Edmonia Lewis was the first professional African American and Native American sculptor. She became an internationally acclaimed artist in the 1860′s and 1870′s. Lewis was notable for incorporating themes relating to the Black experience and Native American culture.
Smithsonian Institution

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Edmonia Lewis was the first professional Black American and Native American sculptor. She became an internationally acclaimed artist in the years after the American Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877). Lewis worked in a Neoclassical style. Neoclassicists often use subjects from ancient history to make observations about contemporary events. She was notable for incorporating themes relating to the Black experience and Native American culture.

Mary Edmonia Lewis was probably born around July 4, 1844, in Greenbush (now Rensselaer), near Albany, New York, to a free Black American father and a mother who was Black American and at least part Chippewa. Mary Edmonia was orphaned when she was a child. She and her older half-brother Samuel were adopted by her mother’s sisters and raised in a nomadic Native American community on the New York-Canadian border. Mary Edmonia was given the Chippewa name Wildfire.

Samuel became a gold miner in California and financed his sister’s early schooling. In 1859, he also helped her to attend Oberlin College in Ohio. While there, she asked to be called Edmonia Lewis. At Oberlin, Lewis boarded at a minister‘s home with white female students. In 1862, she was accused of poisoning two of her housemates. Days later, she was beaten by a white mob. Although the charges against her were dropped for lack of evidence, Lewis was subjected to a highly publicized hearing. She was later accused of stealing art supplies at the college. That case was also dismissed. However, Oberlin would not allow Lewis to finish her final term and graduate.

In 1863, with Samuel’s help, Lewis traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, where she became acquainted with the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. She also met the sculptor Edward A. Brackett, who gave her some lessons in sculpture. Soon, she set up her own small studio. In 1864, Lewis created busts of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, a Civil War hero who had died leading the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment, and the abolitionist John Brown. With the money she earned from sales of the Shaw and Brown busts and some clay and plaster medallions she created, Lewis traveled to London, England; Paris, France; and Florence, Italy; before settling in Rome, Italy, where she continued her work as a sculptor.

One of Lewis’s most acclaimed works is Forever Free (1867). Commemorating the 1865 abolition of slavery in the United States, the sculpture depicts a Black man and woman emerging from the bonds of slavery. Lewis embraced her Native American heritage with works inspired by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his epic poem The Song of Hiawatha (1855), about the great Native American leader Hiawatha. These included the sculpture Old Arrow Maker (modeled in 1866, carved in 1872) and the busts Hiawatha and Minnehaha (both 1868). Lewis created an acclaimed bust of Longfellow in 1871.

Lewis also carved busts of American presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, as well as sculptures of mythic, Biblical, and historical scenes. In 1876, she created a sensation at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with The Death of Cleopatra (1876). Lewis’s 63-inch- (160-centimeter-) tall marble sculpture depicts the Egyptian queen in the throes of death.

Lewis continued to exhibit her work until the 1890′s. Little is known about her later years. Lewis is believed to have died in London on Sept. 17, 1907. A number of her sculptures are now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in Washington, D.C.

Ben N. Campbell was a member of the United States Senate from 1993 to 2005. Campbell, a Republican, represented Colorado. Before becoming a senator, Campbell had served in the Colorado House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. Senate

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne chief, was a member of the United States Senate from 1993 to 2005. He represented Colorado. When he was elected, Campbell became the first Native American person since the late 1920′s to hold a U.S. Senate seat. Charles Curtis, whose mother was part Native American, served in the Senate from 1907 to 1913 and again from 1915 to 1929. Campbell was elected as a Democrat. In 1995, he switched to the Republican Party.

As a senator, Campbell focused on such issues as water conservation and environmental preservation. He worked to protect Colorado’s water resources.

Campbell was born on April 13, 1933, in Auburn, California. His father was Northern Cheyenne, and his mother was of Portuguese descent. Campbell served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1953. He earned a bachelor’s degree from San José State University in 1957. He also attended Meiji University in Tokyo. Campbell became a judo expert and was a member of the U.S. judo team in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. During the late 1960′s and the 1970′s, he built a successful business as a jewelry designer and jewelry maker and became a resident of Colorado.

Campbell was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1982. He served from 1983 until 1986, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He won reelection to the U.S. House in 1988 and 1990. In 1992, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and he took office in 1993. He was reelected in 1998.

