Native American Heritage Month
Welcome to Native American Heritage Month at RCC
November is a time to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories of Native Americans.
Let us begin this month with an acknowledgment that the land that we stand on is the ancestral territory of the Lenape People. Let us come with respect for this land and the people who have and do reside here and their history.
This month we want to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ brilliance, to honor and acknowledge their contributions to our culture and planet. We are surrounded by rich history and traditions, especially those of the Ramapough-Lunape People. We invite you to take time to learn about Indigenous ways of life & wisdom.
Interested in Exploring More?
Our area offers many events and activities you can enjoy…
2024 Native American Heritage Month Chair
Native American Heritage Month Recommended Readings
Readings recommended by FirstNations.org. Excerpts taken from Amazon Books.
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
First published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is Dee Brown’s eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of American Indians during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown introduces readers to great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes, revealing in heart wrenching detail the battles, massacres, and broken treaties that methodically stripped them of freedom. A forceful narrative still discussed today as revelatory and controversial, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee permanently altered our understanding of how the American West came to be defined.
All The Real Indians Died Off and 20 Other Myths About Native Americans by Roxanne Dunbar- Ortiz and Dino Gilio- Whitaker
In this enlightening book, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths. All the Real Indians Died Off challenges listeners to rethink what they have been taught about Native Americans and history.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer
What have you always wanted to know about Indians? Do you think you should already know the answers-or suspect that your questions may be offensive? In matter-of-fact responses to over 120 questions, both thoughtful and outrageous, modern and historical, Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a frank, funny, and sometimes personal tour of these questions.
Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask cuts through the emotion and builds a foundation for true understanding and positive action.
Wisdom Keepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders by Steve & Ardern Wall
Rich with magnificent photographs and powerful words, this book takes the reader into the inner thoughts, jokes, healing remedies, and humanity of Native American spiritual elders—otherwise known as the Wisdomkeepers. In their own words elders from the Sioux, Iroquois, Seminole, Ojibwe, Hopi, Ute, Pawnee, and other tribes explain who they are, how they live, and what they believe. This is a sharing of wisdom going back millennia, yet never more relevant than today.