Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time dedicated to celebrating the cultures, accomplishments, and contributions of Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

We hope you will join us for a hike along the Sandy River honoring Native American Heritage Month on Saturday, November 20th at 11am. More information can be found here.

Ways to Celebrate Native Culture this Month and Beyond:

• Attend (virtually) the Native Cinema Festival (November 12-18)
• Attend (virtually) a screening of the film Gather on Native American food sovereignty (November 10)
• Listen to this TED Talk by Sean Sherman on Indigenous Culinary Traditions
• Read a book by a Native American author & participate in the American Indian Library Association’s Read Native Challenge
• Attend a virtual Native Story Time with Le Monde board member Karen Kitchen (November 17 & December 15)
• Make a virtual visit to the National Museum of the American Indian’s photo exhibit entitled “Developing Stories”
• Support local businesses owned by Indigenous People
• Learn about the history of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde
• Learn about our local Portland Indigenous populations. Portland has the 9th largest (over 70,000 people) urban population of Native American people.
• Listen to this interview by poet laureate Joy Harjo on Fresh Air.
• Watch cultural videos created by local group Wisdom of the Elders

Ways to Educate Yourself about the Ongoing Harm of Colonization:

• Learn whose land you are on: read our land acknowledgment and visit Native-Land to learn more about the Indigenous Peoples who have stewarded lands all over the world.
• Learn and discuss the truth about the first Thanksgiving.
• Watch a video in the “Living Stories” series by the Native American advocacy and education organization Oyate.
• Learn about the prevalence of missing or murdered Indigenous women and disparities in searching for them.
• Learn about so-called Native boarding schools and the fight to get Native ancestors back.
• Listen to this episode of Code Switch on blood quantum.
• Learn about how Native Americans have been depicted in children’s literature and receive recommendations about which titles to skip.

Books for Kids:

• We Are Water Protectors, by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade.
• Wilgyigyet: Learn the Colors in Sm’algyax, compiled by the Haayk Foundation 
• A Girl Called Echo, by Katherena Vermette.
• The Range Eternal, by Louise Erdrich.