Native American Heritage Month
Nov. 3, 2025
Dear Brandeis Community,
We are excited to recognize and commemorate Native American Heritage Month at Brandeis. While many people see November as the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday — a time for family reunions and sharing meals — for American Indian/Alaska Native peoples and communities, it is a time to honor their ancestors and remember their sacrifices, as well as celebrate their contributions to our country.
According to the U.S. Department of Interior Indian Affairs website, one of the very first proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, New York. He successfully persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the "First Americans," which they did from 1912 to 1915. 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.
Last month, the Brandeis community came together to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, and we continue our recognition of Native Americans this month through the following events, and we welcome everyone to participate!
"Lumbee Pipelines: American Indian Movement in the Residue of Settler Colonialism"
Nov. 11, 2025
International Lounge, 12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
Book presentation and discussion with David Shane Lowry, Lumbee Tribal Citizen.
"Lumbee Pipelines" engages conversations about how, even as American Indian identities and communities are often erased amid the business of contemporary American life, Lumbee people have devised ways to empower and enrich themselves and other peoples by repurposing and evading the genocidal pressures that define settler-colonial society. Light refreshments will be served.
Intercultural Center Blue Couch Series – Native American Movie
Nov. 12, 2025
ICC Swig Lounge, 5 - 7:30 p.m.
Light refreshments will be served.
The Thanksgiving Play
Nov. 21-23, 2025
Spingold Theater
Written by Larissa Fasthorse and Directed by Shana Gozansky.
Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally woke teaching artists scrambles to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month. Get tickets online.
In addition, we are proud to share our Native American Watercolors in the Brandeis Goldfarb Library. Beyond Brandeis, we encourage you to learn more about and support local Indigenous communities and organizations, such as the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness (MCNAA), The North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB), and individual tribal communities, including the Massachusett, Nipmuc and Pawtucket peoples.
In celebration,
Lee Bitsóí
Vice Provost for Access and Excellence