A group of Native American dancers at a festival

Native American Heritage Month

Land Acknowledgement

The City of Los Angeles recognizes that we occupy land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Kizh, Tongva, Tataviam, and Chumash Peoples. We honor and pay respect to their elders and descendants — past, present, and emerging — as they continue their stewardship of these lands and waters.  We acknowledge that settler colonization resulted in land seizure, disease, subjugation, slavery, relocation, broken promises, genocide, multigenerational trauma, and the disruption of cultural practices, trade, and tribal relations. This acknowledgment demonstrates our responsibility and commitment to truth, healing, and reconciliation — and to elevating the stories, culture, and community of the original inhabitants of the City of Los Angeles. We are grateful for the opportunity to live and work on these ancestral lands.

Two elderly women sit in front of an adobe house
Two elderly Native American women sit beside an adobe building, one in a chair with a cane and the other on the ground holding a basket, in an undated photo from the Library's Security Pacific National Bank Collection.


We also honor the self-attestation of current mission-based Tribes confirming their connection to the ancestral lands on which we live and work today:  
Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, led by the Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Council
Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians – Kizh Nation
Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians
Northern Chumash Tribal Council


Celebration Events

Native American Heritage Month logo

Celebrate at the Library

Check out our Native American Heritage Month celebrations, programs, and workshops.

Featured Events

red clay bird shaped ocarina with blue text reading clay inventions with Taty Hernandez and other text about the program

Clay Inventions

Celebrate Native Heritage Month with Zapotec artist, Taty Hernández of Lumbre Ceramics. Learn about the development of the technology that is ceramics from the Mesoamerican time period to today! Create your own clay invention to take home.

  • Date: 11/4/2026
  • Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location: John Muir
3 corn husk dolls

LA Made: Corn Husk Dolls

Experience making corn husk dolls like those made by Native Americans. Dress and decorate them using your own imagination and your own personal style and flair.

  • Date: 11/18/2026
  • Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location: Ascot

Discover Native American Heritage Stories


Explore Resources

American Indian hoop dancer and singers with drum.

Shades of L.A. - Native American

Shades of L.A. is an archive of photographs representing the contemporary and historic diversity of families in Los Angeles. Images were chosen from family albums and include daily life, social organizations, work, personal and holiday celebrations, and migration and immigration activities.

An illustration of the historic El Aliso tree in Los Angeles

Native American Index

An index to books, periodical articles and vertical file holdings of the Central Library's History & Genealogy Dept. on the tribes of North, Central, and South America.


Native American Heritage Month Curated Collections

Book Lists

Kids

Native American Heritage Month for Children


Header image: Members of the California Inter-Tribal Dancers perform a ceremonial dance during the Indian Arts and Dance Festival at Exposition Park in Los Angeles on Dec. 11, 1988. Photo by Steve Grayson, Herald Examiner Collection.