"What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of
recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made
to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole
month being designated for that purpose.
One of the very proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur
C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts
and Science in Rochester, N.Y. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to
set aside a day for the "First Americans" and for three years they
adopted such a day. In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian
Association meeting in Lawrence, Kans., formally approved a plan
concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Rev. Sherman
Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call upon the country to observe such a day.
Coolidge issued a proclamation on Sept. 28, 1915, which declared the
second Saturday of each May as an American Indian Day and contained the
first formal appeal for recognition of Indians as citizens." (From the
Library of Congress)
Check out the book display at Clemens Library to learn more!
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| Image from Google |
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