“That hand is not the color of yours, but if I prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel pain. The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a Man.” – Chief Standing Bear.”

In all of our work at the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, we bridge various issues, including civil rights heroes and movements, the role of the Constitution, and moments of history that intersect like the “Double Displacement” of Asian American and Native American history. When we know our history, we can make powerful connections to the present day. We work to thread our shared stories and experiences, both the good and the bad, to the present with the hope that we can learn from them. And we know if we can learn from them, we can refuse to repeat those harrowing mistakes of our past. This month, we honor the Native American and Indigenous people of our community and our country.

The Korematsu Institute offices are located at the beautiful Presidio of San Francisco, a place loaded with history. But before playing a pivotal role in the Japanese American Incarceration of WWII, it was a U.S. Army base, before coming under United States control, it was under control of the Mexican government, before that, it was a Spanish outpost. But prior to all of that, for 10,000 years, it was home to the Indigenous People of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Native American Heritage Month honors the first inhabitants of what became the United States of America. There were over 500 independent, sovereign nations with their own languages, cultures, and governments when Europeans first arrived on these shores. Theft, disease, and war decimated the Native American and Alaska Natives communities, and many tribal nations were consigned to reservations on isolated and often desolate plots of land. At present, according to the United Nations, “the world’s indigenous languages are under threat of disappearing, with one language dying every two weeks and many more at risk”. But, in recent years, the move towards preserving Native American language, history, culture, and traditions, where possible in original places, has blossomed. Groups like the Ramaytush Ohlone of the San Francisco Peninsula have produced their own curriculum to help teach their history, tribal communities like the Cherokee teach sports and games like atlatl and chunkey, and outlets like First Voices and online language apps now offer instruction in Navajo, Cherokee, and Ktunaxa to make sure the culture is not lost to the next generations.

We celebrate the first stories told by the Indigenous Peoples, honoring the history and memory of their communities, and the revitalization of traditional arts, the rebirth of the near-lost languages, and the regeneration of vibrant cultures.

Learn More:

Find what Indigenous cultures are part of your community’s history here: LINK

Learn and practice Indigenous languages on the collaborative platform where Indigenous communities manage, curate, and share their own languages on FirstVoices: LINK

“The Ramaytush Ohlone – Lessons on stewardship from the ancestral stewards of the Peninsula” from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Read here: LINK

“The Ohlone Story By an Ohlone” in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1973

Read here: LINK

United Nations Statement on Protecting languages, preserving cultures

Read here: LINK

The Ramaytush Ohlone of the San Francisco Peninsula have created a curriculum for educators with Teacher Resources, Student Resources, Supplemental Resources, and Bay Miwok content.

Learn more here: LINK