Native American Heritage Month

Wassaja and Other Famous Native Americans in Illinois

• Date: Saturday, November 1
• Time: 2:00 p.m.
• Location: Lewis Auditorium, Urbana Free Library (210 W Green St, Urbana) 

Description: Join our special guests Rosalyn LaPier and David R.M. Beck to hear the fascinating stories of Native Americans living in Illinois in the early 20th century.

Speakers: Rosalyn LaPier, Ph.D. (Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and Métis) and David R.M. Beck, Ph.D., Department of History, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

About the speakers: Rosalyn is an award-winning Indigenous writer, environmental historian, and ethnobotanist. They work within Indigenous communities to revitalize traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and to strengthen public policy for Indigenous languages. They are the author of two books including Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet, produced two Blackfeet language lexicons, and written dozens of articles and commentaries.

David R. M. Beck is the author and co-author of several award-winning books on the history of federal American Indian policy and urban American Indian history, including The Struggle for Self-Determination and City Indian. His book, Unfair Labor?, which Curtis Hinsley called “a master class in historical research and interpretation,” analyzes the labor and economic history of American Indian and Indigenous people who worked at and for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. His most recent book, Bribed with Our Own Money, examines federal use of coercion and bribery in an effort to eliminate the U.S. relationship with American Indian nations in the 1950s and 1960s. Dr. Beck taught in the Native American Studies Department at the University of Montana for more than two decades, and prior to that at NAES (Native American Educational Services) College and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Native Chicago Jam

• Date: Monday, November 3
• Time: 7:00 p.m.
• Location: Courtyard, Illini Union (1401 W. Green Street, Urbana)

Description: In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the Illini Union Board, Native American House (NAH), and American Indian Association of Illinois, welcome everyone to enjoy a variety of musical genres performed by an ensemble of Native performers.

In addition to tabling at this event, the NAH will have food for attendees. Food is first come, first served.

Performers: William Buchholtz (Algonquin/Métis), Mark Jourdan (Ho-Chunk/Oneida), Lanialoha Lee (Native Hawaiian), Kelly Summers (Zuni), and Dorene Wiese, Ph.D. (White Earth Ojibwe)

Community Welcome: Jessica Hernandez, Ph.D. (Binnizá/Zapotec & Maya Ch'orti’), Founder of Earth Daughters

• Date: Tuesday, November 4
• Time: Noon to 1:00 p.m.
• Location: Native American House (1206 W. Nevada St., Urbana)

Description: The Native American House invites you to a Community Welcome to meet and greet Dr. Jessica Hernandez, our guest speaker for the Dinner on Us program later in the day. We hope you’ll join us in giving Dr. Hernandez a warm welcome to Illinois!

Lunch will be provided. Food will be served on a first-come, first-served basis.

Indigenous Earthkeeping: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Conservation

• Date: Tuesday, November 4
• Time: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
• Location: Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Conference Room 612 (1206 West Gregory Drive, Urbana)

Description: Drawing from her book Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science, Dr. Jessica Hernandez offers a compelling critique of Western environmental models, highlighting their exclusion of Indigenous voices and the tendency to view the environment as a resource rather than a relative. This presentation will explore how meaningful environmental progress necessitates the dismantling of extractive conservation paradigms and the integration of Indigenous knowledge systems grounded in land-based relationality and kinship.

Speaker: Jessica Hernandez, Ph.D. (Binnizá/Zapotec & Maya Ch'orti’), Founder of Earth Daughters

About the speaker: Dr. Jessica Hernandez is a globally recognized Indigenous scientist, climate justice leader, and best-selling author whose groundbreaking work is redefining environmentalism through an Indigenous lens. Rooted in the Pacific Northwest, she bridges Indigenous science, traditional ecological knowledge, and Western frameworks to address the most urgent environmental crises of our time.

Read more about Dr. Hernandez.

Community Welcome: Daniel R. Wildcat, Ph.D. (Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma), Haskell Indian Nations University

• Date: Thursday, November 6
• Time: Noon to 1:00 p.m.
• Location: Native American House (1206 W. Nevada St., Urbana)

Description: The Native American House invites you to a Community Welcome to meet and greet Dr. Daniel R. Wildcat, professor of Indigenous and American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University. We hope you’ll join us in giving Dr. Wildcat a warm welcome to Illinois!

Lunch will be provided. Food will be served on a first-come, first-served basis.

