Native American Hertiage Month

 During National Native American Heritage Month, we celebrate the countless contributions of Native peoples past and present, honor the influence they have had on the advancement of our Nation, and recommit ourselves to upholding trust and treaty responsibilities, strengthening Tribal sovereignty, and advancing Tribal.Students in American Indian studies look at both types of issues as well as the concerns of specific tribes, communities, families, and individuals. If you enter this field, you'll learn how American Indians protest against and resist the cruel treatment they often receive from the United States government.The American Indian Studies program was founded in 1996. Through this program, students at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire learn through research and hands-on collaboration with faculty.Native Americans were the first to raise turkeys, llamas, guinea pigs, and honeybees for food. Other plants of great importance developed by Native Americans include cotton, rubber, and tobacco. The Quechua peoples of Peru discovered the medicinal use for quinine.

Native American cultures across the United States are notable for their wide variety and diversity of lifestyles, regalia, art forms and beliefs. The culture of indigenous North America is usually defined by the concept of the Pre-Columbian culture area, namely a geographical region where shared cultural traits occur.American Indian traditionalists believe that the values, knowledge, narrative traditions, and ritual worlds they were taught, however compromised by historical loss and the demands of modern life, are vital to the survival of their human and other-than-human communities.Native American Day is a holiday observed in several states in celebration of Native American culture. In California and Nevada, the holiday is designated on the fourth Friday of September, whereas in South Dakota and Wisconsin, it falls on the second Monday of October.

        Native American Artifacts

A mortar used in conjunction with a pestle was a common tool used by the Native Americans.  The pestle was used against the mortar for crushing and grinding and were commonly used for meal preparations such as reducing grain and corn into wheat and meal.  Mortar and pestles would have also been used in the preparing of medicine as well as the manufacturing of paint.