Native American Heritage Month (2022) Resources - For the Whole Year
November is designated as Native American Heritage Month. I hope this post of resources can be helpful now - but also be used throughout the year.
The fantastic video below, created by co-founders of Little Cheiis, Wade M. Adakai, Diné/Navajo, & Antonio Ramirez, Navajo/Hopi, offers the history and origins of Native American Heritage Month.
Check out this fantastic TikTok from author, journalist, and public speaker Vincent Schilling, Akwesasne Mohawk, about Native American Heritage Month.
Libraries have curated lots of resources to learn more information, spotlight Native creators, attend relevant programs, and find incredible books to read from our libraries!
Wilmette Public Library has several blog posts about Native American Heritage Month that are fantastic resources to learn more and find excellent films, fiction, and nonfiction.
I’ve created posts previously spotlighting displays we’ve created over the years that can be helpful resources. Last year, Ann Santori and I created a Caregiver Care Kit: Read Native: Celebrating Native American and Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month kit. All the resources are available here.
Displays
It’s really exciting to see how Native American Heritage Month displays can be found throughout Wilmette Public Library. There’s truly something for everybody – all year round! We should always incorporate Native voices in our displays all the time.
These books also make excellent gifts from your local independent bookshop. You can even buy books from Native owned stores like Red Planet Books and Comics and Birchbark Books! Book mail is the best!
I helped curate the Juvenile and Picture Book Display in front of the Youth Services department. I also worked with Ann to update our resource pamphlet, which we put out a table next to it, along with coloring pages from Molly of Denali and We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga. I also added We are Water Protectors bookmarks from the ALA store.
We also have a passive program where people can write what they are grateful for to add to our Gratitude Tree, which my colleagues Sarah and Diane put together. We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, citizen of the Cherokee Nation, & Frané Lessac and ThankU: Poems of Gratitude, illustrated by Marlena Myles, edited by Miranda Paul offer lots of inspiration and resources for these conversations about gratitude all year.
Digital Resources for Learning More about Native, Indigenous, and First Nations Peoples
We have compiled an updated list of resources that we hope can be helpful. This is NOT an exhaustive or definitive list of resources, but a collection of tools and resources we have found useful. The descriptions are from the organizations’ websites. We put together a paper brochure in our Youth Services displays for patrons to take, explore, & share. We’ve adapted the handout to make it accessible online here.
Websites
This is a resource for North Americans (and others) to find out more about local Indigenous territories and languages. You can learn more about whose land you inhabit.
Reclaiming Native Truth is a national effort to foster cultural, social and policy change by empowering Native Americans to counter discrimination, invisibility and the dominant narratives that limit Native opportunity, access to justice, health and self-determination. Reclaiming Native Truth’s goal is to move hearts and minds toward greater respect, inclusion and social justice for Native Americans. It was co-designed and co-led by IllumiNative founder Crystal Echo Hawk, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and Echo Hawk Consulting.
Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian provides educators and students with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures. NK360° provides educational materials and teacher training that incorporate Native narratives, more comprehensive histories, and accurate information to enlighten and inform teaching and learning about Native America.
Molly of Denali (Teaching Resources Collection)
Informational text and Alaska Native culture form the basis of the groundbreaking Molly of Denali series and its educational resources. This collection offers videos, digital games, lessons, teaching tips, and activities so that educators can utilize the series in the classroom and home.
Living Nations, Living Words (Signature project from Joy Harjo, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States)
Each location marker reveals a Native Nations poet and features an image, biography, and a link to hear the poet recite and comment on an original poem. This body of work forms the foundation of a “Living Nations, Living Words” online collection in the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center.
Find & Evaluate Books
American Indians in Children’s Literature
Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children’s and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016.
2019 Arbuthnot Lecture: An Indigenous Critique of Whiteness in Children’s Literature by Dr. Debbie Reese (Children and Libraries). You can watch the recorded livestream of the lecture here.
Indigo’s Bookshelf: Voices of Native Youth
“Florida” Seminole & Miccosukee teens review books by and about Native peoples and comment on other news of interest to their communities.
American Indian Youth Literature Award
Awarded biennially, the AIYLA identifies and honors the very best writing and illustrations by and about Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America.
Teacher and Librarian Resources for Native American Children’s and Young Adult Books
Cynthia Leitich Smith, a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation, is a best-selling, award-winning children’s-YA writer, writing teacher, and the author-curator of the Native-centered Heartdrum imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books. This bibliography is compiled in hopes of improving education related to Native peoples and Nations. (Cynthia’s entire website is an invaluable resource.)
