Stony Run Recognizes American Indian Heritage Month
By Stony Run Friends Meeting's Library Committee
American Indian Heritage Month was first recognized in May 1916 by the Governor of New York. In 1990, a joint resolution of Congress, designated November as National American Indian Heritage Month. In 2014, the Maryland General Assembly approved the Friday after Thanksgiving a legal holiday and declared the whole month of November American Indian Heritage Month.
More recently, we see Native American Heritage is being used as a sign of respect, instead of American Indian, but not all tribes identify with this change. How the descendants of First Nation people identify is varied and their choice. The importance of the month of November is about taking the time to celebrate, recognize and appreciate the rich cultural heritage and vital contributions of the indigenous tribes of this land.
Baltimore is fortunate to have the presence and history of the Lumbee Indians who migrated here after WWII from North Carolina. They came looking for work in the industrial boom of the 1950s and to escape poor wages and the racism in the South. They found jobs in the steel mills and in construction. They opened businesses like grocery stores, bakeries and restaurants, auto repair shops, and at least one gas station. They found jobs in many service industries. They settled in East Baltimore, in an area that included Fells Point to Butchers Hill and Broadway to Patterson Park. By the 1970s, it was estimated that the population of the Lumbee Indians in Baltimore was 7,000. In 1982, a University of Maryland Anthropologist who did field work in the community described it as “the largest group of Indians from the same tribe in an American urban area”. (Baltimore Magazine 2022)
Follow the Blog to learn more about the Lumbee Indians and to hear from the Indian Affairs Committee, a Sub Committee of Stony Run's Peace and Justice Committee.