According to the U.S.Census Bureau, "American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month originated in 1915 when the president of the Congress of American Indian Associations issued a proclamation declaring the second Saturday in May of each year as American Indian Day. The first American Indian Day was celebrated in May 1916 in New York. 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."
Still, you can be hard put to find much in the way of widespread programming commemorating
Native American / Alaskan Native Heritage Month in general. But the TV documentaries, film festivals, local events, and so forth that really focus on folks up in 49th state? Particularly slim pickins, yes?
One good starting point we stumbled across is
Alaska Native Heritage Month, which provides a list of events programming in the state ranbging from plays to films to museum exhibitions and talks.
Another project in progress is a
blog put together by a student crew at the University of Alaska in Anchorage that "seeks to highlight resources and research related to Alaska's indigenous people and their history." Although its tendrils focusing on specific aspects of community life (seperate blogs dedicated to business, culture, housing, and women) are still sparsely posted, they say they'll be updating this month, and the main nav is a good launching point into an extensive network of UA- and community-based bibliographic and other websites including the UA-Fairbanks
Alaska Native Knowledge Network.
Happen to be in (or planning to be in) Anchorage?
The Alaska Native Heritage Center has published a number of events for its Winter/Spring running right up through April.
Happen to not be in Alaska? You can still reach out and hear some news, views and tunes on KBC - the
Koahnic Broadcast Corporation - a nonprofit, Alaska Native governed and operated media center located in Anchorage, Alaska.
You know of other good sites? Let us know.
Enjoy.
[
Jobs in Alaska from
IMDiversity Career Center]
