Native American Heritage Month is just around the corner. Federally recognized in 1990, the month calls for a greater understanding of Indigenous history and celebration of continued Indigenous achievement and resistance. Over the past few decades, Indigenous perspectives have come more into focus as a vital narrative that should be included in views of this country’s past. “I think a lot of Americans are paying closer attention to Native American history, a change I welcome,” history teacher Andrea Sachs said. “Ten years ago we didn’t do land acknowledgments, for instance, and Bde Maka Ska was still Lake Calhoun. These changes have been accompanied by deeper interest on the part of students, which is great to see.”

Sophomore Stella Hunter doesn’t see U.S. policy reflecting many of the modern realities for Native peoples. She is enrolled in the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe, also known as the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota. Because of the blood quantum laws enforced in the U.S., despite also having roots in other tribes such as Ojibwe and Ho-Chunk, Hunter can only be enrolled in one tribe at a time.

While the blood quantum laws were originally put in place by the federal government to restrict Indigenous peoples’ citizenship, there are a number of Native nations that have adapted their own versions of the laws to determine who can officially identify as a part of their tribe. For example, the Navajo Nation requires 25% or more of what is defined on its website as Navajo blood for someone to be enrolled in the tribe. These rules tend to have the effect of being very polarizing and can be seen as incredibly restrictive within the Indigenous community. “It’s pretty dumb because it [blood quantum] is classifying something that can’t really be classified, you know?” Hunter said.

Hunter says this reality is something she would like to see reflected in future Native American Heritage Month celebrations because learning about the different rules governing Native communities can help people better understand their practices in a modern context.

Another issue Hunter brought up is different hunting regulations for certain Native tribes, “In Alaska, Inuit people can hunt whales and seals, but that’s illegal for a non-Native person to do. People get upset when they hear that, but really we’ve been doing that since way before America was even a thing,” she said.

Some students are noticing a fair amount of attention being paid to Indigenous history in the history curriculum. “What we have been learning about in World History II so far has been pretty focused on Indigenous communities,” sophomore Florence Barrera said, whose family has Indigenous roots in Mexico with the Otomi people. Hunter likewise noted the focus on Indigenous values in the class, which discusses Indigenous communal values to give students a deeper understanding in thinking about and discussing Native culture.

Throughout Native American Heritage Month, people across the country will celebrate Indigenous history and recognize the many acts of violence that have been committed against Indigenous people.