Native American Heritage Day

by Libby Pelham | More from this Blogger

29 Nov 2008 07:50 PM

There are so many holidays, but this year, the federal government decided to honor Native Americans - well, at least for one day.

While I was busy blogging about Black Friday, the (sometimes) biggest shopping day of the year, I missed the news that, at least for this year, the government decided to name the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day.

(This image is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See Copyright.)

As you know, the Native Americans are responsible for helping original settlers survive harsh winters by sharing foods such as turkey, potatoes, squash, beans, and corn with them and thus giving us the Thanksgiving holiday. As altruistic as the Native Americans were, all did not go well for them as eventually, settlers were so thankful they took over most of the American land.

Frank Suniga, of the Mescalero Apache Indians had been pushing for this legislation since September 2001. Suniga proposed the ideal of a national heritage day to the Tribes of Northwest Indians at the Affiliated Tribes Northwest Indians Convention Center. After that, many other Native American organizations including the National Congress of American Indians took up the cause. The National Congress of American Indians placed the proposal in the hands of Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Representative Joe Baca of California.

This year, President George Bush signed the Native American Heritage Day (House Joint Resolution 62) into legislation last month. The holiday is designed to honor Native Americans for their many contributions to our country. This includes the fact that more Native Americans per capita serve in the military than any other group.

The only bad thing is that this legislation was just good for this year. Suniga said that he and other advocates plan to push to make this day an annual holiday, although some tribes are not happy to have the day after Thanksgiving as the date.

If you are upset about not knowing about the holiday until it was over, don't feel bad. Because the holiday was just passed last month, there wasn't even enough time for most Native American tribes to organize any events to commemorate it. Hopefully, it will become an annual holiday that we can celebrate each year.

Learn more about Libby Pelham

Libby Pelham is a work-at-home mom located in Jacksonville, NC. She has a beautiful little boy, Will, born in July of 2004.

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