native American rights organizations 

What is Native American Heritage Month?

“November is Native American Heritage Month, first declared by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. The month is a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Native American Heritage Month is also an opportunity to educate the general public about Native Americans, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which Native people have worked to conquer these challenges.”

- Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness

History of NAHM

"One of the earliest proponents of a day honoring American Indians was Dr. Arthur Caswell Parker (b. 1881, d. 1955), a Cattaraugus Seneca and the director of the Rochester Museum in New York (now the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences). Dr. Parker (Gawasco Waneh) was a noted anthropologist, historian, and author whose great-uncle was Brigadier General Ely S. Parker, secretary to General Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War and the first American Indian to serve as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior. Dr. Parker also served as the first president of the Society for American Archaeology (1935-36).

Dr. Parker founded several American Indian rights organizations, including the Society of American Indians, in 1911, with the founding of the National Congress of American Indians in 1944, advocating for American Indians to be given U.S. citizenship. He successfully persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the "First Americans," which they did from 1912 to 1915.

In the spring of 1914, another Indian rights advocate, the Reverend Red Fox James (b. 1890-95, d. ?), also known as Red Fox Skiukusha, whose tribal identity is undetermined, began a 4,000-mile trek on horseback to Washington, D.C., to petition the President for an "Indian Day." The following year, on horseback, he traveled from state to state seeking gubernatorial support for U.S. citizenship to be extended to American Indians. On December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 governors to the White House. In 1919, he petitioned the state of Washington to designate the fourth Saturday in September as an "Indian holiday."

Also in 1915, the Congress of the American Indian Association, meeting in Lawrence, Kansas, directed its President, the Reverend Sherman Coolidge (1862-1932), an Arapaho minister and one of the founders of the SAI, to call upon the Nation to observe a day for American Indians. On September 18, 1915, he issued a proclamation declaring the second Saturday of each May as "American Indian Day" and appealing for U.S. citizenship for American Indians." - Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Native American Heritage Month stems from the above efforts, and the celebration of "Native American Awareness Week" established in 1976 by the Senate and President Ford. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush officially declared the month of November as Native American Heritage month, which we have celebrated nationally each year since. To learn more about this timeline of events, visit the links below!

Presidential Proclamation for Native American Heritage Month

Every year since 1994, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation designating the month of November as Native American Heritage Month. To read the most recent proclamation as well as historic proclamations, check out the links below.