November is the National Native American Heritage Month, celebrating the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.
Learn More!
American Indian Histories and Cultures database has access to art, historical documents, maps, an interactive chronology tool, and so much more! This is a wide-ranging digital resource presenting a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.
With Mango Languages, you can learn about Cherokee and Potawatomi languages.
Texas State Archives has extensive historical resources focusing on local history, indigenous nations of Texas, and Native American relations.
Want to get involved or learn about indigenous culture first hand? Learn powwow traditions and etiquette, find an event in your area, and learn more about native american culture. UT Arlington\’s Native American Student Association has one of the largest annual powows in Texas. The 25th Annual Benefit Powwow will be February 29, 2020 and is open to the community.
Tarleton\’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion is another great place to learn more about other cultures, get involved, and give back to the community. They have programs to help students from diverse backgrounds succeed in life and at college.
Check out these books by Native American authors!
There There by Tommy Orange – OverDrive
As we learn the reasons that each person is attending the Big Oakland Powwow—some generous, some fearful, some joyful, some violent—momentum builds toward a shocking yet inevitable conclusion that changes everything. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind in shame. Dene Oxendene is pulling his life back together after his uncle\’s death and has come to work at the powwow to honor his uncle\’s memory. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield has come to watch her nephew Orvil, who has taught himself traditional Indian dance through YouTube videos and will to perform in public for the very first time. There will be glorious communion, and a spectacle of sacred tradition and pageantry. And there will be sacrifice, and heroism, and loss.
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko – Call# PS3569 .I44 C4 1986
Tayo, the hero of Leslie Marmon Silko’s groundbreaking novel Ceremony, is a half-blood Laguna Indian who returns to his reservation after surviving the Bataan Death March of World War II. As he struggles to recover the peace of mind that his experience of warfare has stolen from him, Tayo finds that memory, identity, and his relations with others all resemble the colored threads of his grandmother’s sewing basket. The elements of his personality feel knotted and tangled, and his every attempt to restore them to order merely snags and twists them all the more. Tayo’s problems, however, extend far beyond the frustrations and alienation he encounters in trying to readjust to peacetime. Having risked his life for an America that fundamentally disowns him, Tayo must confront difficult and painful questions about the society he has been fighting for.
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdich – Call # PS3555 .R42 P55 2008
Though generations have passed, the town of Pluto continues to be haunted by the murder of a farm family. Evelina Harp—part Ojibwe, part white—is an ambitious young girl whose grandfather, a repository of family and tribal history, harbors knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.
You don\’t have to say you love me by Sherman Alexie –OverDrive
Family relationships are never simple. But Sherman Alexie\’s bond with his mother Lillian was more complex than most. She plunged her family into chaos with a drinking habit, but shed her addiction when it was on the brink of costing her everything. She survived a violent past, but created an elaborate facade to hide the truth. She selflessly cared for strangers, but was often incapable of showering her children with the affection that they so desperately craved. She wanted a better life for her son, but it was only by leaving her behind that he could hope to achieve it. It\’s these contradictions that made Lillian Alexie a beautiful, mercurial, abusive, intelligent, complicated, and very human woman.
When she passed away, the incongruities that defined his mother shook Sherman and his remembrance of her. Grappling with the haunting ghosts of the past in the wake of loss, he responded the only way he knew how: he wrote. The result is a stunning memoir filled with raw, angry, funny, profane, tender memories of a childhood few can imagine, much less survive. An unflinching and unforgettable remembrance, YOU DON\’T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME is a powerful, deeply felt account of a complicated relationship.
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