Preserving the sacred: The struggle for the preservation of Native American sacred land

              The Historic
Dimension Series
A student publication series by the UNCG Department of Interior Architecture
Preserving the Sacred:
The Struggle for the Preservation of
Native American Sacred Land
by Kimberly Cassidy Fall 2018
Historic preservation
is the effort to preserve
buildings, landscapes,
and other items of significant historical
meaning. This effort, when it began,
focused on aesthetically pleasing structures
and buildings that were associated with
great white men and their deeds. There
are numerous examples of monuments or
historic places that signify past presidents,
war generals, and politicians. However,
there are little to no examples of the
indigenous groups of Native Americans
who have not only lived on this continent
for thousands of years, but have also
contributed to and shaped the American
way of life we know today. Without
acknowledging all people involved and
telling the full story, one does a disservice to
the people and history of the sites we want
to take care of. To be more inclusive, there
needs to be a focus on the difficult histories
that have been “hidden” from the primary
focus of the American historical narrative
and preservation efforts.
A Painful Past
Difficult histories and places, according
to historian Max Page, are the “places of
pain, of violence, of controversy, the places
we normally want to avoid” (2016, p. 130).
Those who inflicted or caused the pain and
violence often, if not always, want to keep
that part of their history hidden from the
stories and events they select to pass on to
the future generations.
The governing forces in charge can
determine what land is theirs and with
what ideologies they choose to back such
beliefs. In 1492, this ideology was based
on finding trade routes; in 1620, it was to
escape religious persecution; in 1803, it was
westward expansion; in 1838, it was removal
and relocation; in 1845, it was Manifest
Destiny; in 1953, it was assimilation; and in
2016, it was for the transport of oil. These
dates are just a few examples of the ideology
that justified European settlers and, later,
the United States government, in taking
Native American land for the benefit of
those in power. For the indigenous groups
in North America, this ideology resulted in
the loss of sacred ancestral lands, the death
of millions of native people, loss of native
culture and communities, and the loss of
native agency in the history of America.
Through this loss of land and lack of focus
on places with painful history, Native
Americans have been denied the justice
and connection to their past due to the rest
of America reading another narrative. As
Max Page points out, there is a “healing
power of knowing the truth,” and as a
nation, we need to begin to heal by looking
at our painful past and history with Native
American people (2016, p. 131).
“Sacred” in Native culture
Unlike in other cultures where important
places are marked by monuments or
plaques, Native American sacred places
are not always pleasing to the eye nor are
they marked by their hands. Sacred places
vary between the different Native groups
“Now, more
than ever, we
also should
work to see
that the old
places, land-marks,
and
focal points
in our cities
and commu-nities
reflect
diverse
peoples and
stories. Our
American
landscape
needs to
tell the full
Ameri-can
story.”
(Meeks, 165)
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Fig. 3: Mount Rushmore Black Hills, South Dakota
and are dependent upon that specific group’s spiritual
beliefs, creation stories, and terrain. For example, Blue
Lake in New Mexico, the Tennessee River, and the Black
Hills of the Dakotas are all sacred places to the native
groups that live there, but they have not been marked by
a monument. Such places are left natural and are harder
to perceive as a sacred place without knowing native
history, speaking with someone from the group that has
ties to the land, or looking up information about the full
story of the landmark.
Preservation, then, has to be different. It has to be more
inclusive of what is viewed as historic or sacred. It
needs to include the intangible and the places that are
about a spiritual awareness and connection. Without a
connection to sacred places, there is a loss of individual
identity, sense of place, and overall communal
connection to one’s roots. Such connections are missed
when only looking from the perspective of an outside
culture that focuses on buildings, monuments, and
museums as a way of marking an important historical
event. For other sacred places, the importance is in
its continuity, that the specific site and environment
will last, and people can come back to experience their
connection to both the site and their ancestors. Those
sites should be preserved so that they can be felt,
viewed, and used within the needs of the native group
that has protected and lived on them.
“Native American teachings describe the relations
all around…animals, fish, trees, and rocks…Our
relations to each other, our prayers whispered
across generations to our relatives, are what bind
our cultures together. The protection, teachings,
and gifts of our relatives have for generations
preserved our families. Their obliteration by dams,
guns, and bounties is an immense loss to native
families and cultures. It is the struggle to preserve
that which remains and the struggle to recover that
characterizes much of native environmentalism.
It is these relationships that industrialism seeks to
disrupt” (Laduke, 2016, p. 2).
A Different View
Mount Rushmore, located in Keystone, South Dakota,
is a prime example of history from an outsider’s per-spective,
as it shows the overtaking and silencing of
the history and connection a minority group has to the
landscape they originated from. The monument was
completed in 1941 under the direction of Gutzon Bor-glum
who aligned himself politically and financially
with the Ku Klux Klan and made public statements
against Native American people. The monument itself is
carved into the mountain originally known to the Lakota
Sioux as “The Six Grandfathers” and was part of a route
a leader took on a spiritual journey. The native connec-tion
and story was disregarded when they constructed a
monument that reflects the faces of “white conquerors”
to the native people that live there. Regardless of the
protests from native groups, the monument was still
constructed for the purpose of bringing tourism to South
Dakota.
