Native American Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the diverse cultures and traditions of Native American, American Indian, and Alaska Native communities, as well as honoring their historical legacy. November is also a month for awareness and acknowledgement of the inequities and erasure that Native American communities have faced, and continue to face, in the U.S.
The unemployment rate among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) was 7.3% in Q3 of 2023, over twice as high as the rate for white workers (3.4%) and higher than any other group the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks in its data series. (The next highest rate was for Black workers at 5.8%.) Only last year did the BLS start publishing AIAN outcomes for other monthly employment statistics such as the employment-population ratio and the labor force participation rate — for which outcomes are also worse for the AIAN population than any other published group. Even for those who are employed, the experience can differ: a Great Place to Work survey found that American Indian and Alaska Native employees have the lowest levels of belonging at each level in an organization and their sense of feeling seen and valued decreases as they move up in the organization. Compared to white employees, Indigenous employees feel 3x less belonging at the individual contributor level, 5x less belonging at the frontline manager level, 9x less belonging at the mid-level manager level, and 7x less belonging at the executive level.
Stats like these are why Syndio is committed to providing data-driven solutions to drive progress around equitable pay, representation, and opportunity for every worker. To celebrate Native American Heritage Month, our team has put together this collection of books, poetry collections, graphic novels, documentaries, movies, and TV shows that showcase Native American, American Indian, and Alaska Native stories, traditions, voices, and experiences.
Nonfiction books
Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America
by Matika Wilbur
Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of Traditional North American Knowledge
by Deidre Havrelock and Edward Kay
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
by Angela Sterritt
Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity
by Leah Myers
Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother
by Norma Dunning
American Indian Stories
by Zitkála-Šá
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
by Tanya Talaga
Waterlily
by Ella Cara Deloria
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present
by David Treuer
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
By Robin Wall Kimmerer
Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story
by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, and Alexis Bunten
Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII
by Chester Nez and Judith Schiess Avila
Crazy Brave: A Memoir
By Joy Harjo
Heart Berries: A Memoir
by Terese Marie Mailhot
Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina
By Maria Tallchief
Black Elk Speaks
by John G. Neihardt
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
Fiction
Sabrina & Corina
by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath
by Moniquill Blackgoose
House Made of Dawn
by N. Scott Momaday
The Night Watchman
by Louise Erdrich
The Plague of Doves
by Louise Erdrich
There There
by Tommy Orange
Moon of the Crusted Snow
by Waubgeshig Rice
The Seed Keeper
by Diane Wilson
Firekeeper’s Daughter
by Angeline Boulley
Elatsoe
by Darcie Little Badger
Ceremony
by Leslie Marmon Silko
Poetry & graphic novels
An American Sunrise: Poems
by Joy Harjo
The Death of Sitting Bear: New and Selected Poems
by N. Scott Momaday
This Place: 150 Years Retold
Anthology by 11 Indigenous authors
The Barren Grounds: The Misewa Saga
Writing by David A. Robertson
Documentaries
Lakota Nation vs. the United States
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV
Without a Whisper — Konnón:Kwe
Watch on: PBS Short Film Festival
Warrior Women
Watch on: Warrior Women Project
Mankiller
Watch on: Gumroad
N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear
Watch on: PBS, Amazon Prime Video
We Breathe Again
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video
Shiloh
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video
We Shall Remain (Documentary Series)
Watch on: PBS, Amazon Prime Video
Movies
War Pony
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV
Killers of the Flower Moon
Smoke Signals
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV
Songs My Brother Taught Me
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV
Indian Horse
Watch on: Netflix
Powwow Highway
Watch on: The Criterion Channel
Wind River
Watch on: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
TV Shows & Comedy Specials
Alaska Daily
Watch on: ABC
Reservation Dogs
Watch on: Hulu
Dark Winds
Watch on: Roku, AMC+, Amazon Prime Video
Rutherford Falls
Watch on: Peacock
