What Illinois Students Will Learn About Indigenous History

Indigenous People’s Day is next week, and Native American heritage celebrations will continue next month. But starting next school year, Illinois students will learn about Native history year-round after Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law.

What Will Be Studied in Schools?

• Contemporary Native American history about Illinois tribes
• Forced Native American removal when students learn about the Holocaust and other genocides
• Tribal sovereignty

But Those Aren’t the Only Changes

Pritzker also signed other laws allowing students to wear Native dress to graduations and establishing procedures to return human remains to Native American nations.

Don’t Want to Wait?

Chicago has one of the largest urban Native American populations in the U.S., so there are opportunities to educate yourself and your kids now with library books, self-guided walks, and museum exhibits.