This website uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some of these cookies are used for visitor analysis, others are essential to making our site function properly and improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Click Accept to consent and dismiss this message or Deny to leave this website. Read our Privacy Statement for more.
Print Page | Sign In | Join
ACLEA Blog
Blog Home All Blogs

Native American Heritage Month

Posted By ACLEA, Friday, November 17, 2023

Native American Heritage Month

November reminds us to recognize and celebrate the rich culture and contributions of Native Americans. It’s also a time to reflect on the challenges and triumphs that Native American communities faced and continue to face today. One way ACLEA members can celebrate Native American Heritage Month is to learn about the contributions of Native Americans, particularly in the legal field. Native American lawyers have played a vital role in advocating for the rights of Native Americans and Native American tribes.

One early Native American lawyer to recognize is Eliza “Lyda” Burton Conley, a Wyandot Native American and direct descendant of Wyandot’s Chief Tarhe. Conley was the first Native American woman to present a case before the United States Supreme Court. In 1910, she argued against the federal government’s intention to sell a sacred burial ground, Huron Indian Cemetery, to private developers. The cemetery is in Kansas City, Kansas on the sacred land where her Wyandot ancestors and family members were buried.

Conley argued this case during a challenging time when the federal government did not recognize Native Americans as citizens and treated them as wards of the state. Although she lost the case, Conley continued to fight to protect the sacred land, even physically guarding the land with her sister. Noticing her work, Kansas Senator Charles Curtis visited the cemetery and introduced a bill to protect it. The bill was adopted in 1913. It protected the cemetery from future development and secured funds for its preservation. The land is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Wyandotte National Burying Ground.

Today, Native American lawyers continue to face challenges. They make up the smallest percentage of racial ethnic groups among U.S. lawyers. The ABA’s 2022 Profile of the Legal Profession stated that only 0.5% lawyers in the United States are Native American. The U.S. population is 1.3% Native American.

A study by the National Native American Bar Association found that 40.65% of Native American attorneys surveyed reported facing harassment based on their race, ethnicity, and/or tribal affiliation and “33.63% reported experiencing one or more forms of discrimination based on their race, ethnicity, and/or tribal affiliation.” The study also found that Native American lawyers face “high levels of isolation in the workplace and need higher levels of awareness about their issues in the legal profession.”

Despite the many challenges they face, Native American attorneys continue to advocate for the rights of Native Americans and Native American tribes. Take Diane Humetewa (hoo-MEE-tee-wah), a member of the Hopi Tribe in Arizona and first female Native American federal judge. Judge Humetewa’s life’s work has been integrally involved with Indian law issues. After receiving her J.D. from the Arizona State University College of Law (now Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law), she was an intern and later the deputy chief counsel for the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Indian Affairs from 1993 to 1996. She served as a Hopi Tribal Appellate Court Judge from 2003 to 2007 and as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona from 2007 to 2009. In 2014, the Senate unanimously voted to confirm Humetewa as a federal district judge in the District of Arizona.

As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month, let’s take this opportunity to learn more about the contributions of Native American lawyers and how to support them in their work. Native American lawyers face many challenges, but they continue to advocate tirelessly for the rights of Native Americans and Native American tribes. We can support them by raising awareness of the issues they face and by amplifying their voices.

Here are a few ways you can support Native American lawyers:

By supporting Native American lawyers, we can help to create a more just and equitable legal system for all.

Tags:  American-Bar-Association  Arizona-State-College-of-Law  Eliza-Burton-Conley  National-Register-of-Historic-Places  Native-American  Native-American-attorneys  Native-American-Heritage-Month  Native-American-lawyers  Native-American-tribes  Supreme-Court  Wyandot  Wyandotte-National-Burying-Ground 

PermalinkComments (0)
 

Honoring Native American Heritage Month: A Time to Listen

Posted By Lauren Sparks, Cooley LLP, ACLEA Equity, Diversity & Inclusivity Committee, Monday, November 7, 2022
Untitled Document

Honoring Native American Heritage Month: A Time to Listen

Lauren Sparks, Cooley LLP, ACLEA Equity, Diversity & Inclusivity Committee

A Brief History

November is federally recognized in the United States as National Native American Heritage Month, and has been since 1990 when a joint resolution was passed by Congress and signed into law by former President George H. W. Bush. This resolution provided the long-awaited formal recognition that Native Americans were the original inhabitants of the lands that now constitute the United States, a truth that colonial history tried in earnest to erase. November was chosen as the month to pay homage to the vast contributions of the Native American people because this month marks the end of the harvest season, a time known for celebrations of gratitude.

Later, in 2009, former President Barack Obama signed the Native American Heritage Day Resolution, designating the Friday after American Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day. This designation was not entirely embraced by the Native American people, with only 184 of the 567 federally recognized tribes supporting the bill. Many felt that choosing the most commercialized day of the year cheapened the honor and importance of the contributions that native citizens have made to the great nation we now share. Brian Perry, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, said:

As a Native American, I feel slighted. The day after Thanksgiving? Almost an afterthought. With November being Native American Heritage Month, there are 28 other days to select from with of course Thanksgiving having its long established day to itself. Why must we take a backseat to Thanksgiving? Why not the day before Thanksgiving? . . . Are we, Native Americans, the Forgotten America? Our voices unheard. When a national civil holiday occurs that hardly anyone knows about . . . I begin to wonder.

It is true that progress has been made to decolonize representations of Native American people and history in the United States. Harmful “Indian” sports mascots are being replaced, and we no longer tolerate appropriative Halloween costumes based on deleterious stereotypes. However, this incremental step forward does not undo the centuries of violent relocation, reeducation, and cultural erasure that the Native American people have endured. We should use this month to listen to Native voices, and to increase our awareness about land acknowledgement, traditional lands and treaties, and the tribes in our areas.

Dive Deeper

Learning more about the history, experiences, cultural richness, and resiliency of indigenous peoples is at our fingertips. Indigenous people are not an unknowable feature of a bygone era; Native Americans are a vital part of our communities, workplaces, and families. Let’s center the experiences and voices of indigenous Americans and celebrate the enduring strength of the Native American people.

Join us for the ACLEA EDI Meeting — A Listening Session and Guided Group Discussion of the film Gather. Please plan to watch the film (available on Netflix) on your own.

  • Tuesday November 29th at 4:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. CT/7:00 p.m. ET
  • Please RSVP here. A link to join will be provided.

Additional Resources for Native American Heritage Month

Tags:  awareness  cultural-richness  EDI-meeting  Native-American  Native-American-Heritage-Month  tribes 

PermalinkComments (0)