The Indigenous Peoples Day Pow Wow is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 14, on Keyser Quad.
The event reimagines and provides a counternarrative to Columbus Day, changing a celebration of colonialism into an opportunity to reveal historical truths about the oppression of indigenous peoples in the Americas, to organize against current injustices, and to celebrate indigenous resistance. The charge to change the national holiday began in the 1990s with Berkeley, California, and South Dakota. With the introduction of the Indigenous Students at Hopkins, the Office of Multicultural Affairs began the process of providing thought-provoking programming and events to enhance the recognition of indigenous communities and our own student population. Celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day is a new tradition at Hopkins that extends the efforts of promoting/celebrating a vital population in our community.
The celebration and observance will convene on Monday, Oct. 14, with a Noon-Day Pow Wow at Keyser Quad (rain location: Levering Hall) from noon to 2 p.m. The program will feature intertribal dances throughout the two-hour period.
Our partners, Indigenous Students at Hopkins, Center for American Indian Health in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Native American Lifeline of Baltimore, and the Copper Kitchen Indigenous Eats, cater collaboratively and will produce this momentous event for the university and community. Dennis Seymour, a Native American of Eastern Band Cherokee, will be talking about his experiences in Flint, Michigan, as an identified Native American.
