The territory widely known as Philadelphia is part of Lenapehoking — the sovereign and unsurrendered homelands of the Lenape Peoples. Philadelphia is — following the words of Cree-Métis educator, community planner, and filmmaker Kamala Todd (2015) — “an Indigenous city,” just as every city in the so-called Americas is (Todd par. 17). While the settler government in Philadelphia officially recognized October 11, 2021, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, every single day on this land is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This always has been and always will be sovereign and unsurrendered Indigenous territory.
“Philadelphia is Indigenous Land: Celebrating the Rich and Ongoing History of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the City” is a series that recognizes, celebrates, and shares the stories of some of the wonderful Indigenous people living in the area who have played a vital role in fighting for, organizing, and amplifying Indigenous Peoples’ Day commemorations in the city. This organizing history is ongoing and has been happening for many, many years. Pasasalamat, gratitude, and thanks, to the Indigenous organizers who have shared their stories, truths, knowledge, and experiences as part of this multi-part series.
This month, I am delighted and honored to celebrate and amplify the important and long-standing work of Elder Pauline Songbird Hilton (Seminole Creek) and Vaughnda Hilton (Seminole Creek and Blackfeet Cherokee), who have been organizing in support of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Philadelphia and beyond for decades.
Elder Pauline Songbird has won many awards for her work within the local community. These awards recognize her various contributions and her immense service work, from enhancing the well-being and vitality of local neighborhoods to offering material and spiritual support to Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples in need in the community, to fighting for state recognition of Native American Peoples, to organizing annual pow-wows on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Her organizing work started over 30 years ago, when she went to Harrisburg alongside state representative Louise Williams Bishop to push the government to recognize that Native Americans exist and that this territory is and always has been Lenape land. In June 2011, thanks to the ongoing and long-standing work of people like Elder Pauline Songbird and Elder Barbara Pocahontas Allen (Seminole/Creek/Cherokee), the Senate of Pennsylvania recognized the Native American nations that have lived within this territory since time immemorial.
Vaughnda, daughter of Elder Pauline Songbird, has been deeply connected to her culture for her entire life and became especially involved in the development of and organizing of Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations in the 1990s when she was a member of the former American Indian Center in Philadelphia. As part of the Center, she helped to campaign for a Native American Day in Philadelphia, but the administration at that time did not move on the campaign. Vaughnda has actively facilitated events throughout the city and beyond and has used her passion for the arts and dance to bring awareness to the truths, histories, and ongoing experiences of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples. For decades, Vaughnda has also been involved in working with schools in the area, including her son’s former school Samuel Powel Elementary.
The programming that Vaughnda did with Samuel Powel in the early 1990s formed the beginnings of the now well-established and globally renowned Native Nations Dance Theater (NNDT), based in Philadelphia. Vaughnda is the Founder and Director of NNDT, and her entire family is part of the organization, including Elder Pauline Songbird, who has danced with the company since its beginnings and has also served as President and on the Board of Directors. NNDT has been traveling all over the world educating Indigenous Peoples since 1991 and has had a very busy 2022 thus far, performing at various universities and twice at the Barnes Foundation to full houses filled with people who want to learn.
Alongside the leadership of Elder Barbara Pocahontas Allen, Elder Pauline Songbird and Vaughnda were part of bringing pow-wows celebrating Indigenous communities to Philadelphia, which were initially held before and then in place of Columbus Day. Elder Pauline Songbird and Elder Barbara Pocahontas Allen spent their own money and put in an immense amount of legwork to make these pow-wows possible, from establishing recycling bins and trash pick-up at the site to recruiting volunteers to ensure that community members were fed during the event, to letting the fire department know about the event. The state only paid for insurance the very first year of the pow-wow celebration. Vaughnda also helped to organize pow-wows at the University of Pennsylvania Rotunda for four consecutive years. These pow-wows were always standing room only.
With the help of Elders in the community, as well as Brujo de la Mancha (Tlaxcalan/Mexican-Indigenous and Spanish) and the Indigenous organization Ollin Yoliztli Calmecac (OYC), the pow-wow celebrations that Elder Pauline Songbird and Elder Barbara Pocahontas Allen led into being in the city evolved to become the first annual and continuous event celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Philadelphia. Since 2013, the celebration they began so many years ago has been held annually at Bartram’s Garden. It will once again take place in Bartram’s Garden in October 2022.
Elder Pauline Songbird’s long-range goal and hope are for Indigenous Peoples’ Day to become a week-long national holiday. She and Vaughnda both express the desire for Native American and Indigenous Peoples in the city to unite, work in collectivity and solidarity, and bring all their knowledge and gifts together to celebrate Indigenous Peoples in the city and beyond, and to show the city and the world that Indigenous Peoples are alive and well.
Deepest pasasalamat, gratitude and thanks, to Elder Pauline Songbird Hilton and Vaughnda Hilton for sharing their stories, truths, knowledge, and experiences as part of this multi-part series, “Philadelphia is Indigenous Land: Celebrating the Rich and Ongoing History of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the City.”
AUTHOR: Ashley Caranto Morford (Filipina-English descent / Canadian-USA) – Associate Writer
