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November is National Native American Heritage Month. Established in 1986 by President Reagan as "American Indian Week," in 1990 President George H.W. Bush approved a joint resolution establishing the entire month of November as "National American Indian Heritage Month." Now called, National Native American Heritage month, it "celebrates and recognizes the accomplishments of the peoples who were the original inhabitants, explorers and settlers of the United States." For legislation, Presidential Proclamations, and Executive Orders pertaining to this commemoration, visit the Law Library of Congress' National American Indian Heritage Month: A Commemorative Observances Legal Research Guide.
Online Resources
National Museum of the American Indian
Native Land Digital - Native Land Digital is a Canadian not-for-profit organization providing a web site and app that enables users to type in an address or click anywhere on the global map - "once you click, a number of links will appear with different nation names. By clicking on those links, you will be taken to a page specifically about that nation, language, or treaty, where you can view some sources, give feedback, and learn a little more."
Indigenous Law Library Archive "a collection of constitutions, codes, executive orders, and court forms and information of sovereign Indigenous governments and courts of 578 federally recognized nations, communities, and tribes in the United States, as well as some Indigenous legal information from Canada, published online" by the Law Library of Congress
Association on American Indian Affairs "the oldest non-profit serving Indian Country protecting sovereignty, preserving culture, educating youth and building capacity."
American Indian Heritage Foundation "The American Indian Heritage Foundation was established in 1973 to provide relief services to Indian people nationwide, to build bridges of understanding and friendship between Indian and non-Indian people."
National American Indian Heritage Month official site
National Archives' Native American Heritage Month site
Stories about Native Americans Articles, videos, and podcasts from NPR
Indigenous Digital Archive - "Explore, annotate and learn from over 500,000 archival documents about Santa Fe Indian School and others, all kinds of boarding school records, yearbooks, and letters."
Streaming films from Vision Maker Media
Streaming documentaries from PBS for Native American Heritage Month
Joy Harjo, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Mvskoke Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). Read her full biography from the National Women's History Museum.
Check out her work at the SJR State Library -
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings
How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems
A Map to the Next World: Poetry and Tales
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: Poems
Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry
Visit the poets.org page for Joy Harjo for interviews, readings, and more.
"A Native American (Adam Beach) sets off on a journey to recover the remains of his estranged father, learning some important lessons from a traveling companion (Evan Adams) and a woman (Irene Bedard) who knew his father."
PG-13
1 hour, 29 minutes
Current SJR State students and employees can stream this film for free on the Swank platform.
"This classic comedy is iconic for many reasons. It is a film we in the Native community reference and joke about in almost every family setting. If you don’t know what it means to yell “Hey Victor!” at anyone named Victor, you need to watch this movie. You’ll understand many of our jokes then. This film was written, directed and acted by Natives (including the screenplay by well-known poet and novelist Sherman Alexie)! That’s a huge deal." - Corinne Rice, 8 Essential Films of the Native American Experience
All films on demand November 18–25, 2022
"The National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Cinema Showcase is an annual celebration of the best in Native film. By embracing oral histories, knowledge, and ancestral lands, Indigenous peoples are creating films to better understand the past and imagine a new way of thinking for the future."
