November is Native American Heritage Month—an opportunity to celebrate and learn about the rich and diverse cultures, languages, and histories of Indigenous peoples across the United States. It is a time to honor Indigenous culture makers, visionaries, activists, and leaders—past and present—while amplifying the contemporary voices of Native Americans and their communities.
Originally conceived of in 1915 as a single day recognition of Native peoples’ contributions to the development of the United states, Dr. Arthur C. Parker—a Seneca Indian and the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, NY—convinced the Boy Scouts of America to host a First Americans Day. This evolved over the course of the 20th century, taking place on different dates in different states and under a variety of names, until 1990 when President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November as National Native American Heritage Month.
Native American Heritage Month is also a time to acknowledge the losses suffered through disease, warfare, and forced assimilation stemming from the colonization of North America by Europeans. In that same spirit, we acknowledge and honor the Haudenosaunee peoples, specifically the Kanien’keha:ka, or Mohawk tribe, on who’s ancestral land we in the North Country live, and the local communities of Ganienkeh, Akwesasne, Kahnawake, and Kanesatake in both the US and neighboring areas of Canada.
Use the classroom-ready resources, books, and activities below to learn about Native American histories and cultures, past and present, this Native American Heritage Month and beyond.
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Learn About Native American History & Culture
Talking About Race: The Clutes | Mohawk Family From Akwesasne
Grades PreK-3
Meet the Clutes, a traditional Mohawk family from the Akwesasne territory in northern New York State. In this video, the Clute family talks about respect, stereotypes, fairness, justice, and resilience in direct, age-appropriate, and honest ways as they celebrate their culture and community. This video is part of a growing set of resources from the Sesame Workshop Coming Together initiative which provides tools, sparks conversations and supports kids as they grow into allies and advocates.
Molly of Denali collection
Grades K-2
Informational text and Alaska Native culture form the basis of the groundbreaking Molly of Denali series and its educational resources. The Molly of Denali collection on PBS LearningMedia offers videos, digital games, lessons, teaching tips, and activities so that educators can utilize the series in the classroom.
Indigenous Knowledge in the Adirondacks | Adirondacks for All
Grades 6-12
Explore the past and present of Indigenous people in the Adirondacks, a region residing on the traditional territory of the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) people, part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Inhabiting the Adirondacks for generations, the Mohawk engaged in fishing, hunting, and resource gathering, forming a connection between the land and their communities. Despite the impact of the Revolutionary War and subsequent dispossession, the Mohawk’s link to their ancestral land persists.
What Does “Authentically” Indigenous Look Like? | Sovereign Innovations
Grades 6-12
There are over 500 Indigenous tribes across the United States and no two dress the same, but you may not know this based on popular media. Romanticized images of Indigenous people have existed throughout history and continue to perpetuate pop culture. However, there is a movement of Indigenous designers who are rejecting popular assumptions and are reshaping the way Indigenous identities are presented today.
Native America collection
Grades 6-12
Native America reaches back 15,000 years, examining ancient city planning and early systems of science and spirituality and extends to present-day exploration of Indigenous knowledge and language preservation. This collection includes all four episodes of Native America season 1 in full, stand-alone video clips from season 2, discussion questions, hands-on activities and more.
Native American Leaders & Visionaries
Elizabeth Peratrovich: Molly and Elizabeth | Molly of Denali
Grades K-2
Elizabeth Peratrovich (Raven of the Lingít Lukaadx̱.ádi Clan) is an important figure in Alaska’s history who helped pass the country’s first Anti-Discrimination Bill in 1945. Learn more about Peratrovich’s story in the Molly of Denali episode “Molly and Elizabeth.”
Queen Lili‘uokalani | Unladylike2020
Grades 6-12
Queen Lili‘uokalani was the first sovereign queen, and the last monarch, of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. At the time of her reign, a new Hawaiian constitution imposed by white Americans had reduced the voting rights of Hawaiian citizens and much of the monarchy’s powers, transferring power to American business owners and missionaries. Learn how Lili‘uokalani fought to restore native Hawaiian rights in this video from Unladylike2020.
