In 2019, Governor Mills signed a bill to reestablish the day formerly celebrated as Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples' Day, a holiday that is currently recognized by fourteen states. This year on October 11th, therefore, we celebrate our third official Indigenous Peoples' Day—and a rich celebration of identity, culture, and history it is!
Maine has been the home of its Native peoples for more than 12,000 years. The four Indian tribes still present in Maine (the Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot, and Passamaquody) are known collectively as the Wabanaki or "People of the Dawnland" and formed the Wabanaki Alliance in 2020 in order "to educate people of Maine about the need for securing sovereignty of the tribes in Maine" (Maine Dept of Ed). As the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor explains, "each community maintains its own tribal government, community schools, cultural center and each manages its respective lands and natural resources. Although most of Maine's Native people belong to one of these four federally recognized groups and reside on tribal lands, other Native people live in towns and cities across the State."
The Abbe Museum is a wonderful source, both online and on site, of information about Maine's Indigenous peoples, while the Maine State Museum in Augusta offers great advice about further online resources available here. Additionally, First Light, self-described as a "bridge between conservation organizations and Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Micmac Communities who seek to expand Wabanaki stewardship of land," provides a wealth of historical and current information about the Wabanaki alliance, as well as further resources. Wabanaki REACH similarly offers contemporary information about educations and rights for these communities.
If you'd like to hit the books this Indigenous Peoples' Day, please explore the reading list below to discover novels, poetry, short stories, memoirs, biographies, a wealth of varied nonfiction books, and titles for both children and teens, all about Indigenous cultures and/or by Indigenous authors. Click the titles to read more about each one or to request it from the Minerva catalog.
Fiction
Empire of Wild, Cherie Dimaline
Perma Red, Debra Magpie Earling
The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich
Sabrina & Corina: stories, Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Where the Dead Sit Talking, Brendon Hobson
My Heart is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones
Last Standing Woman, Winona LaDuke
Living on the Borderline: stories, Melissa Michal
House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday
There There, Tommy Orange
The Beadworkers: stories, Beth Piatote
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse
Moon of the Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice
Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko
This Town Sleeps, Dennis E. Staples
Split Tooth, Tanya Tagaq
Cherokee America, Margaret Verble
The Break, Katherena Vermette
Indian Horse, Richard Wagamese
Winter in the Blood, James Welch
The Seed Keeper, Diane Wilson
Poetry
When My Brother Was an Aztec, Natalie Diaz
New Poets of Native Nations, ed. Heid E. Erdrich
An American Sunrise: poems, Joy Harjo
Whereas, Layli Long Soldier
Feed, Tommy Pico
Eyes Bottle Dark With a Mouthful of Flowers: poems, Jake Skeets
Memoirs and Biographies
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: a memoir, Sherman Alexie
Lakota Woman, Mary Brave Bird
Poet Warrior, Joy Harjo
Heart Berries: a memoir, Terese Marie Mailhot
Mamaskatch: a Cree coming of age, Darrel J. McLeod
Other Nonfiction
Trails of Tears, Paths of Beauty, Joseph Bruchac
Custer Died for Your Sins: an Indian manifesto, Vine Deloria
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Our History is the Future, Nick Estes
Notes on a Lost Flute: a field guide to the Wabanaki, Kerry Hardy
Dwellings: a spiritual history of the living world, Linda Hogan
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Lakota Way: stories and lessons for living, Joseph M. Marshall III
Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s, Tiffany Midge
Sacred Instructions: Indigenous wisdom, Sherri Mitchell
Baskets of Time: profiles of Maine Indian basket makers, David Shultz
Shapes of Native Nonfiction: collected essays by contemporary writers, ed. Elissa Washuta & Theresa Warburton
The Right to Be Cold: one woman's fight to protect the Arctic and save the planet from climate change, Sheila Watt-Cloutier
As Long as Grass Grows: the indigenous fight for environmental justice from colonization to Standing Rock, Dina Gilio-Whitaker
Audiovisual
First Light: traditional Wabanaki music, Laura Lee Perkins
Dawnland (film)
Young Adult
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexie
Firekeeper's Daughter, Angeline Boulley
Code Talker: a novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two, Joseph Bruchac
#NotYourPrincess: voices of Native American women, ed. Lisa Charleyboy & Mary Beth Leatherdale
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese)
If I Ever Get Out of Here, Eric Gansworth
Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger
Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Cynthia Leitich Smith
Children's
The Pencil, Susan Avingaq
Peacemaker, Joseph Bruchac
Malian's Song, Marge Bruchaco
The Sea in Winter, Christine Day
We Are Water Protectors, Carole Lindstrom
Encounter, Brittany Luby
Fry Bread: a Native American family story, Kevin Noble Maillard
The Canoe Maker: David Moses Bridges, Passamaquoddy birch bark artisan, Jean Flahive & Donald Soctomah
What the Eagle Sees: Indigenous stories of rebellion and renewal, Eldon Yellowhorn