Welcome to the new year! It’s 2022, and we are excited for all of the important work and mobilization that will unfold this year, (especially given the accomplishments and momentum built from last year!) 

In 2021, we hosted and live-streamed a successful in-person gathering for Indigenous Peoples’ Day at Shackamaxon, (Penn Treaty Park). We also received a grant, which has enabled us to offer contracts and monetary support to Indigenous members of IPD Philly; our deepest gratitude and thanks to the donors and funders who have helped to make this possible! Finally, we also began a series of immensely successful coalition-building workshops that ran through the beginning of this year. Through hands-on long-term activities, the workshops equipped participants with the tools to help Indigenize the city, as well as to bring Indigenous issues, histories, and experiences into their educational, activist, organizational, and institutional work. These workshops also provided the opportunity for participants to network and organize across institutions, organizations, and disciplines. Some of the issues covered ranged from Indigenous resistance to colonialism throughout the Americas, to the ongoing histories of the Lenape peoples and their diaspora, as well as the harms enacted by Columbus and the violent legacies of Columbus Day. They also included Taino histories and experiences, the history and importance of the National Day of Mourning, and deconstructing harmful stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples. If you would like IPD Philly to run a similar workshop series for your organization or institution, please get in touch! 

As 2022 unfolds, there remains a lot of work and political mobilization to be done. The city of Philadelphia must continue to recognize and contend with the harms that it has done and continues to do to Indigenous Peoples. We must continue to bring visibility to Indigenous histories, experiences, and communities in Philadelphia. We thank you for continuing to support our work this year.

We also wish to extend a big welcome to our new staff: Griffin Quinn, Logan Boese, Laura Morin, and board members Janes Spirit, and Nikki Apana.

Sincerely,

IPD Philly – Editors

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NOTE:  This publication was established in the Lenape-Unami territory known as Lenapehoking | U.S.A on Indigenous Land

Header Image: Digital composite of the detail from the Delaware bandolier bag ca. 1850, Oklahoma | See the original bag at the online exhibition:
Infinite Nations, Art, and History in the Collections of the National Museum of American Indian