“Profile America” feature from the U.S. Census Bureau explores American Indian Heritage Month.
AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE MONTH
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2015 — Profile America — This is National American Indian Heritage Month, conceived almost a century ago but made official by a congressional resolution signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
The American Community Survey finds 5.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S., about 2 percent of the total population. By the year 2060, that percentage is projected to grow to 2.7 percent, or some 11 million people.
California is home to the greatest number of these groups at over a million, followed by Oklahoma with over a half-million.
American Indian and Alaska Native populations, alone or in combination with other races, surpass 100,000 in 19 states from Florida to Alaska.
At over 14 percent, Alaska has the highest percentage of population in the honored group.
Heritage Month background:
www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2014/cb14-ff26.html
State populations/2014 estimates in descending order: www.factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=PEP_2014_PEPSR5H&prodType=table
Profile America is in its 19th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for “Multimedia Gallery” by the “Newsroom” button).
Related link: The Native American Heritage Month Web portal is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
Visit www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov for more information.
(Information courtesy of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.)
