Native American Heritage Month is observed each November as a way to celebrate the cultural richness and diversities within Indigenous communities and honor their achievements. First declared by New York as “American Indian Day” in 1916, this period of commemoration has gone through some evolution throughout the 1900’s, until President Geroge H. W. Bush officially established November as Native American Heritage Month in 1990.
Types of celebrations of Native American Heritage Month fluctuates depending on location, from powwows, a tradition in which people gather to dance and sing and is observed by spectator groups of diverse backgrounds, to art exhibits and storytelling sessions. Harvard hosts an annual powwow each September. These events are all ways to unite people of different cultural scenes in a place where the heritage and achievements of Indigenous communities are highlighted.
Assistant Dean of Students Mickey Spaulding, who inherited her Abenaki heritage from her father, believes the entirety of Native American Heritage Month, as well as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, are extremely important. She says that the shift of focus from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day in October “does a lot of the footwork in the sense of reminding people what happened historically to Indigenous people”. November’s celebrations “is an extension of that”, both reminding and educating people about their history and celebrating Indigenous cultures and heritages.
The Boston Public Library organizes many events throughout this month to celebrate Indigenous peoples and communities. Along with putting out annual book lists during this time to introduce people to authors of Indigenous heritage, they also host programs such as lectures from authors, film screenings, group discussions, and workshops. A few upcoming examples include a genealogy class about looking into Native American ancestry, a book club discussion about Darcie Little Badger’s novel Elatsoe, and a film screening of a 1998 movie Smoke Signals.
To learn more about Indigenous Peoples’ history, head to Harvard’s Peabody Museum and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, both of which feature Indigenous cultural artifact exhibits and present historical context and information that are all relevant to the theme of this month.
Photo source: Harvard University Native American Program