Google celebrated the start of Native American Heritage Month on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, with a homepage Doodle built around traditional Plains Apache beadwork from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
The company replaced the two “O”s in its logo with circular beaded clothing ornaments crafted by the Plains Apache (also known as Naisha or Kiowa Apache) between 1890 and 1909. According to the Google Doodles archive page, the garment pieces are made of hide and glass beads. “In honor of Native American Heritage Month, this Doodle features Native American beadwork,” the company noted in its official release, adding, “All objects were stewarded from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.”
Alongside the homepage design for Native American Heritage Month 2026, Google’s official Instagram account shared two additional pieces from the museum’s collection:
- A Coushatta (Koasati) sash from circa 1875. While UPI’s report described the piece as a beaded silk sash, the Google Doodles archive lists its materials as “wool cloth, glass beads, silk ribbon.”
- A Kickapoo hair ornament from circa 1900. UPI described the piece as made of cotton, silk, and glass beads, while the archive page specifies “cotton cloth, silk ribbon, glass beads, mother of pearl buttons.”
Readers who want to explore the artifacts and other Indigenous collections online can view them throughout November on the Smithsonian’s portal at AmericanIndian.si.edu.
Observed every November in the United States, the month recognizes the history, culture, and contributions of Indigenous peoples while drawing attention to ongoing issues including tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, voting rights, health care, education, and protecting ancestral lands. Writing for Native News Online on Sunday, publisher and editor Levi Rickert, a citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, noted the long history behind the federal recognition. “National Native American Heritage Month, as it is officially called, is the culmination of a centuries-long effort to recognize the substantial contributions of Indigenous peoples,” Rickert wrote.
That federal effort gained traction in 1976, when legislation authored by Osage-Cherokee NASA engineer Jerry C. Elliott established the first Native American Awareness Week. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint resolution designating November as National American Indian Heritage Month, and U.S. presidents have issued annual proclamations for the monthlong observance since 1994.