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 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.
From The Library of Congress, et al. National Native American Heritage Month.
The number of people who identified as Cherokee in the 2020 Census. Cherokee was the largest American Indian alone or in any combination population group in the United States in 2020. The Navajo Nation was the most common American Indian alone response with 315,086 people.
The number of people who identified as Yup’ik (Yup'ik Eskimo) in the 2020 Census. Yup’ik (Yup'ik Eskimo) was the largest Alaska Native alone group in the United States. Tlingit was the largest Alaska Native alone or in any combination group with 22,601 people.
The nation's American Indian and Alaska Native population alone or in combination in 2020.
The number of distinct, federally recognized American Indian reservations in 2022, including federal reservations and off-reservation trust lands.
The number of Alaska Native village statistical areas.
The number of federally recognized Indian tribes in 2023.
The number of single-race American Indian and Alaska Native veterans of the U.S. armed forces in 2022.
Source: US Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2023/aian-month.html
Hello or Greetings in Ojibwe / Ho-Chunk / Potawatomi / Mahican / Menominee / Oneida
From Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction - American Indian Studies Program
Used with permission - https://www.insightintodiversity.com/infographics/
Source: “Tribal Nations of Wisconsin.” Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 5 Sept. 2017, https://dpi.wi.gov/amind/tribalnationswi.
Source: “Native People of Wisconsin.” Wisconsin First Nations, 29 Oct. 2017, https://wisconsinfirstnations.org/native-people-wisconsin/
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