Each year there are around three million visitors that
come to Mount Rushmore. Those visitors each see the
monument and the information placed in the museum
Fig. 2: Big South Fork, Tennessee River
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Fig. 4: Borglum and workers carving on sacred native
site
Fig. 5: Map of DAPL route going through Sioux treaty
land
about the selected presidents and the construction. With
that many people visiting, there are numerous oppor-tunities
for information to be shared on the full story
of Mount Rushmore. From 2004 to 2010, the Superin-tendent
of Mount Rushmore National Memorial was
Gerard Baker. During his duration at the memorial,
Baker enacted several changes which began to include
this full narrative. He felt it was important for visitors to
understand the native perspective on the memorial and
what Six Grandfathers was to the native groups living
in the Black Hills. Baker, a Native American himself,
understood that native people were robbed of their con-nection
to their sacred mountain and, without telling
that story, one does an injustice to the pain and history
of such places.
An Ongoing Issue
In 2016, plans to build a pipeline through what is consid-ered
both sacred land and ancient burial grounds for the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe came to the forefront. Initial-ly,
the pipeline was planned to go through an area north
of Bismarck, but that was rejected in the interests of
protecting the people of that community and the water.
The pipeline was then routed through Standing Rock
Sioux sacred land regardless of the fact that they held
the same worries and interests as those in the initial
route. This sparked both Native American and envi-ronmental
activism and an ongoing struggle for native
claim to sacred land and ancient burial grounds.
Arguments against the native claim were based on the
grounds that the pipeline was not on the current reser-vation
land and was above the border. However, native
connection to that area predates the reservation system
as native people did live where the pipeline has been
laid. Also, the pipeline violates the 1851 Fort Laramie
Treaty in which the United States government ac-knowledged
the land was Native American land. With
the continuation of the pipeline under the current presi-dential
administration, the violation of past treaties
only adds to the history of broken agreements between
the two groups. As a result, there were months-long
protests where people camped out to preserve cultural
stories and histories of native connection to the land.
The protests gathered national attention and millions
watched on the news and social media as acts of vio-lence
were used against the protestors. Freezing water,
attack dogs, and riot gear were some of the measures
the National Guard used and were seen as cruel acts
against the protestors. According to news reports, the
pipeline has since leaked at least five times.
Bears Ears National Monument
Even more recently, there has been another threat on
Native American sacred land in Utah. The Bears Ears
National Monument includes “archaeological sites,
cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, and ancient roads that
tell stories of diverse people over the course of 12,000
years” (National Trust). This landscape has been the
site of migration, natural preservation, native tradi-tions,
and spiritual connection for thousands of years.
Native Americans also return to the twin buttes to con-nect
with their ancestors, demonstrating that the land
is connected to the people and necessary for the future
of native tradition. The National Trust for Historic
Preservation points out that “both the Navajo and Ute
people frequently collect herbs and medicine, forage
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for food, gather firewood for heating or ceremonial use,
and hunt game in the area.” This land provides for the
people who have lived here and allows for the teaching
of future generations of the sacredness of Bears Ears.
The current presidential administration has announced
plans to reduce the protected 1.35 million acres of land
to only two small monuments (as seen in figure 8). The
goal in doing this is to free up land for oil and uranium
mining which is an ongoing environmental and politi-cal
issue for most reservation lands. The loss of the full
monument leaves the landscape open to looting and
other consequences of reduced protection. In response
to this loss of sacred land, the Bears Ears Intertribal
Coalition, made up of the Hopi, Navajo, Uintah and
Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni Nations, have
joined in efforts to save their ancestral land. Native
groups have been actively sharing their histories and
connection to the landscape on various media outlets
and by organizing different fundraising through native
arts and crafts. Legal actions have been taken as the site
is protected under the Antiquities Act and that the au-thority
to make such a change lies with Congress and
not the president. Other activist groups and preserva-tion
groups have been spreading awareness on Bears
Ears and other threatened sites. Bears Ears Monument
was a focus at the National Trust Conference in No-vember
2018, where presentations explored the preser-vation
of the intangible. Stephanie Meeks, president of
the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has also
submitted testimony on the vitality and importance of
sacred landscapes like Bears Ears:
“Development of emotional bonds with places is
a prerequisite of psychological balance and good
adjustment…It helps to overcome identity crisis
and gives people the sense of stability they need in
the everchanging world” (Meeks, 2016, p. 4).
A Successful Example
Earlier this year, the National Trust for Historic Preser-vation
celebrated the successful preservation of Native
American ceremonial grounds at the Hopewell Culture
National Historical Park in Chillicothe, Ohio. Through
the help of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the
purchase of the site allowed for its preservation. Devel-opmental
projects such as roads and ploughing threat-ened
the mounds. Now the park is protected from such
projects and visitors can come to learn about the Native
American poeple who made the sacred burial mounds.
The site represents the advanced rituals and traditions
that took place there. In successfully preserving such
places, the heritage of Native American people is recog-nized.
