TODAY: Cal State San Bernardino hosts California Native American Day celebration and student conference

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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - More than 1,500 school-age children from San Bernardino and Riverside counties visted Cal State San Bernardino for the week-long California Cultural Awareness Conference that took place this week, Sept. 21-25.

The conference was a prelude to the annual celebration of California Native American Day that takes place today, Friday, Sept. 25, at 6 p.m. in the university's Lower Commons. Now in its eleventh year on the campus, the event will feature traditional brush dancers, Southern California bird singers, food and arts.

The celebration, hosted by the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians and co-sponsored by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, is free and open to the public.

"We invite the public to join us and learn more about the history of California and its native peoples," said San Manuel Chairman James Ramos, California Native American Day project director and California Native American Heritage Commission chairman. "This year we have to involve regional tribes and their educators to a greater degree to fulfill the educational mandate of the state's Native American Day holiday."

Since 1999, nearly 30,000 students and teachers from schools in San Bernardino and Riverside counties have participated in the conference, which offers a variety of educational activities about Native Americans indigenous to California, through workshops, educational resources and informative discussions by tribal members and academics.

This intertribal collaboration involves several presenters taking time from teaching at reservation schools, such as Noli School on the Soboba Indian Reservation, as well as the Pechanga Reservation Education Department, to participate in this educational outreach program.

Former Gov. Ronald Reagan officially acknowledged the contributions of California's Native Americans in 1968, when he signed a resolution proclaiming the fourth Friday of September as American Indian Day. Eventually, in 1998, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 1953 written by then-Assemblyman Joe Baca, establishing Native American Day as an official state holiday.

The California Indian Cultural Awareness Conference is sponsored by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and organized by the tribe's Tribal Unity and Cultural Awareness Program. The conference was developed to coincide with California Native American Day. Partners in the event include Cal State San Bernardino, the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, the San Bernardino City Unified School District, the city of San Bernardino and the California State Department of Education.

For more information on California Native American Day or the California Indian Cultural Awareness Conference, the public can call (909) 864-8933, ext. 3154, or visit nativeamericanday.com.

For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university's Office of Public Affairs at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.

More than 1,500 school-age children from San Bernardino and Riverside counties visited Cal State San Bernardino for the week-long California Cultural Awareness Conference that took place this week.