Distinguished Public Lecture: Rising Voices, Changing Coasts - Honoring Indigenous Science in Coastal Climate Change

• Date: Thursday, November 6
• Time: 4:30 p.m.
• Location: Illini Room C & South Lounge, Illini Union (1401 W. Green Street)

Description: Through the lens of the Rising Voices, Changing Coasts coastal research project, this lecture highlights how traditional ecological knowledge and modern scientific approaches work together to promote resilience, sustainability, and community-driven solutions among diverse Indigenous coastal communities.

Speaker: Daniel R. Wildcat, Ph.D. (Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma), Haskell Indian Nations University

About the speaker: Daniel R. Wildcat is a Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma and has dedicated 39 years to teaching and administration at Haskell Indian Nations University. Dr. Wildcat earned his interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

In 1994, he partnered with the Hazardous Substance Research Center at Kansas State University to establish the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Center, and later launched the HERS summer undergraduate internship program in collaboration with KU professor Dr. Joane Nagel.

Dr. Wildcat is currently the principal investigator of a $20 million, five-year NSF-funded project to develop the Rising Voices, Changing Coasts Research Hub at Haskell. His publications include Power and Place: Indian Education in America (with Vine Deloria, Jr.), Destroying Dogma: Vine Deloria’s Legacy on Intellectual America (with Steve Pavlik), and Red Alert: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge, which emphasizes Indigenous ingenuity—“Indigenuity”—as essential to addressing environmental challenges in the Anthropocene. He also co-authored the Southern Great Plains chapter of the Fourth National Climate Assessment.

His most recent book, released in fall 2023, is “On Indigenuity: Learning the Lessons of Mother Earth.”

Harvest Dinner

• Date: Thursday, November 6
• Time: 4:30 to 8:00 p.m.
• Location: Illinois Street Dining Center (ISR) (1010 W Illinois St, Urbana)

Description: In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, University Housing will bring a taste of Native food flavors to ISR.

kinSTEM: Kinship in Sciences Conference (Day 1)

• Date: Friday, November 7
• Time: 4:00 p.m.
• Location: Room 314A, Illini Union (1401 W. Green St., Urbana)
• Registration Required: REGISTRATION CLOSED

The kinSTEM: Kinship in Sciences Conference is designed to provide a space for people from diverse disciplines to gather, reflect, and grow. Rather than define a single path, the goals remain open to interpretation, allowing participants to bring their own meanings, experiences, and questions into the space.

The kinSTEM Conference aims to:

• Create opportunities for scholars to share their research, knowledge, and lived experiences and to explore Indigenous ways of conceptualizing and enlivening kinship in STEM.
• Support the development of kinship-based networks that foster academic, personal, and professional relationships.
• Provide moments for participants to reflect on the historical, political, and ethical dimensions of STEM through Indigenous perspectives.
• Encourage collective imagining of futures in STEM rooted in care, community, and responsibility. By centering kinship, kinSTEM redefines what it means to engage in scientific inquiry by grounding discovery in relationships, accountability, and shared stewardship of knowledge.

kinSTEM: Kinship in Sciences Conference (Day 2)

• Date: Saturday, November 8
• Time: 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Location: Room 612, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (1206 West Gregory Drive)
• Registration Required: REGISTRATION CLOSED

Harvest Dinner

• Date: Tuesday, November 11
• Time: 4:30 to 7 p.m.
• Location: Lincoln Avenue Residence (LAR) Halls (100 Clark Hall, 1203 South Fourth Street)

Description: In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, University Housing will bring a taste of Native food flavors to LAR.

SWE x AISES: STEM Scholars Meetup

• Date: Thursday, November 13
• Time: 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
• Location: Native American House (1206 W. Nevada St., Urbana)

Description: AISES (Advancing Indigenous People in STEM) and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at Illinois invite graduate and undergraduate students to the Native American House for a STEM Scholars Meetup. This gathering is intended to cultivate meaningful connections, foster a sense of community, and encourage intellectual exchange. It also serves as an inclusive environment where participants can share their academic journeys, engage in collaborative research discussions, and build supportive kinship networks within academia and beyond.

All are welcome, regardless of major or program affiliation. Dinner will be provided. Food is first-come, first-served.

