Tribal Offices and Clinic Closed Thursday in Honor of American Indian Day

We’re sending this week’s e-newsletter today because Tribal Offices and the Clinic will be closed tomorrow in honor of American Indian Day.

From the U.S. Embassy in Argentina

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, NY. 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, at the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting in Lawrence, KS, a plan was formally approved 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 September 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday of each May as American Indian Day, and contained the first formal appeal for recognition of Indians as citizens. Read more here.

We hope you have a great day and terrific weekend.