11 Ways to Relearn Thanksgiving and to Honor Native Peoples in 2025

 

2. Learn about Land Acknowledgement, Traditional Lands, and Treaties.

If you’re unsure about the Indigenous Peoples' land you are living on, you can search your location using Native Land. The Native Governance Center shares this handy Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement. 

Other resources include Tribal Nations Maps, a source of hard copy maps that identify the traditional lands of Tribes in North and South America and the Caribbean, and the Smithsonian’s digital archive of treaties made between the United States and Indigenous Tribes.

 

3. Support Indigenous-led Nonprofits.

Support Native organizations in your area who are working hard to improve the health, well-being, livelihoods and to uphold the rights of Native Americans across Indian country. 

Cultural Survival works on this issue nationally and internationally. We also invite you to support Indigenous-led organizations and Tribes local to your community. In Cambridge, MA, where we are headquartered on Massachusett land, we partner with North American Indian Center of Boston and United American Indians of New England. Also show your support for the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, Native Land Conservancy, The Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, Native American LifeLines of Boston, Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, Nolumbeka Project, Ohketeau Cultural Center, and No Loose Braids. 

More suggestions here.

 

4. Listen to Indigenous Voices.

Join Us As We Welcome Our New Board Member, Dr. Lyla June Johnston (Diné/Navajo and Tsétsêhéstâhese/Cheyenne)
Lyla June is a musician, author, and community organizer. Her multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences around the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing. She blends her academic work in Human Ecology and Indigenous Pedagogy with the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives, and solutions. Her doctoral research focused on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations shaped large regions of Turtle Island to produce abundant food systems for both humans and non-humans.
 

Made by Hand - Quality Crafts at Cultural Survival Bazaar In this podcast, we hear from Annawon Weeden (Mashpee  Wampanoag/Pequot/Narragansett), a multi-talented performer, educator, and storyteller.   Landback - A Conversation with Demetrius Johnson Demetrius Johnson (Diné) is a #LandBack Organizer at Rapid City, South Dakota-based nonprofit NDN Collective. Originally from Tółaní, Ganado, Arizona, Johnson began community organizing shortly after being elected President of Kiva Club around the disastrous Gold King Mine spill that affected his people in 2015. Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Rights Radio Coordinator, Shaldon Ferris (Khoisan), spoke with Johnson about his work on NDN Collective’s #LandBack Campaign.

 

5. Decolonize Your Dinner  With Your Local Indigenous Chefs and Restaurants

Native chefs have created a culinary movement with the goal of getting Indigenous people to honor their ancestors through their dietary choices. Bring Native American dishes to the dinner table.  

• Native Chefs to Follow
• This Rhode Island Chef Is Preserving Indigenous Seafood Traditions
• Native foods educator Valerie Segrest on marking Thanksgiving with respect
• Her Tribe Fed the Pilgrims. Here’s What She Wants You to Know About Indigenous Food 
• This Thanksgiving, Make These Native Recipes From Indigenous Chefs

 

6. Hire Indigenous Performers and Educators for Your Next Event.

Hire Native performers, keynote speakers, and educators for an event!

• Native Pride Productions- International Native Dance Company
• Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers 
• Annowan Weeden (Mashpee Wampanoag/Pequot/Narragansett)
• Eric Hernandez (Lumbee)
• Thawn Harris (Narragansett)
• Sherente Harris (Narragansett)
• and many more

 

7. Celebrate Native Creators.

Support Native Authors, Filmmakers, Musicians, Poets, and Artists!

• 13 Books by Native Authors to Add to Your 2025 Reading List
• An Indigenously Inspired Curation For You And Your Bookshelf
• 25 Indigenous-Led Podcasts to Explore This Native American Heritage Month
• 40 Best Native American Authors to Read in 2024
• 11 Books by Native American Authors to Add to Your Reading List
• 10 Children's Books by Native Writers 
• Must Read Books by Indigenous Authors
• 20 Best Books by Native American Authors to Add to Your Bookshelf
• Becoming Earth: Experimental Theology by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi) 

 

8. Buy Native This Holiday Season. #ShopIndigenous

If you want to support Indigenous businesses but are unsure of the line between cultural appropriation and appreciation, check out Cultural Survival’s resource list. Check out our Cultural Survival Bazaar Artist Directory.  For a wide array of services and goods, check out NativeWeb's database of Native-owned businesses. 

• 35 Indigenous and Native-Owned Clothing Brands to Shop Now and Always
• More Native Businesses to Support
• 4Kinship

 

9. Attend an Event.

• 56^th Annual National Day of Mourning 
  November 27, 2025, 12:00 PM ET, Coles Hill, Plymouth, MA.
  Live stream here.
   
• Annual Alcatraz Thanksgiving Sunrise Gathering
  November 27, 2024, 5:30 am – 8:00 am MST
  Learn more.

 

10. Share Positive Representations of Native People.

 Project 562 showcases contemporary Native America with grace, beauty, and style. 
Check out North of North, Native Cinema Showcase, Still Here: Native American Resilience in New England, Bring Them Home, Reservation Dogs, Chief of War, Rutherford Falls, Dark Winds, Mohawk Girls, and more.

 

11. End Racist Native Mascots in Sports. 

There are still more than 1,000 high school, university and professional teams that continue to have Native American mascots. Though changes have been made at the high school and college levels, at the professional level there has been virtually no change. Start the change in your community. Check out our Abolishing Racist Native Mascots: A Toolkit for Change. Get involved: #NotYourMascot, #ChangeTheName, and #NoHonorInRacism.