Native Americans have been for many years put on the back burner of American history and culture. Despite playing major roles in and being the original Americans they are often overlooked or silenced in the media. Can you name one Native American character that is represented in a respectful manner today?
The month of November is Native American Heritage Month, created by “Arthur Caswell Parker, a Cattaraugus Seneca historian, who laid the groundwork for later federal observances when he helped launch the Society of American Indians in 1911”. America has many native tribes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, “as of 2023, there were 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States and 7.4 million American Indian and Alaska Natives, making up 2.2 percent of the population”.
November is an important month as “The goals of Native American Heritage Month include educating the public about Indigenous histories and cultures, recognizing tribal sovereignty, preserving cultural traditions and languages and honoring contributions in areas such as military service, arts, science and governance.” This makes Native American Heritage Month so important as the original people of this country are otherwise ignored if they don’t speak vocally about it. It’s important we highlight their achievements to not repeat the mistake of the past and pay respect to our actual “founding fathers”.
Awareness like this is needed as the information we have about the Native Americans is only ever about the past but never their present existence as “Mass media plays a substantial role in the way social groups understand themselves and are understood by others. Some social groups, like Native Americans, are rarely portrayed in mass media, and in the rare cases they appear, they are typically depicted in a stereotypical and historical fashion.”
These could be attributed to the fact that “The lack of accurate representation is heightened by the fact that the average U.S. resident experiences nearly no direct, daily interaction with Native Americans.” Many people might not even know we have Native Americans in our country because of this. As most native Americans are seen as …”living on reservations”.
In a recent discussion with a friend going over the media’s portrayal of Native Americans it was brought up many of us could probably count on one hand the amount of times we’ve seen accurate portrayals of Native Americans in the media, but the ones she can distinctly remember but greatly disagree with is the violent portrayal of Native Americans and their culture. We lamented on our struggle to find Native Americans in books and TV shows that weren’t stereotypical or down right dehumanizing. From a student’s perspective Norma Hernandez-Palacios, a Kenwood senior, believes Native American heritage is important as she states, “People say that Columbus was the first to find America but it’s not true. It was the natives…” Columbus just “…took over and colonized.”
History is always rewritten by the victor, which is why such a story is still peddled today but the younger generation is seemingly pushing back on the false stories told. In classes that talked about Native Americans “…it was US history but it was like small parts of it.” Despite being here longer than anyone here in America their history has been shortened to only a small section of American history. Natives played major parts in the Civil Rights Movement, WWII, and the Cold War. Many people would only find out through independent study, then regularly through classes and everyday media.
What makes not only this heritage month but all heritage months important is that it allows those who have gone unseen to be at the forefront of the discussion of representation. Because of lack of representation stereotypes are allowed to grow until it’s seen as a fact of life. Native Americans are the backbone of America, so I encourage everyone to explore and learn more about Native Americans not only this month but all year round.
Resources:
“Native American History”. History.com. A & E Television Networks. 2025. Web Accessed 18 November 2025. https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history
Qureshi, Farah. “Native Americans: Negative Impacts of Media Portrayals, Stereotypes.” The Journalist’s Resource. 10 February 2016. Web Accessed 18 November 2025. https://journalistsresource.org/race-and-gender/native-americans-media-stereotype-redskins/