NMAI’s Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children’s Literature
You can use NMAI's Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children's Literature with your students to assess books in your library or for your own collection development needs.
Podcasts
Native America Calling brings listeners together in a thought-provoking national conversation about issues specific to Native communities.
Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous community, culture, and conversation.
Hosts Matika Wilbur, Tulalip and Swinomish, and Dr. Adrienne Keene, Cherokee Nation, delve into a different topic facing Native peoples today, bringing in guests from all over Indian Country to offer perspectives and stories.
Hosted by Rebecca Nagle, a citizen of Cherokee Nation. An 1839 assassination of a Cherokee leader and a 1999 murder case – two crimes nearly two centuries apart provide the backbone to a 2020 Supreme Court decision that determined the fate of five tribes and nearly half the land in Oklahoma.
Kīwew is a five-part podcast in which Governor General award-winning author David A. Robertson, Norway House Cree Nation, dives into his family's history and mysteries as he discovers and connects with his Cree identity.
This Place: 150 Years Retold Podcast
Based on the acclaimed graphic novel anthology, This Place is a 10-part journey through one-hundred and fifty years of Indigenous resistance and resilience, hosted by Rosanna Deerchild, O-Pipon-Na-Piwan Cree Nation.
Learning Opportunities
Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
Get a free Museum Pass with your library card to visit the Mitchell Museum, which is focused exclusively on the art, history, and culture of Native American and First Nation peoples.
Monique Gray Smith, Cree, Lakota and Scottish, talks about her adaptation of Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants for young adults
Rethinking Thanksgiving: History, Holidays, and Gratitude
"Free on-demand virtual author visit with Kate Messner and Traci Sorell invites students to take a critical look at the “First Thanksgiving” myth and consider multiple views on gratitude. If you can, please pay it forward by making a donation of any size to the We Need Diverse Books Native Fund or the Highlights Indigenous Storytellers Scholarship fund." The virtual author visit video runs about 45 minutes and will be available throughout the month of November.
NK360° Webinars: Giving Thanks: Telling More Complete Narratives About Thanksgiving
Engage with primary sources and artwork to grapple with the mythology of the "First Thanksgiving." Identify how misrepresentations contribute to the false narratives around the First Thanksgiving and its participants.
IllumiNative Native American Education for All
IllumiNative partners with the National Indian Education Association and Amplifier to create and disseminate engaging digital education tools, lesson plans, and resources about Native American art, culture, history and contemporary life. IllumiNative’s social media is a must follow, too.
Celebrating Indigenous Voices: New Native Stories For your Classrooms and Stacks
Program specialist and librarian of the Indigenous Nations Library Program at University of New Mexico, Janice Kowemy. Pueblo of Laguna, joins Indigenous authors Traci Sorell, Cherokee, Laurel Goodluck, Mandan, Hidatsa, Danielle Greendeer, Mashpee Wampanoag, Anthony Perry, Chickasaw, and Alexis Bunten, Yu’pik, Unangan, to discuss their new books and the state of Native voices in publishing today.
Disrupting Public Memory: The Story of the National Day of Mourning (Facing History)
Breaking down the historically one-sided narrative about Thanksgiving in the US has been a decades-long effort, led by historians and indigenous communities. Watch the 2022 National Day of Mourning Livestream on YouTube.
Articles
How to Tell your Kids the True Story of the ‘First Thanksgiving’ by Laura Newberry (Los Angeles Times)
Empower Native Kids to Read by Aliyah Chavez, Kewa Pueblo (Indian Country Today)
How Native Writers Talk Story: Honoring Authentic Voices in Books for Young People by Cynthia Leitich Smith, Muscogee Creek Nation, and Traci Sorell, Cherokee Nation (School Library Journal)
Native Perspectives: Books by, for, and about Indigenous People: Great Books by Kara Stewart, Sappony (School Library Journal)
Unteaching the Native Narrative by Kara Stewart, Sappony (School Library Journal)
"Readers are Realizing their Hunger for our Stories:" Native Literature for Kids and Teens by Kelly Jensen (Book Riot)
Native Narratives: Native Authors on Recent Gains in Children’s Publishing by Marva Hinton (School Library Journal)
TV
There are several incredible new TV series made by Native creators that I highly recommend checking out.
Rutherford Falls - Did you know you can borrow Rutherford Falls DVDS from your local library? And if they don’t already own it, TELL THEM to buy it!! I cannot tell you how much I loved Rutherford Falls and how much it should not have been cancelled after 2 seasons.
Spirit Rangers - Check out these Spirit Rangers Coloring Pages! There are also tie-in picture books!
