By Cristy Vaughn, BS | Behavioral Health Program Manager
Native American Heritage Month is recognized during the month of November and honors Native people in the United States by sharing their culture, traditions, music, crafts, dance, and ways of life.
For almost 100 years Americans, both Native and non-Native, advocated for a permanently designated place on the calendar to honor the contributions, achievements, sacrifices, and cultural and historical legacy of the original inhabitants of what is now the United States and their descendants: the American Indian and Alaska Native people. Finally, in 1990, a month was designated in honor of Native Americans.
Historical Timeline
1912 – Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian and director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N.Y. persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to adopt a day for the “First Americans” and for three years they did.
1914 – Red Fox Skiukusha (also known as Reverend Red Fox James), a Blackfoot Indian, rode state to state across 4,000 miles on horseback seeking the states’ approval for a day to honor Indians.
1915 – The Congress of the American Indian Association approved a plan to observe the second Saturday of May as “American Indian Day.” Their President Reverend Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe Indian, issued this proclamation on September 28, 1915.
1915 – Red Fox Skiukusha made the trek across the United States again, this time seeking state support for U.S. citizenship to be extended to American Indians. And on December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state governments at the White House. Unfortunately, there is no record that such a national day was proclaimed.
1916 – New York was the first state to declare an American Indian Day; recognized on the second Saturday of May.
1919 – Illinois state legislature enacted a bill proclaiming the fourth Friday in September as American Indian Day.
1924 – Congress enacted the Indian Citizenship Act extending citizenship to all U.S. born American Indians not already covered by treaty or other federal agreements that granted such status. The act was later amended to include Alaska Natives. Through the following years many states issued proclamations and enacted resolutions for an American Indian Day, some even declaring it an official state holiday.
1990 – November is officially designated as Native American Indian Heritage Month.
