11/13/2025
🌾 Honoring Native American Heritage Month 🌾
Each November, our nation celebrates Native American Heritage Month — a time to recognize, honor, and celebrate the rich history, culture, and lasting contributions of Native American and Indigenous peoples across the United States. This special month serves as a reminder to reflect on the strength, resilience, and traditions of the first peoples of this land, who have preserved their heritage and values for generations despite great challenges.
Here in Person County, we are privileged to share a community deeply connected to Native history through the Sappony Tribe — one of North Carolina’s eight recognized tribes. The Sappony people’s ancestral lands stretch along the North Carolina–Virginia border, including parts of Person County. For centuries, the Sappony have maintained a deep relationship with the land, family, and community — values that continue to guide their way of life today.
Native American Heritage Month is more than a celebration of the past — it’s a time to honor the living cultures that continue to thrive. Across the country and right here at home, Native communities keep their traditions alive through language, storytelling, art, song, and ceremony. Storytelling has always been at the heart of Native life — a way to teach lessons, preserve history, and pass on wisdom from one generation to the next. Traditional clothing and regalia, often adorned with beadwork, feathers, and handcrafted details, carry deep spiritual and cultural meaning, symbolizing identity, pride, and heritage.
Food also plays a central role in Native culture. Many traditional foods — such as corn, beans, and squash, known as the “Three Sisters” — represent not only sustenance but harmony with nature and community. Native agricultural practices and environmental knowledge continue to inspire modern approaches to sustainability and healthy living — values we share here at Person Family Medical Center, Inc.
As we reflect on this month, it’s important to recognize that Native American communities continue to make vital contributions in every field — from medicine and education to public service, art, and environmental stewardship. Their traditions remind us of the importance of balance — caring for the mind, body, and spirit, and for one another.
🔆At Person Family Medical Center, we are proud to recognize Native American Heritage Month and to celebrate the strength and culture of Native peoples. We are also honored that our CEO, Glenn Martin, is a proud member of the Sappony Tribe. His deep commitment to community health and family values reflects the teachings and principles that are at the heart of Native heritage — unity, respect, and service to others.
This November, we encourage our community to learn more about Native history — not only as an important chapter in our nation’s story, but as a living and ongoing legacy that continues to shape who we are today. Take time to explore local tribal history, support Native artisans and storytellers, attend cultural events, or simply share what you learn with others. Every act of learning and appreciation helps ensure these traditions continue to be honored and understood for generations to come.
Together, let’s celebrate Native American Heritage Month by showing gratitude, learning with open hearts, and honoring the Native peoples who have helped shape our shared history — right here in Person County and across the nation.
