November is Native American Heritage Month. It is a time we honor and pay tribute to Native Americans and Alaska Natives. It is an opportunity to take some time to learn about the rich history, tribes, and cultures. It is also a great time to raise awareness about the unique challenges Native Americans have faced in the past and still face today, and the ways in which they are overcoming these challenges.
The journey for a national honoring of Native Americans has been a long one. After decades of petitioning the government for a permanent appointment on the calendar, it was only in 1986 that the week of November 23-30 was designated as “American Indian Week” by the White House. Every President since 1995 has issued annual proclamations designating the month of November to be a time to honor and celebrate the history, accomplishments, contributions, and traditions of Native Americans and Native Alaskans.
The Code3 D&I team led a discussion surrounding the podcast All My Relations, episode Whole Family Wellness. Matika Wilbur is a visual storyteller from the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples of coastal Washington, and Adrienne Keene is a writer, author, and citizen of the Cherokee Nation. For this episode, they are joined by Well For Culture founders Thosh Collins (WhaZhaZi, Haudenosaunee & O'otham) and Chelsea Luger (Anishinaabe & Lakota) to discuss Whole Family Wellness, and an indigenous approach to prenatal, baby, post-partum, fatherhood, and a whole family approach to wellness, and its importance during a pandemic.
We were grateful to have the opportunity to discuss wellness in Native American cultures and the effects of inaccurate media portrayal. There is so much more work we can do to research, discuss, and re-learn about the Native American and Indigenous past, present, and future.
LEARN MORE: From the All My Relations website - All My Relations is a team of folks who care about representations, and how Native peoples are represented in mainstream media. Between us, we have decades of experience working in and with Native communities, and writing and speaking about issues of representation". Click around, listen to more episodes, and explore!
Native American Heritage Month - “Celebrate the history, culture, and traditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives in a special collection of films and programs” - PBS
Reservation Dogs - Hulu “Reservation Dogs breaks comedy TV ground with its Indigenous Creators, Cast and Writers.
The Forgotten History of Ohio’s Indigenous Peoples - Midstory.org
Understanding the Issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women - NativeHope.org
Be a Myth Buster - “Popular culture has created and reinforced many myths about Native communities and Native people that creatives should be mindful of when creating content that includes or centers Native peoples. There is a significant opportunity through your work to clear up the common misconceptions that too often shape Americans’ views of what it means to be Native.” - IllumiNative
IllumiNative.org - “IllumiNative is a non-profit initiative designed to increase the visibility of – and challenge the negative narrative about – Native Nations and peoples in American society.”
5 Ways to Honor Native Americans During National Native American Heritage Month - CNN
Native American Heritage Month - “NPR is celebrating by highlighting different Indigenous stories and culture through the public media sphere” - NPR
Toasted Sister Podcast - Hosted by Andi Murphy, a Navajo journalist, “Toasted Sister” takes up along on Murphy’s journey to discover her culinary roots. This award-winning podcast documents the Native American Food Movement. - Podcast
Webinar - Indigenous Peoples’ History - “..this webinar will delve into the ways American history instruction often fails to acknowledge—and contributes to—the erasure of Indigenous stories and perspectives.” - Learning for Justice
All of us at Code3 look forward to continuing the conversation this month and beyond. If you have any additional resources you'd like to share with us, please reach out.