http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/petition.doc (source)

Please print this page for your schools class room use or send this web page
to your school web master asking them to set up a connecting link to this
page.

Native American Holidays In Your School

YOU can make this happen!  In our experience, most teachers are very
interested in the truth of the history of Native people in this country and
are anxious to receive appropriate material for their teaching experiences. 
By delivering this letter to your school or your children's teacher, you can
set them on the course of exploring Native Americans as Native Americans see
themselves, rather than from the point of view of most texts that explain the
history of the US only from the perspective of the victors of the wars that
took place here.  At the same time, you will bring recognition of the extent
of the work that has been done towards making a Native American Holiday a
reality and will perhaps encourage them to taking those steps themselves. 
Lets raise some awareness out there!  Do your bit and either copy and paste
the letter below and print it out for schools everywhere, or download a copy
from the file provided.  Be a part of making change happen NOW!

****************************************************************
UNITED NATIVE AMERICA
Rt-6 Box 243
Muldrow Okla. 74948                    
918-427-9894
MikeCherokee@aol.com


STAR   
Students and Teachers Advocating Respect                   
Fairfield, Ct 06430                                        
 203-256-9720                                 
ROSEPETL5@AOL.COM


To Whom It May Concern:

United Native America and Students and Teachers Advocating Respect would like
to encourage your school to participate in Native American Day and November
as Native American Heritage Month, as first proclaimed in 1990 by the U.S.
Senate and President George W. Bush.  While California has selected September 26 as Native American Day, seventeen states have chosen to eliminate Columbus Day and
South Dakota has replaced it with Native American Day.

    Across the country, several states have already taken the first steps in
developing legislation to make these holidays become a reality.  Many states
already study Native Americans in the month of November as part of their
Thanksgiving preparation. However, much of the educational material that is
readily available has focused on stereotypes of Native people.  STAR and UNA
have been working with Native educators nation-wide to provide you with
appropriate and culturally sensitive materials that will enhance the studies
that are currently taught.

    Material is now available that makes the old methods of teaching about
Native people obsolete.  Learn how Native people played a part in the
development of our democratic society, learn about heroes and famous Native
American people, learn how the advanced agricultural developments of Native
people introduced countless new medicines as well as many new foods to the
European diet, learn about games we still play that originated with Native
people, and for the upper grades, there are also lessons to be learned about
the times our country committed genocide on an innocent people.

All of these are important aspects of the development of our country that up
until now have been missing from traditional curriculum.  Following are some
websites that will contain material that has been approved by the Native
American communities for teaching in the classroom.  For the first time,
study about Native people that are alive and well and living in the USA
rather than only studying the past, learn why Native people continue to use
feathers in their ceremonies and how their heritage lives on, despite the
fact that up until now, it has only been studied from an archaic point of
view.

    We can help you contact people that can help you bring Native Studies
alive in your classroom and bring an end to stereotypes at the same time. 
The benefits of expanding our understanding of the many Native cultures will
result in a deeper appreciation for Native people and their contributions to
our country.  As a mutli-cultural experience, the benefits of sponsoring
Native American Heritage Month or Native American Day will bring heightened
self esteem to Native children as they see themselves represented in a
meaningful manner relevant to the present rather than only in the past. It
will also bring the respect of the non-native students to the life ways of
Native people. 

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mike Graham founder of U. N. A.
Christine Rose founder of STAR

WEBSITES

http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/guides/pg6.html  Community Guide to
Multicultural Education Programs

http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed394744.html  Teaching Young
Children About Native Americans

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr040.shtml  Are You Teaching The
Real Story of Thanksgiving

http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson038.shtml  Exploring Native
Americans Across the Curriculum

http://www.first-americans.net/  First American Education Project, a group of
Native Educators reaching out to the general public

http://kato.theramp.net/kohr4/  The International Brotherhood Days, a website
that offers the Native perspective of American History and heroes, an
important and fascinating site

http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/FF.html#TOC  Forgotten Founders, 
by Bruce Johansen.  A doctoral thesis on the involvement of the Iroquois in
the formation of democracy in America.  Intriguing

http://www.uvm.edu/~jloewen/  The homepage for  James Loewen, the best
selling author, Lies My Teacher Told Me

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/quotes.html  Native American Quotes, great for
understanding  Native American philosophy and perspective

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~ecubbins/webcrit.html  Native Web Site Evaluation,
how to determine if the site you are using is a Native American Site or a
site operated by non-native people

http://www.night.net/thanksgiving/lesson-plan.html  Teaching About
Thanksgiving, a true Native perspective with curriculum

http://www.turtletrack.org/Bios/CO_BioMain.htm  Canku Ota, an educational
website about Native people and schools for all teachers, go to the search
box on the home page to find almost anything about Native people.

http://www.alaskool.org/frmsetsitemap.htm  Alaska Native Studies Curriculum
and Teacher Development

http://members.aol.com/bbbenge/page6.html  A wonderful site dedicated to the
Lakota People

http://www.oyate.org/catalog/index.html  Oyate is  a website that promotes
the use of writings of Native people when teaching about Native people. 
There are a list of books and curriculum developed by Native people as well
as a list of books that perpetuate stereotypes and historical untruths that
should be avoided.  You'll be surprised!!

http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues00/Co11042000/CO_11042000_Heritage_Month.htm
 History Of Native American Heritage Month from Canku Ota

http://www.UnitedNativeAmerica.com/  United Native America, a website
dedicated to a Native American holiday.  Many links to other Native websites.

http://www.turtletrack.org/Links/CO_NAHistoryLinks.htm  Native American
History Links from Canku Ota

http://members.tripod.com/~PHILKON/ On This Date in North American Indian
History by Phil Konstantin

www.ratical.com/many_worlds/6Nations/NAPSnEoD92.html
 1992: "Native American Political Systems and the Evolution of Democracy

http://www.nativetech.org/   Native Tech: a website that shows Eastern Native
arts and crafts, games, foods, and much more throughout history.  An
excellent teaching source.

www.indiancircle.com
 Indian Circle Web Ring: Complete list of Indian Nations on line and other
contacts to the Indian community

www.hanksville.org/NAresources/ Virtual library - American Indians index of
Native American resources on the Internet.

For more educational websites or information, please contact Christine Rose
at the email address above.  For more information about the progress of the
holidays or to get involved in bringing the holidays to your state, please
contact Mike Graham at the email address above.

National Holiday For Native Americans
From www.UnitedNativeAmerica.com

(1) I support a National Holiday for Native Americans!


(2) I don't want my tax dollars paying for Columbus Day!


(3) I demand congressional hearings on the racial exclusion of Native
Americans in movies, TV, sports, advertising and music companies!!


(4) Truth in education in the classroom on Native Americans!


Contact your Congressperson on this issue - 202-225-3121


Name ___________________________________________________________

Address__________________________________________________________

City ________________________ State ____________ Zip Code __________


Send To:
Mike L. Graham
RT-6 Box 243

Muldrow OK, 74948