November is Native American Heritage Month, which is a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories of Indigenous tribes. Join Emma Briggs, Manager of League Programs at AJLI, as she shares background information and ideas on how to expand your knowledge on this important topic.
Here are a few steps you can take this month (and after) to honor Indigenous heritage:
- Sit down with a coffee and spend a few minutes perusing the Native American Heritage Month website, where the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian and others pay tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.
- Encourage land awareness by going to https://native-land.ca/ and learning more about what Indigenous tribes you are on traditional territory of.
- Look into adding land acknowledgements in your League meetings. This is a great way to raise awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights in everyday life. We have included a few guides in the text below.
- Center real Native history, we recommend checking out the Native Knowledge 360 at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
- Push back against Native invisibility and erasure, always refer to Indigenous folks in present tense and support current Native legislative advocacy initiatives. For example, the high level of missing and murdered Indigenous women, land sovereignty, and many others.
