It is never easy to know how to address the topic of the Native Americans and the history of our United States. On Thanksgiving, we join together and take the day off to eat a bird, once the symbol of much of North America. We watch football, enjoy wine, and celebrate with family and friends. But rarely do we internalize what the day is supposed to be about. And did the Pilgrims really sit down and share meals with the Wampanoag people? The history is all over the map. Here is a standard explanation. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Thanksgiving-Day
Whether you celebrate today or not, it is an excellent day to learn about the history of the Native people who lived here when the first Europeans came. These people died of foreign diseases and were forced off their ancestral lands, but they still live among us today. Their cultures and knowledge are still with us and must be learned. Voices of the younger generations are rising, voices that want to be heard about what was taken and what could or should be returned, like land. Lest I be accused of being too #Woke, just let me say we can be thankful for many things. We can celebrate what we have, those we have lost, and the history we share. But we must be honest and willing to openly talk about what happened and who it happened to.
In the Tualatin Valley, those people are the Atfalati-Kalapuyan people. We must say “are” instead of “were” because they are still among us. Yes, most of the people who lived here for tens of thousands of years—thousands of them—were wiped out by the mid-1800s. They saw the rise and fall of hundreds of feet of water as it went up and down during the Missoula Floods, which created the rich land we live upon today. Imagine Hillsboro, Oregon, under 400 feet of water on and off for hundreds of years. This place they call home, which we so aggressively excavate for our machines, was the most beautiful backwater of the great floods that created the Columbia Gorge, Willamette, and Tualatin Valleys.
Today, I am so Thankful for people like Professor David Lewis, Artist and activist Steph Littlebird, and tribal Historian and teacher Esther Stutzman. All three are Kalapuyan and active in their tribe, and each plays a crucial role in teaching anyone willing to listen about their people and deep history. I suggest you all take time to learn a bit from them.
I am also thankful that the 5 Oaks Museum took charge of teaching and worked with Step Littlebird to create the This Is Kalapuyan Land exhibit.
This IS Kalapuyan Land opened in 2019 as a physical museum exhibition by Guest Curator Steph Littlebird Fogel (Grand Ronde, Kalapuya) and became an online exhibition in 2020. Fogel annotated panels from the museum’s prior exhibit on Kalapuyan peoples, curated contemporary Native artwork into the exhibition, and added historical content from David G. Lewis, Phd, who is a preeminent scholar on Western Oregon tribes. The exhibition prompts critical thinking around representation of Indigenous history and identity in non-Indigenous institutions.
Click the link above and learn! This work should be required teaching at our grade schools. It is that important.
Ginny Mapes and I wrote a story about the Atfalati influences on the Tualatin Valley, including history, traditions, and more. You can read that here:
Today, as we celebrate, we remember those who were here first, who still are here, and who we must honor and learn from. We celebrate them.
Great article Dirk and Happy Birthday my friend!