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Native American Heritage Month

November 1 marks the beginning of Native American Heritage Month. This month we celebrate Indigenous People's in the Americas, their struggles and successes, resilience and fortitude. 

Credit: Peter Bloomer

Teachers: Visit the free MY HERO Lesson Plan for Native American Heritage Month. Includes discussion guide and learning outcomes.

Suzan Shown Harjo

By: Marilyn Huerta
Suzan Shown Harjo is a living hero.Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, she is an activist who has been fighting for Native American rights since the 1960s.

Film

Watch the following films about Native American culture and activism.

BYkids Trailer: AGAINST THE CURRENT

Daunnette Moniz-Reyome | BYkids
Daunnette Moniz-Reyome (age 17) lives on the UmoNHon Native American reservation in Nebraska and wants to inspire her peers to celebrate their culture...

Powerlands (Trailer)

Produced by:Jordan Flaherty
Powerlands is a new documentary directed by Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso.

Water Is Sacred

Produced by:Mentors: Tiana and Wakinyan LaPointe
2020 MHIFF Ocean Conservation Award student winner: When we pray with water, it helps our bodies and the earth, and we say Wopila Tanka (Immeasurable Thanks) for its medicine.

Mni Wikoni ~ Water is Life

Producer: Charles McMahon

The MY HERO Project celebrates the water protectors of planet earth.

Yellow Woman - A Hero Report Excerpt

Produced by:Betty Bailey & Camille Manybeads Tso

Camille Manybeads Tso tells an inspiring true story of Native American heritage.

Stories of TRUST - Arizona

Producer: Christi Cooper-Kuhn, Katie Lose-Gilbertson, Kelly Matheson
Young Navajo artist Jaime Lynn Butler campaigns to save the environment of her beloved American Southwest.

Smoke That Travels [Trailer]

Producer: Kayla Briët

"What happens when a story is forgotten? I'm making a film about my dad, Gary Wiski-ge-amatyuk, my family, and what it means to be Native American today."

Sokinaa' Passkaan Aassisstoi (Healing Bells)

Produced by:Wapikoni Mobile
This film is inspired by true events. Through an emotional approach, we discover resiliency through dance.

Crow: The Legend - VR

Produced by:Baobab Studios, Get Lifted, and Native Americans in Philanthropy
Inspired by the original Native American legend, this story is about sacrifice and community.

Native American Women

Ellen Vaman
🌹 Looks Far Woman by Jamie Sams

Stories

These heroes, past and present, uplift the voices of their communities through action.

Frances Manuel, Native American Woman Hero

By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
Frances Manuel, who was born in the early part of the 20th century, quietly changed the world of her people and the people she met through her basket weaving and cultural presentations.

Chief Wilma Mankiller

By: Susannah Abbey
Chief Wilma Mankiller was the first woman to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Nyla Innuksuk

By: Wendy Jewell

Nyla Innuksuk is a young indigenous filmmaker who is pushing the boundaries of filmmaking, going beyond 2D (flattie) films to VR/AR and 360 with her Mixtape VR company. Check out her journey to date.

Women Heroes Noel Bennett and Tiana Bighorse

By: SUSAN Drennan GABRIEL Bunn

Two storytellers, elder Tiana Bighorse and young Noel Bennett, published Tiana's family history. Now elderly, Noel is collaborating with Tiana's great grandson.

Chief Joseph

By: Jennifer Beck

Chief Joseph led the Nez Perce tribe in an effort to keep their homeland. [This story is available in English and in Spanish.]

For Younger Readers - By Younger Readers

Christine Quintasket

By: Catherine from Trumbull
Christine Quintasket was the first published Native American woman author.

Baje Whitethorne

By: Olin Smith
Baje Whitethorne is a celebrated Navajo painter and author.

Listen & Read Along

The following stories have links so you can hear the audio as you read. Great for ESL students!

Sarah Winnemucca

By: Isabelle from Wallingford

Sarah Winnemucca was an advocate for Paiute rights.

Maria Tallchief

By: Rebecca Miller

Maria Tallchief was the first Native American prima ballerina in the United States.

Art

Artists celebrate Native American leaders and recreate the traditions of this rich culture.

Chief Joseph Hinmton Yalektit by Robert Shetterly

By: Robert Shetterly
Portrait of Chief Yalektit by Robert Shetterly, Americans Who Tell the Truth.org

Oren Lyons

By: Robert Shetterly - AmericansWhoTelltheTruth.org

Native American faithkeeper, human rights advocate, and environmental activist

A lyrical interpretation of enlightenment according to Native American traditions

Universal Enlightenment
Credit: Rex A. Begaye
Winona LaDuke is a Native American Harvard graduate economist, environmentalist, activist, author and executive director of Honor The Earth.
 
Winona LaDuke
Credit: K. E. Harleston

The Earth is a medicine, she gives everything to us. Again, the respect lies there, respecting life, what is important, even if it is not of our own.

- Native American Heritage -
Credit: Rex A. Begaye

Stories from the Christian Science Monitor

Native Americans reclaim lacrosse
Credit: Collette Davidson
Black Native Americans were largely erased from US history
Credit: CSM
In Winnipeg, a vacant store is a symbol of Indigenous renewal
Credit: CSM
Indigenous peoples and the borderless beat
Credit: CSM
In Winnipeg, Bear Clan Patrol is keeping Indigenous Women Safer
Credit: CSM
Samuel Sandoval, Navajo Code Talker, remembered for love of homeland
Credit: Sam Green/The Cortez Journal/AP/File

Related Pages

Behind the scenes with filmmaker Will Parrinello in 'RIGHTS OF NATURE' among the Cofán

By: Deborah Neff, MY HERO Staff writer
In May 2022, two young indigenous Cofán activists from Ecuador were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. Will Parrinello went to Ecuador to film them.

Indigenous Peoples' Day

By: MY HERO Staff
October 9 is Indigenous Peoples' Day

International Day of the World's Indigenous People

August 9 is the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

Links


Our Curators

 

Short films curated by MY HERO International Film Festival director Wendy Milette

 

Hero Stories curated by MY HERO General Editors Deborah Neff and Abigail Richardson. 

 

Newswire stories curated by MY HERO Newswire director Betty Bailey. 


Organizer created on 10/16/2013 7:15:40 AM by Becky Miller

Last edited 4/18/2023 11:20:44 AM by Abigail Richardson

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