Civics Resources for Indigenous Peoples Day and Native American Heritage Month

Celebrate Indigenous People Day (and prepare for Native American Heritage Month) by hosting student discussions about the indigenous people in their country of origin and local Native Americans communities.  Use these resources to prompt further discussion and learning.   

NativeAmericanHeritageMonth.gov

American English at State: Celebrate US Holidays: Native American Pow-Wows | Columbus Day

American Indian Library Association: Academic Library ResourcesSchool Library Resources

ASU American Indian Policy Institute: AIPI 2023 Summer Reading List: Native American Novels through the Decades

California Indian Education for All: The 6 P’s: California Indian Education Curriculum

Common Sense: Free Learning Resources for Native American Heritage Month (K12)

DOI: Bureau of Indian Affairs | Tribal Leaders Directory (federally recognized) | News 

Facing History and Ourselves: 20 Teacher Resources on Native American History and Culture

Gilder Lehrman Institute: Columbus/Indigenous Peoples' Day (9-12, AP)

Global One Project: Indigenous Perspectives on Restoring Our World (9-12 lesson plan) (many more resources)  (Thanks C. Stoner!)

Hopewell Culture National Park NPS.govNPSHistory.comUNESCO

Indian Country Today: News, Opinion & more 

ISTE: 15 Resources for Teaching Native American History and Culture

IWGIA: The Indigenous World 2023

Land Mark: Global Platform of Indigenous Peoples and Community Lands (interactive map)

LOC: Living Nations, Living Words: A Map of First Peoples Poetry | Today in History: Oct 12: Columbus Day

Muwekma Ohlone Tribe: Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh at TEDXBerkeley

National Archives: Native Communities Research Guides by region

National Indian Education Association: Strengthening Career and Technical Education For The 21st Century Act Carl D. Perkins Career And Technical Education Act

Native Lands Digital: map | teacher guide | using map to understand treaties | territory acknowledgement

Native Gov: Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

NEA: Resources for Teaching About Indigenous Peoples (K12)

NEH: American Indian History and Heritage

NMAI: Native Knowledge 360 | Essential Understandings | Unlearning Myths | Making Land Acknowledgment Meaningful (video) | American Indian Magazine

NPS: Native American Heritage Month | Alaska and Indigenous Peoples Day | Native American Heritage

NPS: Hopewell Culture National Park site

NPS History: Hopewell Culture National Park pdf

News from Native California magazine

PBS: Native AmericaMake Ohlone Salad (more from Cafe Ohlone)

Perkin Collaborative Resources Network: Native American Career and Technical Education Program

Pew Research: Working on Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? It depends on where your job is

Smithsonian Magazine

"Superman and Me"  by Sherman Alexei (example of Reservation Indian literature.  Discussion question: "Write you own literacy narrative.")

"There There" by Tommy Orange (example of Urban Indian literature used in wide-spread adult reading programs)

UMN Duluth: Resources for Teaching American Indian History and Culture

United Nations:

US Census: My Tribal Area (click Education and note Educational Attainment, particularly “9-12, no diploma” and above)

uscitizenpod: U.S. Citizenship Resources for Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day

Visual Capitalist: Mapped: The World’s Indigenous Peoplesmap

VOA: Native America (features and weekly summary stories)

Wikipedia: List of organizations that self-identify as Native American tribes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

We had a packed presentation for the 10/10 Civics Resources for Indigenous Peoples Day.  We have updated our resource list to include materials about Indigenous Peoples outside of the United States, literatures, and examples from non-federally recognized tribes.  Here are our discussion questions.  Please add your comments below.

  1. How do you introduce, teach, and discuss the Indigenous Americans historical and current contributions to the United States?
  2. How can we create a safe space for adult learners to acknowledge and celebrate their own indigenous identities that may be subsumed by their “country of origin”?
  3. What lessons can immigrant adult learners learn from Indigenous Americans to preserve their culture and engage their youth?
  4. We live on Indigenous Land.  How can we join with Indigenous People to caretake the land and foster a sense of belonging and stewardship that includes immigrants, refugees, and asylees?