Native American Heritage Month
While every year in November, people across the United States commemorate the vibrant and diverse culture of the indigenous people of America, it is also a month of reflection. This is to consider the sacrifices that Native American communities have made throughout history, such as giving up their reservations, as well as considering the difficulties that they still face today. For books and other activities go to the NOVEMBER page.
Native American Heritage Month Fun Facts
Check out these incredible snippets of trivia about the history of Native American Heritage Month.
- While the first national Native American Heritage Month was in November 1990, the first smaller American Indian Day occurred in New York in 1916.
- Native Americans weren’t granted American citizenship until 1924 but....
- ... it took 40 years for all 50 states in America to allow the vote for Native Americans.
- Just over 2% of the United States population identifies as Native American.
- Only 175 of the 300 indigenous languages are still spoken in the United States. The most common of these languages is Navajo, with nearly 200,000 speakers.
Lesson Plan
Click on the picture to go to the November page for the lesson plans for this activity and much more.
Native American Inventions Commonly Used Today
**Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Take the KAHOOT Quiz after reading about the inventions.
Native American Inventions Document (You can download this document to print.)
Native Americans You Should Know (STEM Fields)
**Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Take the KAHOOT QUIZ after reading the short biographies.
Click on MORE for each person to read more about each one.
Click on MORE for each person to read more about each one.
(1958- )
John Herrington is the first Native American person to go to space. He is a member of the Chickasaw tribe.
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(1932-2013)
Fred Begay’s parents were Navajo healers and taught him the songs used in Navajo healing ceremonies from an early age. He was introduced to physics for the first time when he returned from serving in the Korean War. Read MORE...
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(1908-2008)
Mary G. Ross is widely considered to be the first known Native American engineer and the first female engineer to work for the company Lockheed. Read MORE...
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(1987- )
Danielle Forward is a Product Designer at Facebook. She also is the founder of Natives Rising a website dedicated to highlighting Native Americans role models in tech.
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Native Americans You Should Know Document (You can download this document to print.)