Northwest to host events recognizing Native American Heritage Month

Northwest Missouri State University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion will host events in commemoration of Native American Heritage Month during the month of November.

The month of activities, which are free and open to the public, begins with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion hosting a movie screening, featuring “Killers of the Flower Moon,” from 6 to 9:30 pm, Tuesday, November 12, in the JW Jones Student Union Boardroom. The film is a Western crime drama that is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts a series of Osage Indian murders. The 2023 film, which received 10 Academy Award nominations, is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

Then, at 6 pm, Thursday, November 14, in the Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building, Northwest hosts a performance by hoop dancing world champion Eric Hernandez, a member of the Lumbee tribe with over 20 years of experience in Native American hoop dancing.

Dr. Jessie Peter, Northwest’s senior coordinator of diversity, said Hernandez challenges stereotypes about Native Americans and helps spread ancestral wisdom. She hopes that, by attending heritage month activities, people’s beliefs about Native Americans are challenged as well. Northwest’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion annually hosts interactive activities to help community members learn about Native American heritage.

“This is a unique opportunity for us all across diverse cultures, age groups and beliefs to come together and improve our knowledge and understanding of indigenous people,” Peter said. “Not just as a people of the past, but our present and future.”

The month’s activities conclude from 6 to 7:30 pm, Tuesday, November 19, in the Tower View Room at the Student Union, where attendees are invited to create their own dream catchers, a symbol of protection and connection. Traditionally crafted by indigenous people, dreamcatchers are believed to filter negative dreams and let only positive visions flow through them.

Indigenous people from tribes such as the Otoe (Jiwere), Ioway (Báxoǰe), Missouria (Nut’achi) originally inhabited northwest Missouri. Others, like the Sac and Fox (Thakiwaki and Meskwaki), moved to the region in response to encroachment by white settlers in the east and Great Lakes regions. Still other groups, like the Potawatomi (Neshnabé), were forcibly moved to temporary reservations. Northwest Missouri State University acknowledges this history and that people were removed unjustly to this land and from this land.

In 1990, the US Congress passed Public Law 101-343, authorizing and requesting the President to issue a proclamation designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month. Congress chose November to recognize American Indians because it concludes the traditional harvest season and links with the tradition of Thanksgiving and celebrating American Indians.

Native American and American Indian are terms used to refer to individuals living within what is now the United States prior to European contact. In recent years, the term “indigenous” has been used to refer to people with pre-existing sovereignty who were living together as a community prior to contact with settler populations.