Native American Heritage Month 2024
Join Texas Lutheran University for a variety of events, performances, and special chapel services centered around Native American Heritage Month. The campus and surrounding community are invited to hear from influential local leaders who are using their platform to educate others about the history and traditions of indigenous cultures. All events are free and open to the public.
Chapel • November 1, 10 a.m. • Chapel of the Abiding Presence
Rev. Keats Miles-Wallace '14
Rev. Keats Miles-Wallace is a descendant of a border band of the Coahuiltecan peoples, a 2014 alum of Texas Lutheran University and Pastor of Technicolor Ministries, a ministry of support for the LGBTQIA2S+ community and those who love them.
The Blanket Exercise • November 12, 7 p.m. • Chapel of the Abiding Presence
Led by Vance Blackfox '99, the exercise is interactive and requires participants, as they are able, to stand and move throughout the first hour of the experience. The second hour allows for participants to process the experience and share what they may have learned and what they will take away. The Blanket Exercise was first created in Canada and has been adapted and used to educate general populations there, in the United States, and in many other parts of the world.
Chapel • November 13, 10 a.m. • Chapel of the Abiding Presence
Vance Blackfox '99 (Cherokee)
Vance is the founder and director of Other+Wise, a multi-site cultural education and cultural immersion program for youth and student groups from across the country. He has also served as the Director of Communications at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, as the Director of Communications for Native Americans in Philanthropy and has held executive director positions at the Haskell Foundation, which supports Haskell Indian Nations University, and the Oaks Indian Mission. He presently serves as is the Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is the creator and producer of the Vine Deloria, Jr. Theological Symposium at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and serves on the board of directors for the Charter for Compassion.
Lecture • November 21, 4 p.m. • Dunne Conference Center, Tschoepe Hall
Maria Rocha (Coahuiltecan)
Coahuiltecan Spirituality: Humanity’s Creation at the Sacred Springs
Maria Rocha, a member of the Miakan-Garza tribe that founded the nonprofit Indigenous Cultures Institute, offers a rare insight into the spiritual belief system of an Indigenous community. Through the creation story of her people, we journey with her to a 4,000-year-old rock shelter painting at the Texas border; learn about the origins of an ancient medicine ceremony still practiced today; and travel to the Coahuiltecan homeland in San Marcos, Texas, where humanity first emerged onto Mother Earth. Rocha informs about the world view of an Indigenous community and the significance of ancestral prophecies foretelling the future of humankind.
Chapel • November 25, 10 a.m. • Chapel of the Abiding Presence
Mark Keddal
Mark Keddal, a member of St. Andrews Episcopal in Seguin, will speak of the church's collaboration with the Diné and their grounding as indigenous Episcopalians in both traditions; a commitment to the cross-fertilizing possible because of a deeply held belief in the sacred.
Texas Lutheran University is one of 26 colleges and universities associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In August 2016 at the Churchwide Assembly, members of the ELCA adopted the Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery. In September 2021 the ELCA Church Council adopted “A Declaration of the ELCA to the American Indian and Alaska Native People.” The ELCA is currently involved in a Truth & Healing Movement. You are invited to learn more about and get involved with this important work at https://www.elca.org/indigenous.
