This Week's Facts:

-Website Outlines Legacy of Veterans Day

-Celebrate American Indiana/ Alaskan Native Month in November

-Voting is Over, but Much Remains to Finish Election Process

Native Americans

There are 566 federally recognized Indian tribes in the United States. Source: Bureau of Indian Affairs

Over 25% of American Indians or Alaska Natives ages 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home, compared with 20.8 percent for the nation as a whole. Source: 2011 American Community Survey

There were over 150,000 American Indian or Alaska Native veterans of the U.S. armed forces in 2010. Source: 2011 American Community Survey

For more facts, visit the Census Bureau’s Facts for Features website.

Friday Facts Editorial Team:

Katharine Springer
State Data Center Coordinator

Kim Brown-Harden
Federal Documents Coordinator

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Website Outlines Legacy of Veterans Day

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m. The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926.

An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars. Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation."

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has several educational resources online to help celebrate Veterans Day, including teachers resources, photo galleries, the Veterans History Project, outreach opportunities and more.

Celebrate American Indiana/Alaskan Native Month in November

In November, we recognize American Indian and Alaskan Native culture in the United States by Presidential Proclamation. The main Native American tribes present in Indiana were the Miami, the Delaware, and the Potowatomi.  At the Indiana State Library, one of our four 1930s murals on the 2^nd floor depicts Native American life in Indiana. Above the entrance to the Manuscripts Division, “Song of Indian Land” by J. Scott Williams hangs about 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall. Williams’s rendering of the outdoor scene is not of one particular tribe of Native American, but of his own artistic notion of a combination of different tribes. It shows four figures having harvested, hunted deer & fish, and made maize, all returning to their mound home.

There were 324 federally recognized American Indian reservations in 2010. All in all, excluding Hawaiian Home Lands, there are 617 American Indian and Alaska Native legal and statistical areas for which the Census Bureau provides statistics. Indiana does not currently have legally recognized reservations, however, land in Howard County was once known as the Big Miami Reserve. The State Library holds Native American Genealogical Resources in its Genealogy collection and the Historical Bureau maintains Past Meets Present for Native Americans, a bibliography. Additional historical information about American Indians in Indiana can be found at the Historical Bureau, including their online exhibit, In Their Own Words. The National Archives and the CDC also have websites for research on American Indians and Alaskan Natives.

Take a look at the beautiful online exhibitions of the Alaska Native Collections of The Smithsonian. The Alaska State DNR has an Office of History and Archaeology with an extensive website on current and historical information about the state. Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places. Also, Alaska maintains a Kids’ Corner website with information on native Alaskans.

Voting is Over, but Much Remains to Finish Election Process

Voting has come and gone, and President Obama was declared the winner of the 2012 Presidential election. But, there’s still a lot of behind-the-scenes work that takes place before the election results are 100 percent official. Here’s a look at what happens between now and the inauguration:

Between now and December 17: The governors of all of the states must certify the election results, and provide copies of the Certificates of Ascertainment to the Archivist of the United States and your state’s electors.

December 17: Electors meet in their state and cast their ballots for the President and Vice President. A copy of these votes is sent to the Vice President for the official count in Congress. The votes must be received by December 26.

January 6: Congress meets in a joint session to officially count the electoral votes. As President of the Senate, the Vice President oversees the process and announces the final results.

January 20: January 20 is the official day of the inauguration, however, this year because it falls on a Sunday, the public swearing in ceremony will be held on Monday, January 21, 2013.

Learn more about what happens between the election and the inauguration.

This information is brought to you as a courtesy of the US General Services Administration via the USA.gov blog.