Celebrate American Indian Heritage Month with the Smithsonian and in your classroom

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian celebrates the rich cultures of Native peoples every day of the year. But November is an especially significant time as the museum also commemorates American Indian Heritage Month.

Created by a joint congressional resolution in 1990, the designation of American Indian Heritage Month aims to celebrate the heritage, history, art and traditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives. This year Congress designated the day after Thanksgiving, November 28, 2008, as “Native American Heritage Day.”

Visitors to the museum will find extra events, activities, films and programming during November, said Genevieve Simermeyer, a member of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma and the museum’s School Programs Manager.

She said November tends to be a busy month as more visitors flock to the museum to learn about the cultures of Native peoples. Thanksgiving also encourages more interest in the museum’s collections.

“A lot of teachers do focus on Native peoples and history in the month of November and especially on the story of Thanksgiving. It’s the misconceptions about this story that make our educational work at the museum so important,” Simermeyer said.

The museum works hard to encourage teachers to present the perspective of Native voices when presenting lessons on Thanksgiving. They created a poster entitled, American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving, which focuses on themes to help teachers explain the role of giving thanks in Native cultures. Teachers will be able order the poster or download a copy of the poster from the museum website.

“In the history of Native peoples, giving thanks is something that happens year round and it’s about more than food and sitting down with family,” Simermeyer said. “These are the types of things we cover in the new teaching poster.”

One of the museum’s challenges is debunking stereotypes.

Kids are surprised when Native staff at the museum tell them they are Native American. The students often ask, “Are you a real Indian?” Many also think of Native peoples as a relic from the past, not as members of the vibrant, modern communities they make up today.

“The biggest stereotype is helping kids understand that Indian people still exist. We are still around, wear the same clothes as they do, drive cars, live in a house—all that stuff that they assume is only true about themselves,” she said.

She encourages teachers to look for resources that provide a real Native perspective and an alternate viewpoint in order to help kids come to their own understanding about Native peoples and cultures. One way to do this is to reach out to Native organizations or find out if their state has an office of Indian affairs, she said. Teachers can often find people from tribes in their communities who can visit their school as presenters and storytellers.

Books written from a Native perspective are also ideal teaching tools. Simermeyer is the author of Meet Christopher: An Osage Indian Boy from Oklahoma, one of four books in the My World: Young Native Americans Today series. The book tells the story of 11-year-old Christopher, who is Simermeyer’s cousin. It helps students understand what it’s like to be a contemporary young Native person who also participates in and keeps the traditions of his culture. The book is available at the museum or at Amazon.com.

The National Museum of the American Indian also offers a variety of print and online resources for teachers to use in their classrooms and adapt to different subjects. Click here to find online resources.

While November is a popular time to explore the museum and its resources, museum educators also emphasize that these lessons shouldn’t start and end this month.

“We try to encourage teachers not just to use the museum in the month of November, but to think about all the other ways the exhibitions, programs and materials we offer fit into other aspects of the school year,” Simermeyer said.

For more information about the National Museum of the American Indian and American Indian Heritage Month, visit www.AmericanIndian.si.edu.