Visitors can understand how far back native ties
to sacred land go and just how fragile they are. With-out
understanding that sacred sites can be mounds or
other sites overlooked by an untrained eye, they can be
destroyed. One must acknowledge that there is no one
designated framework to discern places of human and
Fig. 7: House on Fire Ruin at Mule Canyon, Utah
Fig. 6: Bears Ears National Monument, Utah
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spiritual connection. There is diversity in these places
as they were made, visited, and used by diverse groups
of people.
Changes to Preservation Practices
The contemporary historic preservation movement
has aimed to change the previous approach and tools
used when deeming a building, landmark, or landscape
historic. However, as we see in the examples of Mount
Rushmore and with the Dakota Access Pipeline, there
is much work yet to be done. Ideas and views of
preservation and progress do not mean the same to all
people. Practices often favor the dominant culture and
overlook the needs and desires of those considered
minorities. It is important to understand all claims
and history to a place or landscape when preserving
it. To do this means to collaborate and find new ways
to approach historic places. One needs to look at how
historic places are represented for different cultural
groups, how Native American history has been silenced,
and how one can potentially change this by looking at
the examples of activism and preservation efforts from
the Dakota Access Pipeline and Bears Ears Monument.
Max Page points out that focusing on difficult places is
changing the preservation movement since it requires
Americans to add new group sites to the register (2016,
p. 159). Also, by including these sites, preservation is
expanding beyond curatorial and architectural focused
ideals, allowing for the inclusion of more sites in the
conversation of history. Preservation is much more
about meeting the needs of the people and communities
those sacred places are a part of.
“Historic preservation is revitalizing communities
by encouraging economic growth, bringing families
and neighborhoods together, improving our health
and well-being, making our cities more livable, and
helping us better understand ourselves” (Meeks,
2016, p. 23).
Conclusion
As a nation, the people of the United States need to
acknowledge and begin to discuss the difficult history of
places that are present in representations of the past and
interpreted in the present. Anyone can watch the news,
turn on the radio, scroll on social media, or pick up
an article and see that America needs to begin to heal.
Preservation has an essential role to play in this healing
as one can no longer continue to ignore the injustices
that have occurred and the need for sites to allow such
dialogues to begin. Preservation is no longer solely a
Fig. 9: Petroglyphs found in cave dwellings on Bears
Ears Monument, Utah
Fig. 8: Red/blue areas represent the reduction of the
Bears Ears Monument land within original black border
UNCG The Historic Dimension Series: 6
rich person’s hobby for the protection of houses that
are aesthetically beautiful. It has moved beyond that to
the connection of human beings to places that are both
culturally significant, diverse, and useful to the com-munities
they are a part of. In preserving scared places,
one puts the needs and focus of that community above
all else as they are able to maintain their connection and
traditions. As the United States is a country of diverse
people, the sites and histories which are preserved need
to reflect that diversity as well.
Bibliography
Anon. (2007). Leaders: The sculpture diaries. Digital Right
Group Limited.
LaDuke, W. (2016). All our relations: Native struggles for
land and life. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
Meeks, S., & Murphy, K. (2016). The past and future city:
How historic preservation is reviving america’s communities.
Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Nabokov, P. (2007). Where the lightning strikes: The lives of
American Indian sacred places. NY, NY: Penguin Books.
National trust for historic preservation: Bears ears and
ancestral places of southeast Utah. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://savingplaces.org/places/ancestral-places-of-southeast-
utah#.XA1UyOJOmUm
Nelson, A. (2017). Why should you care about the Da-kota
access pipeline? Rock Products, 120(7), 50–51.
Page, M., & Miller, M. (Eds.). (2016). Bending the future:
Fifty ideas for the next fifty years of historic preservation in
the United States. Amherst, Boston: University of Mas-sachusetts
Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1h-d19hg.
Perrottet, T. (2006). Mt. Rushmore: With a native ameri-can
superintendent, the South Dakota monument is
becoming much more than a shrine to four presidents.
(Destination America). Smithsonian, 37(2), 78.
Rome, A. (2018). Black snake on the periphery: The Da-kota
access pipeline and tribal jurisdictional sovereignty.
North Dakota Law Review, 93(1), 57–86.
Taliaferro, J. (2004). Great white fathers: The story of the
obsessive quest to create Mount Rushmore. New York:
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Walker, M. (1991). Sioux Angered by Monumental
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Image Credits
Fig 1. Photo courtesy of ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Im-ages
Fig 2. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock purchased license
Fig 3. Photo courtesy of Pixaby Royalty Free Images
Fig 4. Photo courtesy of National Park Services website
Fig 5. Photo courtesy of Two Rivers Unitarian Universal-ist
Fig 6. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock purchased license
Fig 7. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock purchased license
Fig 8. Photo courtesy of Back Packer Magazine website
Fig 9. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock purchased license
Fig 10. Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock purchased license
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The Historic Dimension Series is a collection of briefs prepared
by UNCG students under the direction of Professor Jo Ramsay
Leimenstoll. For information on other topics in the series please
visit the website at go.uncg.edu/hds
Fig. 11: Sacred burial mounds at Hopewell Historical
Park, Ohio
Fig. 10: Valley of the Gods, Utah