In 2004, Campbell announced that because of concerns about his health he would not seek reelection that year to the Senate. His final term as senator ended in January 2005.

Joseph Medicine Crow was the last surviving war chief of the Crow people. He was a tribal historian and anthropologist, teaching the culture and history of the Crow and other Plains peoples. He is pictured here receiving the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.
© EPA/Alamy Images

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Joseph Medicine Crow was an activist, author, historian, and leader of the Crow people. He served as tribal historian and anthropologist, teaching others the culture and history of the Crow and other Plains peoples. He was the last surviving war chief of the Crow people.

Joseph Medicine Crow (also known as High Bird) was born on Oct. 27, 1913, in southern Montana, near Lodge Grass. He was raised in the tradition of Crow warriors by his grandfather, named Yellowtail. Medicine Crow learned the history of the Crow from various elders. His great-uncle, named White Man Runs Him, had served as a scout for United States Army officer George Armstrong Custer just before the Battle of the Little Bighorn. White Man Runs Him told Medicine Crow about this experience. Medicine Crow later studied at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, graduating in 1938. He earned a master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1939, becoming the first Crow person to receive a graduate degree. Medicine Crow later worked as a teacher at a Native American school in Oregon.

Medicine Crow enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 and fought against Germany during World War II (1939-1945). Among Plains peoples, acts of bravery in battle are often considered more prestigious than killing. Such acts, sometimes called counting coup, can be recorded against any enemy. During his military service, Medicine Crow accomplished the four acts of bravery necessary to achieve the status of war chief. These acts are (1) successfully leading a war party against an enemy; (2) entering an enemy camp and stealing a horse; (3) disarming an enemy in battle; and (4) touching a living enemy. A Crow council of elders named Medicine Crow war chief in 1946 after learning of his exploits against German soldiers.

The council appointed Medicine Crow official tribal historian and anthropologist in 1948. Medicine Crow wrote and lectured widely on the Battle of the Little Bighorn and other topics of Plains history. His books include From the Heart of the Crow Country: The Crow Indians’ Own Stories (2000) and Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond (2006). In 2009, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the preservation of the culture and history of Native Americans. He died on April 3, 2016.

Louise Erdrich is an American author known for her fiction rooted in her Native American heritage. Erdrich’s mother was a Chippewa, and her father was German American. Many of her characters have mixed Native American and white backgrounds and deal with issues of cultural identity.
© ZUMA Press/Alamy Images

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants.

Louise Erdrich is a Native American author. In June 2021, Erdrich won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her novel “The Night Watchman” published in 2020. She based the novel on her grandfather who was a council-member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He fought the termination policy that went to Congress in 1953. The book weaves together a family story and the Chippewa efforts to preserve the tribe’s land and treaty rights in the mid 1900’s.

The Game of Silence tells the story of a young Ojibwa girl during the mid-1800′s who sees her people and their way of life threatened when white settlers come to their land.
The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich. Text and illustration copyright © 2005 by Louise Erdrich. Reprinted by permission of Harper Collins Publishers.

Karen Louise Erdrich was born June 7, 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota where her parents taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Many of her books reflect on her German American and Chippewa heritage and deal with issues of cultural identity. Erdrich’s books also draw on Native American culture, mythology, and storytelling traditions.

Erdrich earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1976 and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1979. She has published 28 books and won the National Book Award in 2012 for her book “The Round House.” Erdrich owns Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that focuses on Native American literature.

Native American politician Deb Haaland
© Romie Miller, Shutterstock

People in the United States observe Native American Heritage Month each year in November. During this period, many Native tribes celebrate their cultures, histories, and traditions. It is also a time to raise awareness of the challenges Indigenous people have faced in the past and today, along with their contributions to the United States as its first inhabitants. 

Deb Haaland is a Native American politician. In 2018, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from New Mexico. In 2020, President-elect Joe Biden nominated Haaland as the first Native American secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Debra Anne Haaland was born Dec. 2, 1960, in Winslow, Arizona. She is of Pueblo ancestry and is an enrolled citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna. Her parents both served in the military, and the family moved frequently when she was growing up. In 1994, she graduated from the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in English. She then started a business making and canning salsa. She earned a J.D. degree from the university’s law school in 2006.

Haaland began her political career as a campaign volunteer for Democratic Party candidates, working to increase voter turnout among Native Americans. She worked as a tribal administrator for the San Felipe Pueblo people from 2013 to 2015. In 2014, she ran for lieutenant governor of New Mexico but was not elected. She served as chair of New Mexico’s Democratic Party from 2015 to 2017.

