President Barack Obama again named November as National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, asking Americans to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving, November 26, as National Native American Heritage Day.
"The Obama Administration has once again exhibited that every day the federal government is paying more attention to the role of American Indian and Alaska Native nations as members of the American family of governments," said Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians.
The first American Indian Day was celebrated in May 1916 in New York. Red Fox James, a Blackfeet Indian, rode horseback from state to state, getting endorsements from 24 state governments to have a day to honor American Indians. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November 1990 as "National American Indian Heritage Month." Similar proclamations have been issued every year since 1994.
A list of events being held in the month of November in the Washington, D.C., region can be found at the Indian Health Service website: http://www.ihs.gov/HeritageMonth/2010EventsCalendar.cfm
