Heritage & Health Series Program

Celebrating NAHM • November 2024
Honor. Trust. Wisdom.

Please join us throughout November for events planned around Native American history and culture, with music, food and talks with Native American artists and educators.

Please view all our events listed here and mark your calendars for those that you can attend. We look forward to seeing you there!

Land Acknowledgement for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area

Foothill College recognizes that it is located on the ethnohistoric territory of the ancestral and traditional land of the Puichon Thámien Ohlone-speaking People, and the successors of the historic sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County, presently identified as the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.

This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and other familial descendants of the Verona Band.

We recognize that every member of the greater Foothill College/Los Altos Hills community has, and continues to benefit from, the use and occupation of this land, since the institution's founding in 1957. Consistent with our values of community, inclusion, and diversity, we have a responsibility to acknowledge and make known through various enterprises Foothill College's relationship to Native peoples. As members of the Foothill College/Los Altos Hills community, it is vitally important that we not only recognize the history of the land on which we live, work, and learn, but also, we recognize that the previously federally recognized Muwekma Ohlone Tribal People are alive and flourishing members of the Foothill College/Los Altos Hills and broader Bay Area communities today. Aho!

Wednesday, Nov. 13

NAHM Opening Ceremony: Poster Exhibit Honoring the Land and Heritage

Noon–1 p.m.
Dining Hall

Join us to kick off Native American Heritage Month with a powerful self-guided poster exhibit honoring the ancestral lands we stand on. This exhibit celebrates the resilience, history, and cultural heritage of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Come honor the land, reflect on history, and engage with the rich heritage of the Native communities who have shaped the Bay Area.

Complimentary traditional food and beverages will be provided.

Monday, Nov. 18

Virtual Artist Talk with Zig Jackson

Noon–1 p.m.
Join via Zoom

Zig Jackson, also known as Rising Buffalo, is of Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara descent and was raised on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. His primary education came from the U.S. Indian boarding school systems. He first picked up a camera while attending the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah, then attended the University of New Mexico and taught photography at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Jackson went onto earn his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and was the first Native American to receive a MFA in photography from the renowned institution. Jackson was awarded a Residency Fellowship at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California, a Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Grant for excellence in the photographic arts, with a culminating exhibition, “Entering Zig’s Indian Reservation,” at the American Indian Contemporary Arts center in San Francisco. He was awarded a National Millennium Survey Grant and was the first Native American photographer collected by the Library of Congress. He also is a recipient of the first Beaumont Newhall Award for Photographic Excellence from the New Mexico Humanities Council. Jackson is a retired professor emeritus of photography for the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia and continues exhibiting across the United States. www.zigjackson.com

Tuesday, Nov. 19

Native American Powwow Dance

Noon–1 p.m.
Library Quad

Join us to learn about the Native American Powwow Dance –its history, the purpose, the regalia and dance steps. American Indians and Alaskan Natives musicians, dancers, and members of the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara will lead us through this workshop, closing with an invitation for us to come together and participate in the dance.

Wednesday, Nov. 20

NAHM Speaker Justo Valenzuela

12–1 p.m.
BIPOC Center (Campus Center)

Join us on campus to hear from our keynote speaker Justo Valenzuela talk about Native American history, resources, and join us for a Smudging Ceremony where you will receive a cultural education around the importance of burning sage.

About Justo Valenzuela:

Justo Valenzuela, he is a ICWA Social Worker(Indian Child Welfare Act) for Santa Clara county, was the first to create that division for the county. He is also an active member of different Native American organizations and works closely with surrounding tribes.

Thursday, Nov. 21

Tote Your Truth: Art and Journaling for the Soul (as part of the Stress Less Fest hosted by the Mental Health & Wellness Center)

Noon–1 p.m.
Library Quad

Embrace your individuality with creativity! Paint a tote bag that reflects your inner self and discover journaling as a powerful tool for mental health. Guided by a TBH therapist together, we’ll share our journeys and create meaningful expressions of who we are. Tote your truth proudly!

Monday, Nov. 25

Virtual Talk with Carolyn Rodriguez

Indigenous Education: Honoring California Native Peoples

10 a.m. –11:30 a.m.
Join via Zoom

Join us for an informative talk. Being a member of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band (AMTB), Carolyn Rodriguez will share her reflections on the Tribe’s reconnection to ancestral lands and efforts with cultural knowledge revitalization. She looks at revitalizing Indigenous teaching methods so youth can learn about cultural land stewardship and build caring relationships with all living things. As AMTB heals from historical trauma, the presentation will also highlight the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and their challenges with obtaining federal recognition. Focusing on both Tribes honors Indigenous connections and commitments to traditional homelands while considering how allyship is essential to addressing the issues California Native Peoples face today.

