Our country commemorates the month of November as Indigenous Heritage month.
At Brightworks, we continue to honor and celebrate our indigenous communities year round.
Although this work is continuously in development and a work in-progress, we are committed to decolonizing frameworks that harbor racial inequities and injustices.
Across Brightworks, we are finding new ways to honor, acknowledge and bring into our learning spaces the testimonies of indigenous communities.
This November, we encourage our community members to continue uplifting and elevating indigenous voices, traditions and perspectives.
Books that some of our students are reading:
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Tracy Noble
Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard
Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie
Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America edited by Sara Sinclair
America is a vast land of many cultures dating back thousands of years to the original inhabitants of the land. During National Native American Heritage Month, we explore the heritage, culture, and experience of Indigenous peoples both historically and in American life today.
About Ramaytush Ohlone, from https://americanindianculturaldistrict.org/ramaytush-land-acknowledgement
“The Ramaytush (pronounced ‘rah-my-toosh’) are the original peoples of Yelamu, the San Francisco Peninsula. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1769, the Ramaytush Ohlone numbered approximately 1500 persons and lived in ten small tribal groups. Today, the four family lineages documented are from one single person, “Leandra,” who survived the colonization of San Francisco.
The Ramaytush Ohlone people are still here today and work to preserve their cultural knowledge, expand knowledge of their history, revitalize their language, and protect wahrep, mother earth, and serve the communities in San Francisco. We are honored to work beside them as guests and American Indian relatives on their ancestral home land.”
For more info visit the Ramaytush Ohlone Association’s website here.
Further Reading and Local Organizations
San Francisco Library Events and Programs
5 Things You Should Know About San Francisco’s Indigenous Past & Present
First Nations Development Institute
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
More than a Word https://www.kanopy.com/product/more-word
SF Bay and Water Trail give you the most unfettered observation of our unique cultural roots.
The citywide Indigenize Project is a placemaking and place keeping initiative that focuses on honoring and celebrating American Indian culture, history, people, and contributions through art works, pole banners, a genocide mapping project, and QR walking tours. This four part project is intended to create an interactive experience that will confront systematic erasure and add to the rich cultural heritage of San Francisco by expanding public awareness and elevating Native visibility through an Indigenous lens.
The Indigenize Project will create educational destinations throughout the city mapping out a cultural trail for residents and visitors to learn and experience American Indian culture and history through the voice of the people. The Ramaytush Ohlone of the Bay Area, and greater Native population are not a people of the past, but an integral and active community in San Francisco.
Local Organizations
http://www.ramaytush.com
http://amahmutsun.org
http://muwekma.org
https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/purpose-and-vision/
Get Involved
http://amahmutsun.org/land-trust
http://protectjuristac.org
https://native-land.ca/maps/territories/ohlone/
Smithsonian Institution Native American Heritage Month Resources
You can connect to the Smithsonian Native American Heritage Month Events and Resources.
National Museum of the American Indian
Created by the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian Institution, Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) supplies K–12 schools with curriculum resources and teacher training. It enhances classroom education by prioritizing authentic Indi
Native Land Digital
A searchable and interactive map of Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages. This map is created by an Indigenous-led non-profit organization and aims to raise awareness and provide educational resources about Indigenous cultures worldwide.
American Indians in Children’s Literature
A database organized by Dr. Debbie Reese with reviews, lists, articles, and posts about the issues in children’s literature related to Native and Indigenous representation and reviews of literature which is both problematic and excellent.
American Indian Youth Literature Award
The American Indian Youth Literature Award is given in even-numbered years to authors and illustrators for their work in picture books, middle grade and young adult categories.
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
Educational resources from the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. These resources include interviews, archives, and a special collection relating to the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico.
For Indigenous Peoples Day we, at Paint the Void, are grateful for our partnership with @aicd.sf and their work to empower the American Indian voice of the SF Bay Area.
This mural, “We Are on Native Land: Honoring the Original Stewards,” marks the entrance to Golden Gate Park at Stanyan. The intention of the mural is foster a collective understanding of being on and connected to the land and honors Indigenous animals, plants, and people as the first stewards of Golden Gate Park in Yelamu.
The “We” reminds us that we are never alone in the park which was created to welcome and foster recreation and enjoyment from people of all Nations and to honor our unique and shared relationships, responsibility, and connection to the plants and animals in GGP.
Organized by @aicd.sf designed by native artists, realized by the AICD community and artist @rachel.z.art WE are grateful for the beginning of many more partnerships.
Take the moment to go outside, and be grateful for the contributions and wisdom of Native people and their many gifts. Connect with the land, animals, plants and people!