National Native American Heritage Month

We Are Still Here. We Have Always Been Here.

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to honor the First Peoples of these lands, our ancestors, our living cultures, and the generations to come. What began through the advocacy of Indigenous leaders in the early 1900s was formally recognized in 1990, when November was designated National American Indian Heritage Month. Yet our existence, our histories, and our inherent rights as sovereign Peoples have never depended upon recognition from the governments that came after us. Since time immemorial, our Nations have lived in relationship with our ancestral homelands, guided by our languages, teachings, ceremonies, and responsibilities to one another and the natural world.

Our ancestors endured generations of colonial violence, stolen lands, forced removals, broken treaties, residential and boarding schools, and deliberate attempts to silence our languages, dismantle our Nations, and erase us from our own homelands. But our Peoples were never erased. Through the strength, resistance, and sacrifices of those who came before us, our ways of life continue. Our songs are still sung, our ceremonies are still held, our languages are spoken, and our knowledge continues to pass from one generation to the next. We are still here. We have always been here. We are not remnants of the past, but living Nations carrying forward the responsibilities our ancestors entrusted to us.

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At the North American Indigenous Center of New York (NAICNY), Native American Heritage Month is a time to honor that continuity, celebrate the strength and beauty of our Peoples, and reaffirm our responsibility to the generations yet unborn. Through culture, equity, economic development, and the arts, we create space for our own voices, uphold our identities, and strengthen the connections that sustain our communities. We invite others to recognize that honoring Indigenous Peoples must extend beyond one month, beyond acknowledgment, and toward respect for our sovereignty, our homelands, and our right to determine our own futures. We carry our ancestors with us; we stand for those living today, and we hold a responsibility to those yet to come. Our story has never ended. It continues through us.

As Indigenous Peoples, we stand with our Black brothers and sisters in the ongoing struggle for Black liberation. We honor the generations of Black communities who have fought for freedom, and we carry that solidarity into the work we do today.