Schedule of Events:
- NAHM Kick-Off: Nov 1 from 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Library Courtyard
- Prey Screening: Nov 14 at noon in S-29
- Dream Catcher Crafternoon: Nov 14-23
- Thanksgiving Truth Tabling: Nov 17 from 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Library Courtyard
Submit a survey to be entered to win a Native American Heritage Month Giveaway!
The Potano & Timucua Lands
Gainesville and surrounding areas lay on the homelands of the Potano people, a western faction of the Timucua people.
Alachua is an indigenous word for “sink” or “sinkhole”.
The Potano and Timucua People
The Potano tribe no longer exists as they fell victim to European disease and warfare in the 1700s. However, they may have joined the Alachua Seminole Tribe.
Nearly all the Timucua people died during the Spanish colonization of La Florida. The remaining 60-70 people chose to leave with the Spanish for Cuba after the loss of the colony in 1763.
Indigenous Inventions
Chewing Gum!
The Mesoamerican people chewed the milky “chicle” from the sapodilla tree. This eventually became modern day chewing gum.
Chocolate!
Chocolate’s 4,000-year history began in the land we now know as Mexico. The Olmec people were the first to turn the cacao plant into chocolate. They drank their chocolate during rituals and used it as medicine.
Tomatoes, Potatoes, & Corn!
The tomato, potato, and corn plants were domesticated and cultivated by the indigenous people of the land now known as Latin America. Without this domestication, we would not have these fruits and vegetables as we know them today.
Anesthetics and Topical Pain Relievers!
In the land that is known now as Virginia, Indigenous people used Jimson weed as a topical analgesic for cuts and bruises. They also consumed plants as an anesthetic when setting broken bones and made tea from the bark of black willow trees for pain relief.
Notable People in the Modern Day
Princess Nokia
“I am a Yoruba, Taíno, Puerto Rican girl with really brown skin, full curly hair, and a spirit that does not quit. When I hear the drum and speech of my ancestors, I am compelled. I see it and I know it,”
– Princess Nokia
Princess Nokia is an Afro-Indigenous rapper with Taíno roots (Indigenous people of the Caribbean and Florida).
Kent Monkman
“I wanted to make paintings that could authorize these important events into Canadian History.”
– Kent Monkman
Kent Monkman is a painter who is part of the Fisher River Cree Nation of the land now known as Manitoba. Kent identifies as both queer and two-spirit (a term describing native people who fulfill a traditional third gender).
Sharice Davids
“For far too long, the voices of Native Americans have been woefully underrepresented in Congress.”
– Sharice Davids
Sharice is one of the first two Indigenous women and first LGBTQ+ person to be elected to congress. She is part of the Ho-Chunk Nation of the land now known as Wisconsin.
