Native American Heritage Month

Written By Antone Araujo and Melanie Rosenthal

History:

In 1990, Congress passed Public Law No. 101-343, which authorized the designation of “Native American Heritage Month.” Between 1995 and 2008, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush issued annual proclamations designating November as National Native American Heritage Month, and since 2009, US Presidents have issued November as National Native American Heritage Month. Congress chose the month of November to recognize Native Americans as November concludes the traditional harvest season, and falls upon the time of Thanksgiving.

Current Struggles for Native Americans:

• Educational Attainment
  • Native Americans have the lowest educational attainment and success rates out of any other racial/ethnic group in the US
  • 15% of Native Americans have a bachelor’s degree or higher in comparison to 16.4% of Hispanics, 21.6% of African Americans, and 33.5% of Whites who have a bachelor’s degree or higher
• Lack of educational resources
  • Lack of relevant curriculum/absence of academic material that Natives cannot relate to, which has further contributed to the stereotype that Native Americans are not equipped to attend college
  • Recent statistics from the Bureau of Indian Affairs have noted that 29% to 36% of all Native American students drop out of school, mostly between the 7th and 12th grades
  • Because of the impoverished economies of many reservations, many Native American children attend underfunded schools. This means their educational opportunities are insufficient — schools, programs, and teachers do not receive adequate funds
• Poverty
  • Based on the 2018 U.S Census, the national poverty rate for Native Americans was 25.4% with an unemployment rate of 6.1%
• High Incarceration rates
  • Native Americans are overrepresented in the prison population in 19 states compared to any other race and ethnicity, which is an interesting fact seeing Native Americans make up the smallest ethnic group in the US
  • Native Americans are incarcerated at 38% higher than the national average 
• Severe disparities in health and healthcare
  • Indian Health Services (IHS) provides healthcare to 2.2 million Native Americans across the United States, but is consistently underfunded by Congress and further limits health services for tribe members
• Cultural Appropriation
  • Mascots (Braves & Redskins), logos, costumes, media representation, 
  • Various sports teams have changed their names, like the Washington Commanders in July 2020 (formerly known as the Washington Redskins) and Cleveland Guardians in November 2021 (previously the Cleveland Indians)
• General
  • Slurs, threats, offensive comments, violence – all relating to their Native background

Importance of Native Representation:

While Native American Heritage Month has brought attention to the diverse Native American histories and modern Native communities that persist, Native Americans continue to be overlooked as a people. The reason that indigenous cultures and traditions continue to live on and thrive is because of Native American resistance and perseverance. In the 20th and 21st centuries, there has been a resurgence of Native American pride, which can be attributed to the increased advocacy of Native peoples voicing their communities’ struggles. Native American peoples have also reclaimed their identities by continuing their cultural practices and reeducating the world about who their peoples are. For instance, while Thanksgiving is widely regarded as a holiday of celebration, for Native peoples, this is not exactly true. Instead, many Native peoples refer to Thanksgiving as a National Day of Mourning, which is a demonstration that aims to educate the American public about Native American history. This movement notably highlighted the Wampanoag people of Massachusetts, the first of whom to come into contact with European settlers on the day that became known as the first “Thanksgiving.”

Native American Histories cannot only be talked about in November. These histories must be an ongoing topic of discussion, as Native Americans are not a thing of the past. Without Native American representation, you are missing an integral part of the story; one that excludes the original inhabitants and caretakers of the land.