November is National Native American Heritage Month, a “time to celebrate the traditions, languages and stories of Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities and ensure their rich histories and contributions continue to thrive with each passing generation” (American Library Association).

ZSR Library provides access to a number of resources that highlight the experiences and voices of Native and Indigenous peoples. These include:

• American Indian Experience
• Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America
• Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law

At the national level, Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Park Service, and many others provide access to materials that can help further your research on these topics. Local and regional libraries, organizations, and governments may also hold materials that are relevant to people groups in those areas. The North Carolina American Indian Heritage Commission, which was created by the 2021 State Budget Act under G.S. 143B-135.5, is involved in a number of projects, including collecting oral histories of individuals within our tribal communities across the state.

The Wake Forest University Indigenous Land Acknowledgement provides the names of specific Indigenous people groups that once resided on the lands of the current campus and the original campus. More information about these groups can be found in NCPedia and through websites maintained by individual groups, such as the Lumbee.

As with other underrepresented and minority groups, the stories and experiences of Native peoples are also found throughout our collection, although often discussed primarily through the lens of European contact and colonization. For example, images of people, art, and cultural artifacts can be found in JSTOR/ArtStor and descriptions of people groups can be found in published travelogues and diaries available through Early English Books Online and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (to name just two). ZSR’s Special Collections and Archives also maintains a Primary Sources on Indigenous People of the Americas subject guide that highlights relevant items in their collections. In historical sources, Native Americans are frequently portrayed as curiosities or obstacles to westward expansion, while their complex cultures, diverse societies, and perspectives are often marginalized or presented through the biased accounts of European explorers and settlers, leading to a limited and often inaccurate understanding of their history. This reliance on written records also neglects the rich oral traditions that form the core of many Native American cultures.

We hope you will take some time this month to explore some of these resources and learn more about the contributions and experiences of the diverse peoples that originally inhabited the land on which Wake Forest University now sits and what is now the United States.