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Although the first "American Indian Day" was celebrated in May 1916 in New York, a month-long recognition of Native Americans did not happen until 1990. That year, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month. Since then, the title has expanded to celebrate the heritage, history, art and traditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
In honor of this year's National American Indian Heritage Month, Smithsonian.com recognizes two renowned Native artists for their bead and sculpture work, investigates why Native American languages are disappearing, explores Sitting Bull's legacy through his great-grandson and offers a list of festivals, concerts and lectures at the Smithsonian Institution and around the country.
![Sacred Apache artifacts](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/204*109/repatriation_388.jpg)
The Road to Repatriation
The National Museum of the American Indian works with Native Tribes to bring sacred artifacts home again
!["I was proud to show that our Indian people are still doing this," Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty says of her handiwork.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/204*109/mall-indianbead-main-388.jpg)
Beading the Way
How Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty created one of the centerpieces for the National Museum of American Indian's "Identity by Design" exhibition
![A childs sled](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/204*109/object_sled_388.jpg)
Gathering Rosebuds
Did a Native American actress inspire one of Hollywood's most celebrated symbols?
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/204*109/tonguetied_388.jpg)
Tongue Tied
Some 200 Native American languages are dying out and with them valuable history
![A lock of hair and wool leggings belonging to Sitting Bull will soon be repatriated to his closest living relatives (left, Sitting Bull](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/204*109/sitting_bull_388.jpg)
Sitting Bull's Legacy
The Lakota Sioux leader's relics return to his only living descendants
!["Traditionally as Native people, we have this incredible sensibility about making our homes just practical and beautiful," Naranjo-Morse says. "Pueblo people believe that they came out of the ground, so it would only make sense that they](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/204*109/sculpting1_388.jpg)
Sculpting Her Vision
A photo gallery of Nora Naranjo-Morse's inspiring outdoor designs
EXPLORE MORE SMITHSONIAN COVERAGE OF AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE
![bison](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/145*78/phenomena_bison-388.jpg)
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Back Home On The Range
When a group of Native Americans took up bison ranching, they brought a prairie back to life
![“I always knew strongly who I was and what I was supposed to do,” says Wiki (here at the mouth of the Klamath River on the Yurok Indian reservation in Northern California).](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/145*78/yi_wiki388.jpg)
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Inspired Educator
Yurok Indian Geneva Wiki returns to her roots to teach disadvantaged minorities
![Ojibwa tribe members gather 50,000 pounds of wild rice each fall on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota (Ryan Stevens "knocks" grains into a canoe while James Frederick poles).](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/145*78/rice388.jpg)
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Going With the Grain
On Minnesota lakes, Native Americans satisfy a growing hunger for "slow food" by harvesting authentically wild rice the old-fashioned way
![corn-grinding ceremony](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/145*78/zuni-morell_388.jpg)
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Mystery and Drama
Virginia Morell, author of "The Zuni Way," on the mystical ceremonies of the Zuni pueblo
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Calendar of Events
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At the Smithsonian
Celebrate American Indian Heritage Month with the Smithsonian Institution
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/145*77/native-american-event.jpg)
Around the Country
Learn about American Indian Heritage Month celebrations in your state
Photo Gallery
![Wedding party](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090116005447im_/http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/76*40/indian-heritage-388.jpg)
North American Indian Photography of Edward Curtis
See Edward S. Curtis' work The North American Indian
Travel with Smithsonian
Shop at the Smithsonian Store
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Native American Turquoise & Lapis Pierced Earrings
This modern sterling silver design, handcrafted by Navajo artisans of New Mexico, showcases semiprecious blue gems.