CWU - American Indian Studies Program

05/10/2023

22 Kittitas Indian children attended the boarding school at one time says the article. Now I know the effort to disenfranchise Kittitas Indians of their land and identity was even stronger than what I imagined. This was the same time the local newspapers were listing out remaining Kittitas Indians who held “much needed land” in the valley.

One wonders why the government defunded their contract.

What are the names of the children who attended this school?

A list of Native boarding schools affiliated with the Catholic Church includes more information about a boarding school operated in Yakima by the Sisters of Providence from 1889-96.

03/17/2023

In case you were wondering what tribes mean by First Foods. Here are some Plateau first foods. Nature provides free breakfast, lunch and dinners daily. 🙂 Bon a petit!

This month’s CRITFC commission meeting is being hosted by the Yakama Nation on their reservation. The lunch they generously provided for the meeting was a selection of First Foods. These are the foods that the land of this place provides for the people living here and each one is considered a sacred gift.

01/18/2023

The Joy of Dancing with Algin Scabbyrobe (Yakama/Blackfeet). Did you know that the Yakama Nation is home to multi-Grammy nominated Native musicians Black Lodge Singers? Algin is one of their lead singers. Algin is dancing the Chicken Dance, a dance of the Blackfoot Confederacy of Alberta and Montana. While the dance is tied to the prairie chickens of the plains, it’s also rooted in Blackfeet warrior societies and ceremonies. Photos by the AIS director.

01/17/2023

Paula Shebala (Blackfeet) taken at Puyallup Powwow 2019. She is dancing the jingle dress dance which is detailed with rolled up Copenhagen lids that gives the dance a very distinctive sound. Here are the details on the origin of the jingle dress dance

https://ictnews.org/.amp/archive/origins-of-womens-jingle-dress-dancing

01/16/2023

Stan Greene (Semiahmoo/Nimipuu) action shot. I’ve known Stan since I was a kid and as long as I’ve known him he has always been working on something with his hands. He gathered and made this regalia from head to toe with cedar that grows on his ancestral homelands. He made his moccasins and wove the fur for his leggings. Many tribes used dog hair, not just any dog hair, but dogs that were bred for their hair. Mountain sheep were also good candidates as well.

01/15/2023

Stan Green (Semiahmoo/Nimipuu) regalia all made by Mr. Green, a master artist in multiple mediums. Photo by the CWU AIS Director. Taken in 2019 at Puyallup Powwow

01/06/2023

FYI! Looks like a wonderful evening.

Join us on January 17 at the Evergreen Longhouse for an evening of poetry and conversation with four Indigenous Washington poets. Laura Da’ (Eastern Shawnee), Rena Priest (Lummi, current Washington State Poet Laureate), Cedar Sigo (Suquamish), and Arianne True (Choctaw, Chickasaw) will read selections from their work and speak about poetry and the world through an Indigenous lens.

📆 January 17,2023
⏰ 7:00 p.m.
👉🏽 Register here: bit.ly/indigenousvoicesevent

The event is free and open to the public. We will provide a livestream link for those who cannot attend in person.

Indigenous Voices: An Evening of Poetry and Conversation is a presentation of the Washington Center for the Book (Washington State Library), s'gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ: House of Welcome-Evergreen Longhouse, Humanities Washington, and the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA).

11/15/2022

Recent article about Fort Simcoe Indian boarding school work that is being done to identify unmarked burials. There are only two marked graves associated with the Fort and absolutely no memorials or recognition of the boarding school that existed here for 62 years between 1960 and 1922. The BIA removed the remainder of the school buildings in the 1950s. Currently, there are no survivors of the boarding school alive today making it very challenging to retrace events that occurred at the school. Work at the Fort is ongoing.

“They wanted to control us": Fort Simcoe in Yakima County was home to a government-run boarding school for Native children from 1860 to 1922. New efforts aim to learn more