Native American Heritage Month
Welcome to Native American Heritage Month at RCC
November is a time to honor and celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories of Native American Peoples.
As we begin this month of recognition, we acknowledge that the land on which our campus stands is part of the ancestral territory of the Lenape People. We pay our deepest respects to this land, to the Lenape and all Indigenous peoples who have historically inhabited and who continue to care for this region, and to their enduring legacies.
Throughout November, we recognize and honor the resilience, and invaluable contributions of Indigenous Peoples to our communities, our nation, and our planet. We are privileged to live and learn amidst the deep history and vibrant traditions of the Ramapough-Lenape People.
We invite all members of the Rockland Community College community to take time this month to learn about, reflect upon, and engage with Indigenous histories, cultures, and wisdom — both in celebration and in continued commitment to foster respect, inclusion, and understanding.
Interested in Exploring More?
Our area offers many events and activities you can enjoy…
Activities in New York City
Activities in New York State
Activities Sponsored by the New York Public Library
2025 Native American Heritage Month Chair
Native American Heritage Month Recommended Readings
Readings recommended by FirstNations.org. Excerpts taken from Amazon Books.
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
“Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire.”
Crazy Brave: A Memoir by Joy Harjo
“In this transcendent memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music and poetry, Joy Harjo details her journey to becoming a poet. Born in Oklahoma, the end place of the Trail of Tears, Harjo grew up learning to dodge an abusive stepfather by finding shelter in her imagination, a deep spiritual life, and connection with the natural world. Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, Crazy Brave is a haunting, visionary memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary in finding a voice.”
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
“Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth and learn to give our own gifts in return.”
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.
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.
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.
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Coulley
“Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.
Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the
victims.
Now, as the deceptions―and deaths―keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.”