Photo: Red Fox James (Blackfoot) at the White House. In 1914 he rode through several states with a petition for a national day honoring Native Americans.
November marks Native American Heritage Month. A relatively new holiday, President George W. Bush signed it into law on October8, 2008. But its history began almost one hundred years earlier...
In 1914, Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, set out to gather support for a national day recognizing and honoring Native Americans. He rode over 4,000 miles from state to state and convinced 24 states to endorse his cause. On December 14, he presented these endorsements to the White House. At the time, the U.S. government didn’t proclaim a national day. However, the state of New York declared the second Saturday in May as American Indian Day.
Since then, progress has been slow, but steady. In 1986, the 99th Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing the President to proclaim November 23-30, 1986, as American Indian Week. President George H.W. Bush continued the proclamations until 1990, when he approved a joint resolution to declare November as National American Indian Heritage Month. This tradition has continued annually until the official day was recognized in 2008.
See more pictures of Red Fox James on his journey in Images of America: Grand Island: The Julius Leschinsky Photographs
