Native American Heritage Month

In November, we are celebrating the cultures and contributions of the indigenous peoples of North America.

What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.

One of the very proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N.Y. In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting in Lawrence, Kansas, formally approve a plan concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call upon the country to observe such a day. The first American Indian Day was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of New York. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September.

In 1990 President George H.W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 "National American Indian Heritage Month.