N. Scott Momaday | American Masters
Grades 6-12
Examine the enigmatic life and mind of National Medal of Arts-winner Navarro Scott Momaday, the Kiowa novelist, short-story writer, essayist and poet. His Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “House Made of Dawn” led to the breakthrough of Native American literature into the mainstream. Although his heritage is a central theme, Momaday’s work asks universal questions: what are our origins and how do we connect to them through our collective memories? This PBS LearningMedia collection from the American Masters film, Words from a Bear: N. Scott Momaday, illuminates how he grappled with these questions, his identity and the challenges of being a Native American artist in today’s world.
LaDonna Harris: Indian 101
Grades 9-12
LaDonna Harris: Indian 101 is the first-ever documentary about Native activist and national civil rights leader, LaDonna Harris. After moving from Walters, Oklahoma to Washington DC and the powerful world of politics via her US Senator husband, Harris began an extensive and very public life of Indian political and social activism. Explore Harris’ achievements, the personal struggles that led her to become a voice for Native people, and her contemporary work to reshape Indian Country in America and abroad.
Activities, Books & More
12 Books to Celebrate Native American and Alaska Native Heritage
Grades PreK-5
Reading these books by Native authors is a great way to celebrate Native American and Alaskan Native Heritage Month.
Native American Winter Count | Activity Starter
Grades K-5
Learn about Native American winter counts in South Dakota and complete an interesting activity. Winter counts are pictographic historical records used by many Plains Indian Nations to maintain a communal memory and aid the groups’ oral historians.
Lesson Plan: Iroquois or Haudenosaunee? | Native America in Upstate New York
Grades 3-8
In this video, Onondaga storyteller Perry Ground speaks to students at Gowana Middle School in Clifton Park, New York about the introduction of language into meaning and purpose of others’ identities, particularly, the name Iroquois. The people who lived on this land before colonization call themselves the Haudenosaunee. What is in the name, and how can we learn a bit more about a community through the names given to the schools and streets?
A Cheyenne Odyssey | Mission US
Grades 6-8
In A Cheyenne Odyssey, players become Little Fox, a Northern Cheyenne boy whose life is changed by the encroachment of white settlers, railroads, and U.S. military expeditions. As buffalo diminish and the U.S. expands westward, players experience the Cheyenne’s persistence through conflict and national transformation.
Amplifying Indigenous Experiences | PBS All-Stars Lessons
Grades 6-12
Utilizing this media gallery, students will watch the three episodes of the Unladylike2020 series of 26 short films that focus on Indigenous women heroes and explore the similarities in issues affecting these women while also identifying the qualities that made them unique. Students will explore the lives of these incredible figures through a gallery walk, discuss their findings, research events of the present, and create their own gallery walk to present their research.
Local & Statewide Native American Cultural Organizations
Akwesasne Cultural Center
The Akwesasne Library and Cultural Center is a public library and museum that serves the people of Akwesasne, the surrounding communities and the visiting public by providing access to educational and cultural resources. Located in the heart of Akwesasne, the center provides a positive space for educational purposes and is one of the cultural hubs of the community.
The Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center
The Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center, located in the Northeastern Adirondack Mountains, provides for the viewing of 3000-plus artifacts with an emphasis on the culture of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee): Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. The museum features story telling lectures and creates educational experiences so that visitors, teachers and students may acquire the knowledge needed to better understand the history, culture, contemporary realities, and the potential futures of Native Nations.
The Seneca Art & Culture Center
The Seneca Art & Culture Center is a year-round interpretive facility at Ganondagan, the original site of a 17th century Seneca town that existed there peacefully more than 350 years ago. The center tells the story of the Seneca and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) contributions to art, culture and society for more than 2,000 years to the present day. Designed to fit into the natural landscape, the center features an interactive, multi-media Exhibit Gallery, including a changing exhibit space, Orientation Theater, auditorium, and gift shop.
The Iroquois Museum
The Iroquois Museum is an educational institution dedicated to fostering understanding of Iroquois culture using Iroquois art as a window to that culture. The Museum is a venue for promoting Iroquois art and artists, and a meeting place for all peoples to celebrate Iroquois culture and diversity. As an anthropological institution, it is informed by research on archaeology, history, and the common creative spirit of modern artists and craftspeople.
The New York State Museum
The New York State Museum, which explores and expresses New York State’s significant natural and cultural diversity, both past and present, features the ongoing exhibition Native Peoples of New York. Museum-goers can explore the cultural heritage of the first New Yorkers — from the Ice Age to the present — through dioramas, displays of artifacts and art, and a life-size reconstructed longhouse.