Minot State University will host its fourth annual Indigenous Dinner on Monday, Nov. 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Student Center Conference Center as part of the university’s 2025 Native American Cultural Celebration.

The event is free and open to the campus and community. Dinner will be prepared by Sodexo, Minot State’s campus food service, and individuals are asked to register in advance for food ordering purposes.

Live music and multimedia will be provided by Red Willow Collective, a community-based group supporting Indigenous and other racial minority artists who will offer a variety of sounds during the evening.

“The meal is based on food of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and music from Black, Indigenous and people of color, no better way to celebrate the First Peoples of the Northern Plains,” said Annette Mennem, director of the Minot State Native American Cultural Center.

National Native American Heritage Month began as an effort to gain recognition for the significant contributions Indigenous peoples have made to the establishment and growth of the United States. Advocacy for a national acknowledgment dates back more than a century, including the early efforts of Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca who led the drive for recognition, and Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe who issued the first proclamation for American Indian Day in 1915.

Early observances expanded in the decades that followed. The first American Indian Day in a state was declared in New York in 1916, and several states adopted their own recognition days throughout the 20th century. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 as National American Indian Heritage Month, and similar proclamations have continued annually.

The Indigenous Dinner is hosted and sponsored by Minot State University Native American Cultural Center, the MSU Diversity Council and Student Affairs.