November 21, 2018

Tomorrow, November 22, is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a day set aside each year for giving thanks and remembering the blessings of life. To celebrate the holiday and honor Native American Heritage Month, we look at the Wampanoag Indians of southeastern Massachusetts, the tribe with whom the English Pilgrims shared the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Wampanoag Indians joined the recently arrived Pilgrims for a Thanksgiving feast in 1621. Credit: An oil painting on canvas (about 1919) by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (Corbis/Bettmann)

The Wampanoag traditionally lived by farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods. They were loosely organized into groups headed by leaders called sachems. However, no single sachem held authority over all the Wampanoag. The Wampanoag originally spoke an Algonquian language that is now extinct.

Credit: © Native American Heritage Month

Contact with Europeans beginning in the early 1600’s created terrible hardships for the Wampanoag. Smallpox, measles, and other European diseases killed many Indians. Other Indians were kidnapped and sold into slavery.

In 1620, the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony along Cape Cod Bay. Massasoit, a Wampanoag sachem, made a treaty with the Pilgrims in 1621.  Massasoit agreed that his people would not harm the Pilgrims as long as he lived. In return, the Pilgrims promised to protect the Indians and respect their rights. In the autumn of 1621, the Wampanoag celebrated a successful harvest with the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving. But the friendly relations did not last.

A statue of Massasoit by the American sculptor Cyrus Dallin stands on a Pilgrim burial ground in Plymouth, Mass.
Credit: Bronze statue (1921); Artstreet

When Massasoit died, his elder son, Wamsutta—whom the Europeans called Alexander—succeeded him as sachem. Massasoit’s younger son, Metacom, later succeeded Wamsutta. Europeans referred to Metacom as King Philip, believing he ruled over all the Wampanoag. Metacom grew concerned that as their demand for land increased, the settlers would eventually destroy his people. He began preparations to drive out all the Europeans in New England. The violent conflict, known as King Philip’s War, began in 1675. After several battles, the settlers defeated Metacom’s forces at Mount Hope—near present-day Bristol, Rhode Island—on Aug. 12, 1676. The settlers hunted down Metacom and killed him in a nearby swamp.

Following the war, the Wampanoag lost most of their traditional lands to European settlers. Many Wampanoag adopted Christianity and other customs of the settlers. However, they never lost their sense of identity.

Today, about 3,000 Wampanoag live in the United States. They live mainly in southeastern Massachusetts, where they are organized into five bands: (1) Assonet, (2) Gay Head or Aquinnah, (3) Herring Pond, (4) Mashpee, and (5) Namasket. In the 1970’s, the Wampanoag formed a tribal council to represent the interests of the tribe. The council helped the Gay Head band of the Wampanoag obtain federal recognition in 1987. The Mashpee band became federally recognized in 2007.

November 7, 2018

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. To celebrate the month, World Book looks at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C. The NMAI is devoted to the histories and cultures of the native peoples of the Americas. The museum works in cooperation with Native American communities to present objects, exhibits, and artworks of historical significance. The museum’s collections also showcase modern Native American arts and cultures. The NMAI, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution, has three facilities: the main museum campus on the National Mall; the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City; and the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland.

The National Museum of the American Indian is devoted to the history and culture of the native peoples of North, Central, and South America. The museum’s building, in Washington, D.C., has smooth, rounded forms that were inspired in part by windswept rock formations. Many Native American architects and designers worked on the design. Credit: Pixabay

George Gustav Heye, an American art collector, established the Museum of the American Indian in New York City in 1916. In 1989, the United States Congress created the NMAI and moved Heye’s collection to the Smithsonian. The museum opened in 2004.

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. Credit: © Native American Heritage Month

This November, the NMAI is featuring an exhibit called “Patriot Nations: Native Americans in Our Nation’s Armed Forces.” The exhibit details the sometimes-conflicted participation of Native Americans in the U.S. military since the days of the American Revolution (1775-1783). It also details the new National Native American Veterans Memorial that will soon grace the museum’s grounds.

Native American Heritage Month began as American Indian Day in 1916, when certain states began honoring Native Americans with a day each May. President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution of Congress designating the first Native American Heritage Month in November 1990. The month honors all the native peoples of the United States, including Alaskan natives and Pacific Islanders.