A Proclamation on National Native American Heritage Month, 2024
Celebrating National Native American Heritage Month in Second Life Visit Cookie (132, 126, 1505)
During National Native American Heritage Month, we honor the history, rich cultures, and vast contributions of Native peoples. We celebrate the hundreds of Tribal Nations that are ushering in a new era in our Nation-to-Nation relationships. And we recommit to respecting Tribal sovereignty and self-determination and working in partnership with Tribal Nations to bring new prosperity and security to Native peoples.
Indigenous peoples’ history in the United States is defined by strength, survival, and a deep commitment to and pride in their heritage, right to self-governance, and ways of life. Native peoples have built and sustained powerful Tribal Nations, and the knowledge they developed still benefits us today. However, our Nation’s failed policies of the past subjected generations of Native peoples to cruelty, violence, and intimidation. The forced removal of Native peoples from their homes and ancestral homelands; attempts to assimilate entire generations; and stripping of Indigenous peoples of their identities, cultures, and traditions are some of the darkest chapters of our Nation’s history. The trauma and turmoil fundamentally altered their communities. As the first President to visit Indian Country in 10 years, I delivered a national apology for the unspeakable harms caused to Native peoples at Federal Indian Boarding Schools.
Indigenous peoples have persisted and survived — a testament to their resilience and resolve. Today, Native communities are leading the way forward and continuing to strengthen the fabric of the United States. They have long served in the United States military and currently serve in the highest levels of government — including the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, America’s first Native American Cabinet secretary. In every field and sector, Native peoples are pushing for progress and contributing to our shared prosperity.
During National Native American Heritage Month, we honor the heritage and contributions of Native peoples, and we work tirelessly to build a future grounded in dignity, respect, and partnership. We remain committed to working with Native communities to write a new and better chapter in American history for Tribal Nations — one that honors the solemn promise the United States made to Tribal Nations, fulfills our Federal trust and treaty obligations, and works together to rebuild Tribal economies and institutions.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 as National Native American Heritage Month. I urge all Americans, as well as their elected representatives at the Federal, State, and local levels, to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. Also, I urge all Americans to celebrate November 29, 2024, as Native American Heritage Day.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
FROM: A Proclamation on National Native American Heritage Month, 2024
