November is Native American Heritage Month. The month started as a week-long celebration of Native American’s culture and accomplishments in 1986 as “Native American Indian Week.” Eventually, the celebration turned into a month-long event.

“The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges,” explained the Animal Congress of American Indian’s website on Native American Heritage Month.

(Photo via unsplash.com)

The new Poet Laureate

In June of 2019, Joy Harjo became the first Native American to hold the position of Poet Laureate in consultant in Poetry. Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and is the country’s 23^rd Poet Laureate. In addition to being the first Native American to hold the title, she is also the first person from Oklahoma to become Poet Laureate. Harjo’s new collection of poems An American Sunrise connects her personal life and tribal history.

An American Sunrise is summarized as, “In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo returns to family’s lands and opens a dialog with history. Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where her people, and other indigenous families, essentially disappeared. From her memory of her mother’s death, to her beginnings in the native rights movement, to the fresh road with her beloved, Harjo’s personal life intertwined with tribal histories to create a space of renewed beginnings,” said Harjo’s website. Harjo’s collection of poems is available for purchase on Amazon, iBooks and Barnes & Noble.

Written by Marissa Mayfield.