Framingham State University would like to acknowledge that the land we live, work, learn, and commune on is the original homelands of the Nipmuc tribal nations. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory, and we honor and respect the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land on which we gather. The Library is committed to honoring Native American and Indigenous Peoples’ heritage by hosting educational events and providing educational resources.
Visit the Nipmuc Nation's website to learn more about their history and organization.
To learn more about acknowledgements of Indigenous territories, visit the the website of the Native Land mapping project.
Video published by TEDx Talks
Video published by 9News.
Video published by TEDx Talks
Videos/article published by the Aspen Institute.
Video published by TEDx Talks
Video published by the US Department of Arts and Culture.
Video published by the Associated Press
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 U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.
One of the very [first] proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N.Y. 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, Kans., formally approved a plan concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call upon the country to observe such a day. Coolidge issued a proclamation on Sept. 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 the governor of New York. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in 1919. Presently, several states have designated Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it continues to be a day we observe 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, under variants on the name (including “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”) have been issued each year since 1994.
- found at the Native American Heritage Month homepage.
By Wendy Red Star, Artist. 2016. Used by Permission.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017651407/
National Archives
By Helmut Naumer, Sr. Pastel, paper. H. 30.5, L. 47.0 cm Bandelier National Monument, BAND 1408
https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/band/exb_art/BAND1408_painting_exb.html
https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/nepe/exb/slideshows/legendTimes/Buffalo_Eddy1.html
Tonawanda Community House, Tonawanda, New York
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/519161
Articles found in Gale General OneFile (FSU community only)
National Day of Mourning: The Flipside to Thanksgiving
While most people associate Thanksgiving Day with Macy's balloons, turkey dinner and football games, the United American Indians of New England honor a different kind of holiday: one of mourning and protest.
The Myth of Thanksgiving and National Day of Mourning
"Correcting the mythology of Thanksgiving matters, because when people perpetuate the myth of the holiday, they are not only erasing the genocide of my ancestors, but also celebrating it," James said in an email. "Thanksgiving is also a day of mourning, because it is a time when we come together to mourn the deaths of millions of our indigenous ancestors as a result of settler colonialism."
For more information about the organizers of the National Day of Mourning, please visit the United American Indians of New England's website.
"Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America resound in this book. In the same style as the best-selling Dreaming in Indian, #Not Your Princess presents an eclectic collection of poems, essays, interviews, and art that combine to express the experience of being a Native woman. Stories of abuse, humiliation, and stereotyping are countered by the voices of passionate women making themselves heard and demanding change. Sometimes angry, often reflective, but always strong, the women in this book will give teen readers insight into the lives of women who, for so long, have been virtually invisible."-- Provided by publisher.
A collection of traditional Native American tales celebrating the wonder and mystery of the natural world, arranged under the categories "Fire," "Earth," "Water," and "Air."
Discusses the history of Native Americans, with a sampling of excerpts from their own accounts of their experiences.
In Native American legend, the thirteen scales on Old Turtle's back hold the key to the thirteen cycles of the moon and changing seasons. These lyrical poems and striking paintings celebrate the wonder of the seasons of the year from the legends of such Native American tribes as the Cherokee, Cree, and Sioux.
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Survey of the styles expressed in the native arts of North America from prehistoric times to the present and explores some of their historic dimensions. Includes paintings, engravings, textiles and sculpture.
2016 Winner
Teased for his fair coloring, eleven-year-old Jimmy McClean travels with his maternal grandfather, Nyles High Eagle, to learn about his Lakota heritage while visiting places significant in the life of Crazy Horse, the nineteenth-century Lakota leader and warrior, in a tale that weaves the past with the present. Includes historical note and glossary.
Presents ten short stories about contemporary Native American teens by members of tribes of the United States and Canada, including Louise Erdrich and Joseph Bruchac.
Interrogating the concept of environmental justice in the U.S. as it relates to Indigenous peoples, this book argues that a different framework must apply compared to other marginalized communities, while it also attends to the colonial history and structure of the U.S. and ways Indigenous peoples continue to resist, and ways the mainstream environmental movement has been an impediment to effective organizing and allyship.
445, [2] p. illus., 60 col. plates. 28 x 30 cm.
The Routledge Companion to Native American Literature engages the multiple scenes of tension -- historical, political, cultural, and aesthetic -- that constitutes a problematic legacy in terms of community identity, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, language, and sovereignty in the study of Native American literature.
By pointing out and poking fun at the dominant ideologies and perpetuation of stereotypes of Native Americans in Hollywood, the book gives readers the ability to recognize both good filmmaking and the dangers of misrepresenting aboriginal peoples.
