Stories Between the Stacks with Sarah ~ Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month! Signed as a proclamation in 1990, Native American Heritage Month is designed to recognize, honor, and celebrate the rich histories, diverse cultures, traditions, and significant contributions of Native Americans. Congress selected November because it marks the end of the traditional harvest season, which is a traditional time of gratitude, celebration, and thanksgiving for many tribal communities. 

For an in depth history into Native American Heritage Month, visit the Department of the Interior website: https://www.bia.gov/NNAHM

To commemorate this special month, let’s take a brief look at some Native Americans of note, who have left an enduring legacy. 

•Tecumseh: (1768–1813) was a renowned Shawnee chief, warrior, and orator who organized a large intertribal confederacy to resist United States westward expansion.

*Book recommendation on his life: 

Panther in the Sky by: James Alexander Thom 

(Historical Fiction, specifically a Fictionalized  Biography)

•Chief Joseph: (1840–1904) known to his people as Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt ("Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain"), was a prominent leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce tribe. He is largely remembered for his principled resistance to the forced removal of his people from their ancestral lands in the Pacific Northwest.

*Book recommendation on his life: 

Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War by: Daniel J. Sharfstein (Historical Non-Fiction) 

•Sitting Bull: (1831–1890) was a prominent Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man who united the Sioux tribes to resist U.S. government expansion on the Great Plains. He is best known for his spiritual leadership during the decisive Native American victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. 

*Book recommendation on his life: 

Who Was Sitting Bull?  by: Stephanie Spinner 

(Juvenile Historical Non-Fiction)