1 A HIGHLY SELECTIVE WEBLIOGRAPHY on NATIVE AMERICAN STUDIES U.S. Honors Contributions of American Indians, Alaska Natives From www.america.gov (National American Indian Heritage Month is celebrated every November) Washington - Each November, National American Indian Heritage Month pays tribute to the legacy of the American Indians and Alaska Natives – the first Americans - and celebrates their enduring contributions to the history and culture of the United States. Today, there are nearly 5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States, or 1.6 percent of the total population, and this is expected to jump to 8.6 million, or 2 percent of the population, by 2050. Most American Indians live in metropolitan areas and not on the 227,000 square kilometers of land held in trust for reservations. The states with the highest percentage of American Indians and Alaska Natives are Alaska (18 percent of its population), Oklahoma (11 percent) and New Mexico (10 percent). There are 564 federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States. The largest, by far, are the Cherokee and Navajo nations, according to the 2000 U.S. census. Navajo is the most widely spoken American Indian language, and almost one-fourth of Navajos speak a language other than English at home - the highest percentage of all tribes. Unfortunately, only one-half of the300 or so native languages once spoken in North America still have any living speakers. ) A study by the public opinion research organization Public Agenda found that non-Indians have little knowledge of the active, vibrant culture of American Indians today. There was a consensus among both Indians and non-Indians in the study about the need for more education on American Indian history and culture. The first U.S. state to set aside a day to recognize the importance of American Indians in the nation's history was New York, in 1916. National American Indian Heritage Month was first designated in 1990 under a joint congressional resolution approved by President George H.W. Bush. Each year, the sitting president issues a proclamation as did President Obama this year. THE CREATION OF AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE MONTH The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs provides some background on what has become an annual celebration of the culture and contributions of American Indians and Alaska Natives. 2 What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the United States has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose. One of the very early proponents of an American Indian Day was Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, New York. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the "First Americans" and for three years they adopted such a day. In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting in Lawrence, Kansas, formally approved a plan concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Reverend Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call on the country to observe such a day. Coolidge issued a proclamation on September 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday of each May as an American Indian Day and contained the first formal appeal for recognition of Indians as citizens. The year before this proclamation was issued, Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode horseback from state to state seeking approval for a day to honor Indians. On December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state governments at the White House. There is no record, however, of such a national day being proclaimed. The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by New York Governor Charles S. Whitman. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in 1919. Several states designated Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it continues to be a day observed without any recognition as a national legal holiday. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 "National American Indian Heritage Month." Similar proclamations have been issued each year since 1994. See the U.S. Census Bureau Web site for a fact sheet (http://www.census.gov/Press- Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/014346.html) on American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month Additional data may be found here: http://factfinder.census.gov/home/aian/index.html Both the U.S. Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/topics/nativeamericans/index.html ) and the National Park Service ( http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/indian/ ) have Web pages devoted to American Indian Heritage Month. The Library of Congress Veterans History Project includes a guide (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/search?query=race:American Indian and Alaskan Native ) to American Indian and Alaska Native military veterans and interviews with former Navajo "code talkers" Keith Little (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.28922/ ) and Merril Sandoval (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.14223/ ). Also see the Web site of the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (http://www.bia.gov/ ). The Web site of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin lists numerous information resources (http://usa.usembassy.de/society-natives.htm ) on Native Americans. 3 CENSUS INFORMATION AND FAST FACTS: We the People: American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S. compiled by the U.S .CENSUS DEPARTMENT: http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS76068 Health Characteristics of the American Indian or Alaska Native Adult Population: United States, 2004- 2008. National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, March 9, 2010 (23 pages) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr020.pdf PORTAL GATEWAY AND DATABASE SITES: Native American Resources: Sites for Online Research: (a September 2010 online article in College and Research Libraries News) http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/8/430.full National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, of the American Indian: www.nmai.si.edu/ Bureau of Indian Affairs (U.S. Department of the Interior) (http://www.doi.gov/bia/) Established in 1824, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provides services directly or through contracts or grants to about 1.7 million American Indians and Alaska Natives. There are 562 federally recognized American Indian tribes ( http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-6968.htm ) in the United States (see PDF version ( http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-6968.pdf ) BIA manages 66 million acres of land held in trust ( http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust.html ) for American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives. There are 562 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives in the United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is responsible for the administration and management of 66 million acres of land held in trust by the United States) and provides education services to about 44,000 Indian students. The BIA site offers links ( http://www.doi.gov/bia/links.html ) to many other agencies and organizations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs website is replete with useful information for those within the Native American community and those who might wish to learn more about such communities. A great overview of Native American land rights, tribal government, language, and the various Indian Bureaus can be found in the FAQs tab near the top of the page. The interactive "Services Overview" section near the bottom of the homepage, allows you to discover more about the services provided by Indian Affairs. Some of the categories of services include "Federal Acknowledgement", "Genealogy", "Self-Determination", "Self-Governance", and "Real Estate". The "Knowledge Base" tab near the top of the page has a multitude of topics to choose from, including a "Tribal Directory" that lists the federally-recognized tribes in each state, and includes the link to appropriate websites. 4 Indigenous Peoples. eJournal , June 2009. This issue of eJournal “provides insight into Native Americans and other indigenous peoples. Articles provide historical background and look at issues surrounding their languages and culture, their legal status, and how they are networking around the world.” eJournal USA is a monthly electronic journal of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs. http://photos.state.gov/libraries/amgov/30145/publications-english/EJ-indigenous-0609.pdf The National Museum of the American Indian – NMAI: the 16th Smithsonian Institution museum -- which opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2004, is the first U.S. national museum dedicated solely to Native Americans. And we think teachers, scholars, librarians and researchers everywhere will be interested in the excellent collection search tool available on the museum's website. http://digbig.com/5bahyr Native American Heritage Month: http://www.loc.gov/topics/nativeamericans/index.html (Includes Lesson Plans for Teachers and students, and resources from the Library of Congress and a variety of Museums.) American Indians: The North American Indian Works: http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/szwedzicki/index.asp Resources on Native American