Native American Heritage Day

Thanks to Congress and George W Bush

In 2008 Congress passed and President George W Bush signed into law the creation of National Native American Heritage Day as the day after Thanksgiving. Putting it right at Thanksgiving conjures up images like this one.

But there’s a LOT more to know about the Native peoples who had populated this continent for many centuries. A lot of what I knew for many years came from Movies & TV Westerns. The Indian POV was not very well represented.

I’m not sure what got my attention, or “broke the dam” for me and I started researching what really happened…it might have been a trip to Carlisle PA to do research on their collection of original Civil War photos…and the fact that the old brick barracks there had been the premier Indian Boarding School in the late 1800’s.

Native children were taken from their families with the attempt to turn them into people like the white immigrants who had invaded their lands.

The boarding schools have quite a history that Kent Nerburn reveals with an artists voice in his novels, “Neither Wolf nor Dog” and “The Wolf at Twilight”. The characters and their journey are unforgettable.

There’s also a “Wolf nor Dog” feature film that takes you to the Reservation and a land and life most of us don’t know at all.

If you’ve never done it I suggest you find a Pow Wow to attend. It’s one of the fastest ways to start to feel and understand Native culture and beliefs. There’s a lot there that I wish we had utilized and assimilated, instead of attempting to erase.

Peace