Every November, the United States observes Native American Heritage Month, a time marked to celebrate the rich histories, cultures and achievements of American Indian and Alaska Native peoples, from early Indigenous cultures to the present day.
A 2015 study published in Theory & Research in Social Education found that nearly 90 percent of Indigenous content included in U.S. history standards was confined to the pre-1900 era, highlighting a troubling lack of exposure for most students to more recent Indigenous history and perspectives.
This Native American Heritage Month, celebrate with your students and prompt them to think deeply about present-day American Indian and Alaska Native cultural, social and political issues. These two in-depth Topic Centers from ABC-CLIO’s The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience support student research and classroom instruction:
- Language Preservation and Renewal
As fewer children speak their Native languages, many parents and grandparents have become increasingly concerned that their languages soon will lose fluent speakers and that with the language, culture will be lost. In response, communities across the Americas are making efforts to revitalize Indigenous languages.
- Land Conflicts
Despite numerous treaties signed between the U.S. government and Native peoples nominally guaranteeing Native land, over the years Indigenous territory has steadily shrunk. On many occasions, the federal government failed to live up to obligations to protect the land guaranteed under treaties.
ABC-CLIO and EBSCO celebrate Native American Heritage Month while recognizing the critical importance of integrating the exploration of Indigenous history, culture and perspectives into the curriculum all year long.
To learn more about equitable history education, download a free poster from ABC-CLIO. To integrate diverse perspectives into every unit, every day, consider adding ABC-CLIO's The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience to your collection.
Recognized by Tech & Learning as a 2021 “Best Tool for Back to School” for helping schools develop and implement culturally relevant curriculum, The American Indian Experience powers student research into the heritage and cultures of diverse American Indian and Alaska Native peoples in the United States, with thousands of articles by Indigenous scholars and a rich collection of multimedia primary sources.
