National Native American Heritage Month is celebrated each year in November. It is a time to celebrate the traditions, languages and stories of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities and ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive with each passing generation. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including “Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”) have been issued each year since 1994.
Native American Heritage Month Virtual Backgrounds
Download any of these virtual backgrounds and add them to your Zoom by following these steps:
- In the Zoom.us desktop client, go to 'Settings' as noted above and select 'Visual Background'.
- Using the (+) icon, upload your new background
UCSF EVENTS
Land Acknowledgement of UCSF
As a land-grant institution, UCSF and the entire UC system sits on and benefits from land previously owned by tribal nations in California. It is our collective responsibility to not only acknowledge the land with which we sit on but to redistribute wealth back into the Native communities that once controlled this land. Visit here to learn more about the Land Acknowledgement of UCSF, how you may support local rematriation, revitalization, and restoration efforts, and key learnings and recommendations from the two-part forum on The University of California Land Grab: A Legacy of Profit from Indigenous Land.
Multicultural Resource Center - Native American Heritage Month
This November, the UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach is proud to host the celebration of Native American Heritage Month (NAHM) at UCSF.
It is a time to honor and celebrate the rich history, culture, and connection to traditions, stories, languages, music, food, and more within the Indigenous community. However, we must honor and uplift the continuous contributions, leadership, and efforts of Indigenous peoples every day - locally, nationally, and globally. Indigenous Peoples make up approximately 6.2% of the global population across over 90 countries and 1.6% of the population in the United States (includes Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities).
Native Americans at UCSF
EVENTS
Staff RCO Showcase: Native American Heritage Month
Thursday, November 7, 2024 | 12 pm to 2 pm
Rutter Center Atrium & Pub Lounge, 1675 Owens St.
Please join us for our second Staff RCO Showcase, which will highlight Native American Heritage Month. You can expect:
- Bites from Wahpepah's Kitchen
- A dance showcase from Danza Xitlalli and other local groups
- A beading activity lead by Native American Health Alliance Staff RCO Officers
- Staff RCO tabling
Native American Heritage Month: Community Dinner
Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | 6 pm - 7:30 pm
Clinical Sciences 0101, Parnassus Campus
Please join the Native American Heritage Month Planning Committee 2024 and the Multicultural Resource Center of the Office of Diversity & Outreach, at UCSF for a Community Dinner with catering from Wahpepah's Kitchen (Oakland, CA) in the spirit of bringing folx in the community together.
UCSF welcomes everyone, including people with disabilities to our events. To request a reasonable accommodation for events, please contact Marcel Hite ([email protected]) as soon as possible.
Webinar: Restoring Wholeness: Pathways to Healing for California American Indians
Monday, November 18, 2024 | 12 pm - 1 pm (zoom)
Join us on November 18, 2024, from 12:00-1:00 PM for a webinar featuring Virginia Hedrick, MPH, Executive Director for the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health to celebrate Native American Heritage Month.
In her talk, she will explore restorative justice efforts for California American Indians, examining contemporary examples of reconciliation. The Klamath River dam removal reflects a commitment to restore sacred lands and waterways, honoring Indigenous environmental stewardship. Recent actions, including President Biden’s apology for boarding school injustices and the integration of traditional healing with natural helper services, embody a national shift towards healing historical trauma and empowering tribal sovereignty.
Calli: The Art of Xicanx Peoples - UCSF Around the Bay
Thursday, November 21, 2024 | 6:30 pm to 9 pm
Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street
Spend an evening* with UCSF School of Nursing Dean Carol Dawson-Rose, PhD ’99, RN, FAAN; Mica Estrada, PhD, associate dean of diversity, inclusion, and outreach; and the UCSF community to explore Calli: The Art of Xicanx Peoples at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)!
UCSF Around the Bay is a series of local events offering engaging programs and opportunities for alumni, faculty, staff, and friends to connect with campus leaders.
The $15 registration fee** includes a short talk, a private reception with drinks and light bites, and admission to the Calli exhibit. Access to the rest of the museum will be closed.
Native American Heritage Month: Un-Thanksgiving Day Sunrise Ceremony, Alcatraz Island
Thursday, November 28, 2024 | 5:15 am - 8:30 am
Pier 33/Alcatraz Landing
Join the Multicultural Resource Center, Office of Diversity and Outreach for this gathering that honors the occupation of Alcatraz by Indians of All Tribes in 1969-71, which focused attention on discrimination, land rights and living conditions of Indians in the United States on a day dedicated to celebrating the arrival of Europeans.
This event coordinated by the International Indian Treaty Council.
BAY AREA NATIVE AMERICAN RESOURCES
- American Indian Child Resource Center
- American Indian Cultural District
- Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits
- Bioneers Indigenous Forum and Indigeneity Program
- California Indian Legal Services
- California Museum and Cultural Center
- Dancing Earth
- First People's Fund
- Friendship House Association of American Indians, of San Francisco
- Intertribal Friendship House, Oakland
- Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden
- International Funders for Indigenous Peoples
- Native American Health Center
- Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance
- Sogorea Te'Land Trust
FUN FACTS
Native Lands
This map shows you what Indigenous lands you're living on. The crowd-sourced, interactive website mapping traditional territories of Indigenous people, treaties and language has grown to become so much more. The map was created by Victor G. Temprano, a Canadian who was "born in traditional Katzie territory and raised in the Okanagan" and who began work on the project in 2015. It currently covers the USA, Canada, much of Mexico, Australia, South Africa, and expanding amounts of territory in South America.
History of the Emeryville Shellmound
The Emeryville Shellmound was a highly remarkable historic, cultural, and sacred site established by Ohlone Indians over centuries of use from 500 B.C. to approximately 1700 A.D. These people were among the earliest inhabitants of the region now known as the San Francisco Bay Area. They built their villages on the mound and buried their dead, creating, over the centuries, a sixty foot high mound with a diameter of about 350 feet. This significant site functioned holistically in both the secular and sacred realms, and as such, should not have been disturbed, but honored as a place set apart from the mundane world.
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area
The present-day Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of all of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara, and San Jose; and who were also members of the historic Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County. The aboriginal homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe includes the following counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, most of Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and portions of Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and San Joaquin. This large contiguous geographical area, which historically crosscuts aboriginal linguistic and tribal boundaries, fell under the sphere of influence of the aforementioned three missions between 1776 and 1836. The missionization policies deployed by the Catholic Church and militarily supported by the Hispanic Empire, brought many distantly related, and in some cases, already inter-married tribal groups together at the missions.
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