In light of the disruption of education due to COVID-10, IllumiNative is partnering with the National Indian Education Association and Amplifier to create and disseminate engaging digital education tools, lesson plans, and resources about Native American art, culture, history and contemporary life for more than 1 million students and families learning at-home. Resources are available for free and downloadable below.
Native Americans are a vibrant and growing population with rich, distinct cultures in the United States. Tribal governments and Native communities have made large strides in revitalizing and teaching traditional languages and cultural practices and remain at the forefront of innovative practices in a variety of areas. However, invisibility and erasure remain profound barriers facing Native individuals, families and communities. These barriers are perpetuated by K-12 public education systems and have created hostile learning environments for Native children and negatively impact both Native and non-Native students by continuing to further invisibility and false narratives about Native peoples’ past and present. The failure of K-12 education systems to teach accurate history about Native peoples or about our contributions and issues in today’s society, promotes an inaccurate history of this country and erases the continued importance of Tribal Nations and peoples to the fabric of American society. False narratives and invisibility have harmful, long-term impacts by shaping federal and state policies, determining court decisions that affect tribes and Native peoples, furthers inadequate funding of programs impacting Native communities, and normalizes bias, discrimination and racism towards Native peoples.