Heritage Month and Celebrations
Native Marin
Did you know that Marin County is named after "Chief Marin" of the Huimen group of the Coast Miwok? The Huimen group "occupied what is presently Mill Valley, Tiburon, Belvedere, and Sausalito". Born in 1781 he was initially named Huicmuse, and was baptized as "Marino" in 1801. To learn more of Huicmuse's story and the impact of the Coast Miwok on the place we now know as Marin, read the Marin Magazine article "The Story Behind Marin County’s Namesake, 'Chief Marin.'". The Huimen group of the Coast Miwok, who have lived along the shores of Marin County for more than 10,000 years, carefully managed the land they inhabit. You can read more about their stewardship on the National Park Service's page Coast Miwok at Point Reyes.
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Source: Native American Heritage Month- Marin County Free Library.
Native Communities in Marin today
Learn about rich and vibrant Native communities throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
Start your journey by stopping at the Marin County Free Library Native American Heritage Month webpage for a list of local organizations, events, and learning opportunities. Meet the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a federation of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo groups, and the Coast Miwok of today through the Coast Miwok Project and the Coast Miwok Tribal Project.
Listen to “Conversations with our elders” in which Victoria Canby, interim director of the Museum of the American Indian in Novato interviews the tribal elders with ties to Marin. More about her project here. This serie belongs to a larger collection of educational videos offered by the museum on its youtube channel. Visit their resource page to learn about Californian Indians, their past and present, and understand Land Acknowledgment from their perspective “Land Acknowledgment is only the start.”
Native Americans: Stories and History
Fight for Tribal Sovereignty: Past and the Present
Tribal sovereignty: tribes' right and ability to preserve their unique cultural identities, raise their own children, and live by their own system of law.
Source: ALCU NorCal
Past: Gold chains Podcast, Indigenous injustice
Present: Native Families' right to stay together
Tribal sovereignty under attack
Please visit native communities’ websites to learn about their fights for their rights and attend the Zoom event: No Equity Without Sovereignty: Indigenous Resistance Through Data, featuring Dr. Desi Small-Rodriguez
Explore
Trade Netflix, Amazon prime, Hulu, and Disney + for the Native Cinema Showcase
The National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Cinema Showcase is an annual celebration of the best in Native film. By embracing oral histories, knowledge, and ancestral lands, Indigenous peoples are creating films to better understand the past and imagine a new way of thinking for the future.
A book instead? Here's a book club suggestion for you and your kiddos (10 yo and up):
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants,
Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults . Note the conversation with the author Monique Gray Smith to be posted after Nov 9 on Embrace Race ‘s resource page.
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Note from the authors:
Dear Native Americans, we wrote this article from a place of respect, curiosity, and acknowledgment for the Native American cultures we are not familiar with. We are not pretending to cover in this article all the richness of your ancestral cultures, educate on your present or summarize all the struggles your communities still endure. This article is just a knock on your door, a kind request to connect with you, your communities, and your cultural heritage.
The blank spaces on this page are for you to fill in. Be our guide through this Native American Heritage Month celebration. Please send us any content you’d like to share with the Hidden Valley community at diversityequityinsights@gmail.com and feel free to share your feedback with us. A thumb-up or down is useful feedback.
Use this email address also to let us know if any contents on this page upset you, make you uncomfortable or are inaccurate.
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Respectfully,
Diversity and Equity Insight team.