Tachquoak - Fall
American Indian & Alaska Native Heritage Month
This page has several articles and many links! As November draws near we will have more updates! Stop in again!
The term "Native American" came into usage in the 1960s to denote American Indians and Alaskan Natives (Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts of Alaska). There are more than 554 federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska native groups, each with their own culture and history. They speak more than 250 languages.
Many Native Americans suggested leaving such general terms of American Indian & Native American behind in favor of specific tribal designations.
For more on the creation of Native American Indian heritage Month click here!You have probably learned to call it "The First Thanksgiving." But is not the right name.
First, the event wasn't a "first" at all. Native People had been giving thanks in this land for thousands of years before 1621.
Second, as far as the word "Thanksgiving" goes, people in 1621 never called it a "Thanksgiving." It was simply a harvest celebration.
First Thanksgiving Links
This Thanksgiving, do not grieve the changes that have occurred in the Americas over the last five centuries; instead pray for the revival of the foods of your ancestors, and pledge to bring them back, if not for yourself, then for the next seven generations.
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Waníshi (Thank you)! 
A Native American
Journey
Through Time
In the beginning, it is said that the Cherokee
(meaning “the first people") came to the Earth from holes in the ground
and they had nothing – starving, sick, cold and suffering. It is also
said that the Earth, the plants, and the animals saw the peoples’
suffering and had pity.
The generous and compassionate earth and living
things therein, decided to sacrifice themselves to provide all that the
people needed and end their sufferings.
And so it was that the first people and the Earth trusted in each
other as a mother and child throughout the phases of life: A perpetual
trust that the Earth will provide and the people will respect, conserve,
and protect the soil, water, air, trees, plants and animals in their
service. They are forever
interdependent and intertwined – Trust and Stewardship.
This painting depicts the perpetual trust of Mother Earth pouring forth her bounty from the Earth’s soils, waters, forests and seas. Mother Earth has sacrificed this for the people since the beginning; providing all throughout the phases of our lives. Our births–our new moon. Our prosperous life–our full moon. And, at the close of our life–our waning moon. Thus, the title of this painting is: “The Trust & the Stewardship.”—S. Denise Housley
Month Highlights
featuring
Health Disparities
November 2007 is American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month. According to the Census Bureau statistics in 2004 there are an estimated 4.4 million American Indians and Alaska Native people. November is the month when the accomplishments and contributions of the first Americans are honored for their many contributions to American society. But according to the Center for Disease Control website it also highlights a number of health disparities.
American Indian/Alaska Native people (AI/ANs) had the 2nd highest diabetes death rate in 2003, the highest death rate from Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis, were 1.5 times more likely to die from unintentional injuries. American Indian and Alaskan Natives teens and young men have the highest suicide rate in the 15 to 24 age group and adult men the second highest rate of suicide after whites (CDC 2004). The top five causes of death are heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, diabetes and stroke.
Invisible Tribes: Urban Indians and Their
Health in a Changing World
Author: Urban Indian Health Commission
Published: November 01, 2007
Nearly seven out of every 10 American Indians
and Alaska Natives—2.8 million—live in or near cities, and that
number is growing. This change in lifestyle has left many in dire
circumstances and poor health. This report, produced by the Urban
Indian Health Commission, reviews the prevalence of three
diseases—depression, diabetes and cardiovascular disease—in the
American Indian and Alaska Native population.
Key Findings:
Up to 30 percent of all American Indian and Alaska Native adults suffer from depression, and there is strong reason to believe the proportion is even greater among those living in cities.
Compared to the general U.S. population, American Indians and Alaska Natives have a higher prevalence of diabetes, a greater mortality rate from diabetes and an earlier age of diabetes onset.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among American Indians and Alaska Natives and kills more American Indians and Alaska Natives age 45 and older than cancer, diabetes and unintentional injuries—combined.
Joanna Soto-Aviles
Tiano
Follow the links below...
Proclamation
November in History
ABCs of Native American
Heritage Month
Culturally Responsive Curriculum
Lewis &
Clark
Mascots
Learning
Lakota
Hats & Feather also Thanksgiving Food
Indian Health Care
Warrior
Tradition Continues
Our Teacher Page Links offer even more!
Dept. of the Interior - Teaching with
Historic Places –
Look on the left
side for: Census Stats, Background,
Wisdom Links & More!
Go
to the link below for the following teaching activities pages:
www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?ar=750&ttnewsletter=ttnewsgen-11022006
(Thanksgiving Activities, Incorporate Native perspectives, Native Mascot Activities, Heritage and Justice Activities, Extra ideas for teaching about Native America)
"HOW"—Many of us, if not most, recognize that word as the well-known, if hackneyed (by us), greeting of a Native American, the equivalent of "hello." But how much else is known among us, the heirs of the white invaders who began arriving here five centuries ago, seems minimal.
Growing up in American classrooms and monitoring the radio, television and the movies, we knew about Tonto, the Indian companion of the Lone Ranger, who called him Kemo Sabe—supposedly "he who knows." On the other hand, Tonto means "dummy" in Spanish—not very nice for your trusted Indian guide. We saw all those John Wayne and other Western movies, many of them replete with savage "redskin" villains. The prejudicial combat is not over yet. Read more by clicking on the title above.