Kansas governor proclaims November as Native American Indian Heritage Month
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday proclaimed November Native American Indian Heritage Month.
In the proclamation, Kelly encouraged Kansans to educate themselves about the four Kansas tribes: the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska. Each have their own sovereign governments.
The federal government recognizes hundreds of tribes across the U.S.. Tribes native to Kansas include the Arapaho, Kansa, Osage and the Wichita — as they’re referred to.
“The Kansas tribes are valuable partners to the state, and to the communities and economies near their reservations,” Kelly said in the release.
In addition to the tribes native to Kansas, the state has historically also been home to many emmigrant tribes, according to the Kansas Historical Society. At one point the federal government gave nearly 30 tribes land in the Kansas Territory — after previously passing several acts to forcibly move them — telling them they wouldn’t be moved again. In 1854, however, the tribes were again forced to move to make way for settlers.
In 2013 the National Congress of American Indians drafted a resolution asking for space in the National Museum of the American Indian to establish a Holocaust Museum to educate about the “many years of genocide against Americans (that) is commemorative of an assault on all of humanity,” and take a step toward healing.
For more than two decades, presidents have annually proclaimed November as National American Indian Heritage Month or National Native American Heritage Month.
Resolutions doing the same issued by Congress were approved by President George H.W. Bush from 1990 to 1994, according to the Library of Congress.
“National American Indian Week” proclamations were issued previously.
November has been proclaimed a variant of “Native American Heritage Month” every year since 1994, with the first coming under President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 6:47 PM.