Native American Heritage Month

Honoring Comanche Chief Quanah Parker’s History, Sharing of Memorabilia, Lunch and Learn with Doug Parker, Descendent of Quanah Parker (Lunch Provided)

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 12PM at the Blumberg Memorial Library

Quanah was a war leader of the Quahadi band of the Comanche Nation. He earned recognition through business dealings with cattlemen driving their herds north through Texas and to other parts of the United States. Quanah charged white men a fee to graze their herds on the reservation. The revered chief’s reverence went beyond his business acumen and he is remembered for other notable accomplishments. Doug Parker is Quanah Parker’s great-great-grandson and Seguin native who has been collecting memorabilia all his life and sharing the history of his great-great-grandfather.

Chapel Talk - South Texas Indigenous Traditional Thanksgiving Blessing with Tecuancoatl Teodosio "Ted" Herrera

Tlaxcalteca, Chichimeca, Coahuilteco, Huichol

Wednesday, November 5, 2025 10 AM at the TLU Chapel

Growing up in rural Nueces County, Texas, from the late 40s to the late 60s, most of his neighbors were familiar with Curanderismo (traditional indigenous healers), and many could not afford Conventional Doctors. Nor could they explain “Susto” (shock, trauma), “Mal De Ojo” (evil eye), “Caida de la mollera” (fallen fontanelle), or a “limpieza” (cleansing) to conventional doctors.

At the time, there were at least four specialties in our area that people could need: a Yerbero (Herbalist), a Huesero (Bone and Muscle therapist), a Partera (Midwife), or someone like his mother, Maria Guadalupe Lara Herrera (Dona Lupita), a curandera with great empathy for the suffering who was sought after to help with Health and Spiritual issues.

Witnessing his mother help people was part of his growing up, and she constantly reminded him that he was given that “Don” (gift), and he was expected to take over her work. He resisted that path until her passing in 1994. And that’s when her spiritual influence became more vital than ever to him. Thanks to her spiritual connection and his father's and grandparents, he's been blessed with their influence in making good decisions, which has led to many gratifying accomplishments and experiences. And so, he hopes to please them by walking a good path.

Right Relations: Unsettling Colonial Culture & Building Kinship with Indigenous Peoples

Lunch and Learn (Lunch Provided)

Thursday, November 6, 2025 12PM

Alumni Student Center Conference Room A & B

Emi Aguilar (Coahuiltecan) (they/she) is a facilitator, researcher, culture-bearer, community organizer, multidisciplinary artist, and most importantly, a mother. Emi is based among the homelands where the Coahuiltecan people have continuously resided for over 14,000 years (or, what is recently known as Central Texas to Northern Mexico). She is the Director of Membership & Radical Collaboration at BLIS Collective (Black Liberation-Indigenous Sovereignty), the former Director of Research + Action for IllumiNative, and has led partnerships with Netflix, Apple, Disney, National Geographic, AGBO, NBCU, Warner Media, and Lionsgate, among others. Emi holds an MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from The University of Texas at Austin, a certificate in Arts and Cultural Management from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, a certificate in Women's and Gender Studies, and a BFA in Theatre (summa cum laude) from Niagara University. Previously, Emi served as the Assistant Director of Pop Culture + Media at IllumiNative, on faculty at Bowling Green State University, and has guest lectured at The University of Texas at Austin, Dallas College, Vassar College, Brooklyn Public Library, and New Jersey Performing Arts Center, among others. Emi is the creator of @IndigenizingArtsEd, through which she conducts speaking engagements and workshops on decolonization, Indigenizing arts education, the Land Back movement, repatriation, and compulsive settler-colonialism.

Past Native American Heritage Month Celebrations