Native American Heritage Month

Native American Heritage Month is an annual observance celebrated throughout the month of November.. Acknowledgement of Native American history and heritage has evolved through multiple iterations. In 1916,  the state of New York dedicated one day of observation, known as "American Indian Day."  Over subsequent decades, observances expanded to one week variations including "Native American Awareness Week" in 1976 by Gerald Ford, "American Indian Week" by Congress, and "Native American Indian Heritage Week" - also by Congress. And in 1990, George H. W. Bush designated the month of November as "National American Indian Heritage Month." 

Image Credit: Portrait from photograph by Fred E. Miller taken on the Apsáalooke (Crow/Absaroke) Reservation in Montana circa 1898-1910. (Source: National Museum of the American Indian, February 2022)

We acknowledge that we are on the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. As guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Ramaytush Community and by affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples.