Native American Heritage Month

native american history

By Laura Collins
November 23, 2020
catawba, cherokee, choctaw, code talkers, heartdrum, native american, navajo

November is Native American Heritage Month and to celebrate we have some facts about Native American history. However, please note that “Native American” encompasses many, many, many different cultures across the country — so for the purpose of this writing we have purposefully been very broad and focus largely on general Native American history. If you would like to learn more about a specific tribe and Indigenous history, visit any of our locations or go to Ask A Librarian for more information.

Native American Heritage Month started as American Indian Day, celebrated at different times of the year depending on the state as early as 1915. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush approved of a joint resolution that designated November as Native American Heritage Month.
‎There are currently 574 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States. However, there are many more tribes that exist that do not have that federal distinction.
There are 56.2 million acres of land that belong to Native American tribes that make up 326 Native American reservations. The largest is the Navajo Nation that is part of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The smallest is 1.32 acres in California, belonging to the Pit River Tribe.
‎South Carolina’s only federally recognized tribe is the Catawba. The Catawba Indian Nation’s reservation is located outside of Rock Hill in York County. The Catawba Indian Nation lost their federal status in 1951. However, twenty years later, they were able to regain that status.
The Catawba are renowned for their pottery, a 4,000 year tradition. The University of South Carolina, Lancaster has the single largest collection of Catawba pottery at their Native American Studies Center.
‎There are also seven state recognized tribes in South Carolina. This includes: the Pee Dee Tribe, the Beaver Creek Tribe, the Santee Tribe and the Edisto Natchez Kusso Tribe.
America’s first major Prima Ballerina was Maria Tallchief, who was a member of the Osage Nation and is said to have revolutionized and popularized ballet in America. Tallchief was the first star of the newly formed New York City Ballet. Her performance as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker is considered to be the source of the ballet’s rise in popularity.
Native Americans played a large role in the United States’ victories in World War I and World War II. In World War I, members of the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes would speak in their native languages over radio to send coded messages while under heavy fire.
During World War II, the United States Marine Corps utilized Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific Theater. They began with a group of 29 Navajo Marines who created the code, and that group would later expand. The last member of the original 29 Code Talkers, Chester Nez, passed away in 2014.
The Navajo Code was so intricate that only the Code Talkers who created and used the Code could understand it. Sometimes, they would use words to represent letters, or they would create phrases to substitute for words that don’t exist in Navajo (also called Diné). For example, “submarine” became “iron fish”. The Navajo Code is the only spoken military code that has never been deciphered. The Code Talkers could translate three lines of a coded message into English in 20 seconds.
The Navajo Code Talkers are considered to be the strongest factor in the United States’ victory in Iwo Jima. During the first two days of battle, six Code Talkers sent and received over 800 messages without error. The famous photo of the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima includes Ira Hayes, a Navajo Marine, though he wasn’t a Code Talker.
‎Due to the nature of their work, the Navajo Code Talkers’ mission was not declassified until 1968. Many Code Talkers died without any sort of recognition for their service, nor were they allowed to tell their families of how they served their country. In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed a law that awarded the original 29 Code Talkers a Congressional Gold Medal.
Out of over 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients, 29 are Native American.
In 2019, Harper-Collins announced the launch of a new imprint called Heartdrum, which is a Native American and focuses on Native American voices. The first books from this imprint will be published in early 2021. The imprint is led by award-winning Muscogee Creek author Cynthia Leitich Smith.