University of Illinois as a Land-Grant Institution: Native Higher Education Perspectives

• Date: Friday, November 14
• Time: Noon to 1:00 p.m.
• Location: Zoom

Description: Land-grant institutions have a responsibility to shape a more just and inclusive future. These institutions, which were built in part through the dispossession of Indigenous lands, carry a moral and ethical obligation to expand access and support for Native American students, and to do so in ways that honor sovereignty, self-determination, and cultural continuity. This noontime presentation will examine both historical and contemporary Native perspectives on higher education, with a focus on land-grant institutions broadly and the University of Illinois specifically.

About the speakers: Dr. Charlotte E. Davidson (Diné/Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara) is the Director of the Native American House at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Read more about Dr. Davidson.

Jamie M. Singson (Yaqui/Filipino), Director of Parking, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administration & Operations. Jamie has had many former roles in his 28 years at the University of Illinois, one of which was the Director of the Native American House under the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations. He is currently the Chair of the Native American House Advisory Circle.

Rock Your Mocs!

• Date: Saturday, November 15
• Time: All Day!
• Location: Everywhere

Description: Established in 2011, Rock Your Mocs is an annual and global social media event. The Native American House (NAH) encourages you to break out your moccasins for a worldwide celebration of Indigenous cultures!

Disrupting the Scientist Stereotype Through Indigenous Ribbon Work

• Date: Saturday, November 15
• Time: 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
• Location: Native American House (1206 W. Nevada St., Urbana)

Description: The traditional stereotype of the scientist in a white lab coat reinforces a narrow, homogeneous image that doesn't reflect the growing diversity within the scientific community. Students will customize lab coats by incorporating ribbon work, which is meant to amplify the enduring presence of scientists in Indigenous communities. Led by experienced artist Lori Bean (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) of Butterfly Woman Creations, and with the assistance of Native American House Ambassador Justin Bean (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), participants will engage in a meaningful, hands-on opportunity that encourages cultural expression and greater awareness of Indigenous traditions and perspectives.

Dinner will be provided!

Decolonizing Knowledge: Rethinking Research, Scholarship, and Community Engagement

• Date: Monday, November 17
• Time: 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.
• Location: Asian American Cultural Center (1210 W Nevada St, Urbana)

Description: This program brings together scholars whose work centers on Indigenous perspectives and challenges the boundaries of conventional academic thought. Panelists will discuss how different fields have historically included or excluded Indigenous voices, and what it means to meaningfully engage with Indigenous knowledge in research, teaching, and community partnerships.

Speakers: Jenny L. Davis, Ph.D. (Chickasaw Nation) Associate Professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies, and Director of American Indian Studies; David Eby (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma/Muscogee Creek), Doctoral Student, School of Information Sciences; Oliver Tapaha, Ph.D. (Diné), Assistant Professor, Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, College of Education; Heather Wright, Ph.D. (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa), Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Carle Illinois College of Medicine

University Laboratory High School: NAH Visit

• Date: Tuesday, November 18
• Time: 3:40 to 4:15 p.m.
• Location: Native American House (1206 W. Nevada St., Urbana)

Description: In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, University Laboratory High School students will visit the Native American House at Illinois to learn about its history, programs, and events. During their visit, they will engage with current college students who will share insights about Native student life and community on campus.

Giving Thanks: Exploring the Ontologies of Relationality

• Date: Tuesday, November 18
• Time: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
• Location: Salaam Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Cultural Center (700 S Gregory St Ste A, Urbana)

Description: The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) articulate a philosophy of gratitude and reciprocity through the Thanksgiving Address (Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen), often translated as “The Words That Come Before All Else.” In this Indigenous framework, Thanksgiving is not a single event but an ongoing, cyclical practice. By creating a dialogical space, this Native American House Dinner on Us program seeks to explore how gratitude, relational accountability, and respect for the diversity of life shape ways of knowing and being.

Speakers: Native American House and Salaam MENA Staff

College of ACES Soup & Stories: Breaking Bread Across Cultures

• Date: Friday, November 21
• Time: Noon to 1:00 p.m.
• Location: Bevier Hall 249 (905 S Goodwin Ave, Urbana)
• Registration Required: Register Now

Description: Through creating and growing community gardens with Project Green to address the diabetes epidemic, Yanaba experienced a personal cultural awakening. What began as a simple effort to provide fresh produce for my community became something much deeper; a revitalization of Navajo foodways and land stewardship. This journey opened her eyes to the responsibility of kinship and reminded Yanaba that reconnecting with their food and land is also a way of reconnecting with our identity and belonging.