Biography

Carolyn Rodriguez (she/her) is a member of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. In 2021, she received her Master’s from UCLA in American Indian Studies and is a PhD candidate in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, Social Research Methodology program.

Her research highlights the importance of storytelling, Indigenous science, and upholding indigenous knowledge systems. She examines tribal-university relationships and how the Amah Mutsun community uses research as a tool for tribal sovereignty and cultural revitalization. Carolyn also works with tribal youth to create a space to learn about their cultural and traditional ecological knowledge to strengthen their Native identities. She believes in supporting Amah Mutsun youth’s academic success and interest in science fields while mentoring them in social and environmental justice activism to protect the land, water, all more-than-human beings, and sacred sites.

Tuesday, Nov. 26

Indian Health Center Services — Presentation on Support Services

11 a.m.–12 p.m.
BIPOC Center

Join us for this important session with a presentation highlighting the types of support provided by center to American Indians and Alaskan Natives. Local and general history of the communities along with different projects, goals, struggles addressed.

Wednesday, Nov. 27

Native American Heritage Day Celebration & NAHM Closing Ceremony

Noon–1:30 p.m.
Dining Hall

Please join us as we welcome back Miguel Gonzalez, a Native American with much to share about the Indigenous culture. Miguel will be playing flutes and drums, sharing poetry, and offering insights into his culture.

Enjoy a special meal with your Foothill College friends as we honor Native American Heritage Day. This event is meant to bring light to the plight of the Indigenous People, while celebrating our union as friends from all walks of life in the modern age. We will have an acknowledgement of Native American roots and history, along with an understanding for the true practice of gratitude.

Complimentary food and beverages will be provided.

Tuesday, Dec. 3

Muwekma Flag Raising Ceremony & Trail of Truth Panel

Noon–2:00 p.m.
Starts at 1900 flagpole/continues in the Dining Hall

More event details to follow. Please save the date on your calendar for this historic event.

Art Installation: Roots of Resistance

Dining Hall • All Month

Tree of resistance installation Resistance against erasure is an essential and foundational element of Indigenous activism, community organizing, and Native artistic movements- from the development of literary movements, to fresh counter-narratives presented through television and film.

Native American people have long fought for self-determination, starting with countering inaccurate and dehumanizing stereotypes that permeate popular culture today, to demanding visibility on our academic and political platforms. It is important to recognize the existence of tribal nations today who have survived colonial violence and genocide and take note of the many ways Native people have been able to thrive despite this violent history of attempted erasure.

Artist Bio

Leyla Carleo is a multi-disciplinary artist based in San José, CA. Leyla uses repurposed and recycled materials to create her sustainable artwork as a way to honor and protect the Earth.

About the Installation

This art exhibition continues the tradition of resisting erasure by honoring the hundreds of Palestinian family bloodlines who have been wiped out by the military assault in Gaza. Indigenous activists and scholars today continue to align themselves with efforts to call for an arms embargo in order to end the violence enacted upon civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. Citing the common experience of living under settler colonial realities, Native American activists today are using their voices to humanize Palestinians and document the erasure of entire families over the past year. Local artist Leyla Carelo’s Roots of Resistance symbolizes the memory of these families as it calls upon the viewer to take note of how many indigenous bloodlines have been wiped out in Gaza over the past year alone. The tree is a space to honor those families and the communities that will forever be impacted by their absence. We offer this tree as a space to mourn and to find the courage to speak out for justice and peace and call for an end to the military aggression that continues to expand beyond Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon and Iran.

Inviting Community Participation:

To honor the importance of community as we hold the grief of so much loss, we invite students, faculty, and staff to bring a seedling or small plant toleave at the roots of this tree. We hold this space as a place to remember the impactful quote that so many activists today hold as a reminder of hope: "They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds".

NAHM Planning Committee Members

Thank you to all our students, faculty and staff who helped plan our NAHM events this month.

Ashley Rajaa
Neomi Kyaw
Adanna Ihenacho
Dr. Tiffany Rideaux
Catalina Rodriguez
Judith Walgren
Fatima Jinnah
Hilda Fernandez
Christopher Yang
Ulysses Acevedo
Victoria Strelnikova

Native American Heritage Library Resources

Visit our Native American Heritage guide for a list of books, articles, and websites on Native Americans in California—with an emphasis on Ohlone Indian heritage.

collage on native american images

Take ENGL 7: Native American Literature

Offered Winter 2025, Fully Online, CRN 31599

Readings include traditional creation myths, songs, and stories from a variety of tribal cultures; nineteenth and twentieth century autobiographical narratives; and significant works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction prose by contemporary Native American authors.

View ENGL 7 course description and outline for more details.

Heritage Month Archives

Past NAHM Events

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