Native American Celebrations: Native American Heritage Month

Includes links to articles in reference books, mind map, and links to websites.

Includes articles from reference books, mind map, and links to other resources.

Links to books, e-books, and videos about native Americans.

U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs website.

Website provided by the Library of Congress and other institutions. It includes exhibits and collections, audio and video, for teachers, and images all related to Native Americans.

Resources about Native American history.

National Congress of American Indians website.

National Park Services webpage about Native Americans.

PBS videos related to celebrating Native Americans.

Linguists estimate that around 1,200 Indigenous languages were spoken in North, Central, and South America before the arrival of European colonists. In North America, about 300 languages were spoken, but because of assimilation pressures only about half of these languages still have speakers today, and fewer and fewer children are learning them.

As Europeans settled North America, Indigenous people were displaced from their lands en masse. In the 20th and 21st centuries, tribes have had and continue to have ongoing land and restitution claims. Despite numerous treaties signed between the U.S. government and Native peoples meant to guarantee Native land, over the years Indigenous territory steadily shrunk.