November is Native American Heritage Month (Part 1)

November is Native American Heritage Month, but my honor and respect for our nation's first peoples is something that I am mindful of all the time.  Although I know next to nothing about my own Native American heritage since I was raised as a Negro/Colored/Black American, it's a part of my DNA that can not be denied.  By the time we became African-Americans, I was an adult. :)  

Image credit: Hand drawn native american dream catcher, beads and feathers
© Photographer: Bluelela | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Pinterest is a wonderful invention for organizing and collecting topics of specific interest.  To try to learn more about Native Americans and their contributions, I created a pinboard and started gathering information.  Been collecting for several years.




Additionally, for 2016, shared my thoughts about the celebration of the contributions of the first nations to the history of America and the building of this nation at myLot.com:

November is Native American Heritage Month

Adding on to these thoughts, opinions, and perspectives published at myLot with my other remarks and comments shared elsewhere on the web.  May I say that in my attempt to find information about Native American heritage on the Internet, I found a lot of current events that are not pretty!  Sharing the info because you can't say you appreciate the contributions of a people and then turn a blind eye to events that are adversely impacting those people.    

Happy Native American Heritage Month

and God Bless America!

Native American Council offers amnesty to 220 million undocumented whites

“...  The horse was brought to the Native Americans by way of the Spanish Conquistadores. Horses completely changed the way of life for the American Indians. ...”  The Comanches learned how to use horses so well ... read the rest of the story.

Please Don't Shoot the Horses Ever Again!  

Interesting Fact and Observation: "Currently there are 562 tribal governments in the United States recognized by the federal government. Each tribe can form its own government and enforces its own laws, establishes its own taxes and regulates its own activities." That's interesting. So if this can be accomplished in America, other countries with tribal communities ( "Afghanistan's tribal groups" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1658073.stm ) should just copy the Native Americans. Sounds easy enough! _ _ _ APOLOGIES!!! The quote was extracted from an article published via YAHOO Voices. That site shut down and the article shared was unpublished. UPDATE: November 3, 2014

Native Americans – My Tribute

Sharing information about the people who were here first. Call them First Nations, Native Americans, American Indians, the red man … their contributions to America and the injustices and betrayals they suffered are a part of American history are often overlooked or ignored. Raised a “Negro”, but my ancestry is also Native American, Cherokee. As November is Native American Heritage Month in the USA, took the opportunity to create a Pinterest board to begin collecting information about my “other people”.

Native Americans – My Pinterest Board

Related article:  How Can I Trace Native American Ancestry?

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In Memory Of Bernice Johnson 1913 – 1979 “Aunt Bern”

Native American Female Artist: Betty Albert

It is wonderful to learn about your background and ancestry, but we must always remind ourselves that none of us would have a heritage were it not for our mothers.


Two selected pieces below are the stunning artwork of Betty "Wabinmeguil" Albert-Lincez, who was adopted by French Canadians but came to learn that she was Cree.  She still resides in Canada and is listed among the Canadian Women of Achievement.  Her artwork captures the Native American journey.  In my mind, these posters honor the women of the Indian nations.  

FYI.  She's on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/Wabimeguil/





Evening Star Woman




Three Sisters

All kinds of wonderful art for sale at AllPosters.com and Art.com

Related articles

• Genetic portrait of the English-speaking world
• Native Americans - My Tribute
• The Early Rainbow Coalition

Native American History: The Early Rainbow Coalition

Born and raised in Florida and the Seminoles were the first real American Indians that I had ever seen in my life. Happy to recycle this information a friend on a now-defunct social network shared with me as part of the November celebration for Native American Heritage Month. 

“On Christmas day 1837, 176 years ago, the Africans and Native Americans who formed Florida’s Seminole Nation defeated a vastly superior U.S. invading army bent on cracking this early rainbow coalition and returning the Africans to slavery. …”

Read more:  “Christmas Day Freedom Fighters: Hidden History of the Seminole Anticolonial Struggle” by William Loren Katz: http://bit.ly/1bqgtzD


(Image: Attack of the Seminoles on the blockhouse. Image: WikiCommons.)

An abandoned British fort from the war of 1812 was once occupied by a group of escaped slaves who found refuge and acceptance among the local tribes. The fort and the Spanish control of Florida offered some defense but the U.S. government sent an expeditionary military raid to terminate the outlaw colony. In the summer of 1816, the fort on the Apalachicola River was destroyed and nearly all its inhabitants.

WARRIORS FROM BONDAGE
30″ X 48″ Oil Painting by Jackson Walker of the attack of Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, 1816. Jackson Walker Florida Artist, Florida History Paintings, Military History Paintings, Legandary Florida, US History, Florida Landscape Paintings