United Indians of All Tribes

Last updated
From top, reading left to right:
* Daybreak Star Cultural Center
* Seafair Indian Days / UIATF Pow-Wow, hereafter "UIATF Pow-Wow" (2010)
* Dine / Navajo musician Arlie Neskahi and Marty Bluewater, then executive director of UIATF, at UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
* Woman participating in Saturday Grand entry, UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
* Dancers in regalia, UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
* Woman participating in UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
* Lawney Reyes attending UIATF Pow-Wow (2016) UIATF.jpg
From top, reading left to right:
  Daybreak Star Cultural Center
  Seafair Indian Days / UIATF Pow-Wow, hereafter "UIATF Pow-Wow" (2010)
  Diné / Navajo musician Arlie Neskahi and Marty Bluewater, then executive director of UIATF, at UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
  Woman participating in Saturday Grand entry, UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
  Dancers in regalia, UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
  Woman participating in UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)
  Lawney Reyes attending UIATF Pow-Wow (2016)

United Indians of All Tribes (also known as the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, or UIATF) is a non-profit foundation that provides social and educational services to Native Americans in the Seattle metropolitan area and aims to promote the well being of the Native American community of the area. [1] [2] The organization is based at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Seattle, Washington's Discovery Park. [3] UIATF has an annual budget of approximately $4.5 million as of 2013. [4]

Contents

History of Native Americans in the Seattle area

Many tribes historically inhabited the Seattle area and, to a greater extent, the surrounding Puget Sound area, because of the rich resources of food and fish. Major groups of local contemporary native peoples or tribes include the Suquamish, Duwamish, Nisqually, Snoqualmie, and Muckleshoot (Ilalkoamish, Stuckamish, and Skopamish) tribes. [5] Many Alaskan Natives and Native Americans from the Inland Northwest have also come to live in Seattle. As a result, the city has a large and very diverse urban Indian population. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are 86,649 American Indians/Alaskan Natives living in the Seattle, Tacoma, and Bremerton area. The Seattle area has become a nexus of many different tribal cultures from all over the country, with large influences from Coast Salish, Tlingit, Haida, and Plateau Indian cultures.

History of Daybreak Star

UIATF was established in 1970 during the struggle by Northwest Natives to gain ownership or control of a portion of Fort Lawton, as the United States Army had shrunk its base there. Bernie Whitebear emerged as the group's CEO, a position he held until shortly before his death from cancer in 2000. After winning the concession of a renewable 99-year lease on 20 acres (81,000 square meters) in what was to become Discovery Park, Whitebear led the fund-raising for Daybreak Star. Whitebear's brother, the designer and sculptor Lawney Reyes, set forth the "philosophy, nomenclature, and organizational needs of UIATF," working with Northwest architect Arai Jackson to design the center. Whitebear negotiated with then-governor Daniel J. Evans for a $1 million construction grant from Washington State; he also obtained an $80,000 grant for artwork for the building's interior from the Seattle Arts Commission, of which he became a member. Further donations came from tribes and corporations, including many of the materials used in the building. [6]

Attending Seafair Indian Days / UIATF Pow-Wow (2009) UIATF Pow Wow 2009 - 006.jpg
Attending Seafair Indian Days / UIATF Pow-Wow (2009)

Beginning in 1975 with the grant for artwork, the foundation opened the Sacred Circle Art Gallery at Daybreak Star. The Sacred Circle Art Gallery features both a permanent collection as well as a temporary exhibit space. Until 2001, the gallery featured contemporary art by renowned Native artists such as James Lavadour, Edgar Heap of Birds, and Marvin Oliver. After Whitebear's death, a new group of leaders made changes to the gallery, such as changing its name from the Sacred Circle Art Gallery to the Daybreak Star Indian Art Gallery, whittling two viewing rooms down to one, and shifting the focus away from contemporary Native American art. The gallery carries some contemporary work and continues to rebrand itself. Daybreak has also put on several art markets throughout the year.

Other initiatives

The United Indians of all Tribes Foundation also provides programs such as Indian child welfare services, therapy, and treatment; elder services, including a lunch program; a GED education program; and youth services, including advocacy, substance abuse treatment, and housing for homeless youth. Other programs have included the Ina Maka family program, education and employment services, a child development center, and the ECEAP (Early Childhood Education & Assistance Program) preschool. [7] The foundation also organizes the annual Seafair Indian Days, one of the larger pow-wows in the Northwest, held in conjunction with the city's festival called Seafair. The pow-wow draws tribal members from across the state, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Canada.

Youth services include the 25-bed home Labateyah Youth Home (sometimes written La-ba-te-yah) at 9010 13th Avenue NW, near Holman Road in Seattle's Crown Hill neighborhood. Since 1992, Labateyah has offered transitional and state group housing to youth between the ages of 18 and 24. The name Labateyah is Lushootseed for "the transformer". The program is not exclusively for Native American youth, who compose about a quarter of the facility's clients. [8] [9]

Another initiative contemplated by Whitebear was the People's Lodge at Daybreak Star, intended to include a Hall of Ancestors, a Potlatch House, a theater, and a museum, [10] later called the "Daybreak Star Village" proposal, [11] a project now indefinitely postponed for financial reasons. [12] There is also the Pacific Northwest Indian Canoe Center, intended as part of the ongoing development at South Lake Union, just north of downtown, [10] —for which ground was broken February 28, 2007. [13] Both the People's Lodge and the Canoe Center were conceived by Whitebear but left in the planning phases at the time of his death. [10]

Current UIATF initiatives include:

Proposed UIATF initiatives include:

A $3.5 million grant received October 2007 from the Northwest Area Foundation should allow the Bernie Whitebear Center, Daybreak Star College—two of the proposed projects—and the Northwest Canoe Center to proceed. The Canoe Center will be on South Lake Union. The grant will also fund various economic development activities focused on employment and small business development. [18]

Notes

  1. "About" page Archived February 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , UIATF site. Accessed 12 March 2007.
  2. De Luna 2006.
  3. People On the Move, Puget Sound Business Journal, 2008-08-04. Accessed 2009-06-03.
  4. United Indians of All Tribes Foundation - Annual Revenue & Expenses, guidestar.org. Based on IRS Form 990. More precisely, for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2012 and ending June 30, 2013, the group had $4,468,827 in revenue and $4,604,650 in expenses. Accessed online 2015-11-09.
  5. Kenneth Greg Watson, Native Americans of Puget Sound -- A Brief History of the First People and Their Cultures, HistoryLink.org, June 29, 1999. Accessed 2009-05-05
  6. Reyes 2002, p.187 et. seq.
  7. "Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP)". Archived from the original on 2017-10-22.
  8. LaBaTeYah Residential Transitional Youth Home, United Indians of All Tribes. Accessed 2015-11-09.
  9. United Indians of All Tribes Foundation Labateyah Youth Home Facts, United Indians of All Tribes. Accessed 2015-11-09.
  10. 1 2 3 Reyes 2002, p. 190.
  11. Daybreak Star Village Archived February 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , UIATF site. Accessed 12 March 2007.
  12. De Luna 2006. After seven years of negotiations with their neighbors, by the time they had the necessary building permission they were "emotionally and financially exhausted".
  13. South Lake Union Park Project Archived February 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , UIATF site. Accessed 12 March 2007.
  14. Community Story Archived February 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , UIATF site. Accessed 12 March 2007.
  15. Daybreak Star College Archived February 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , UIATF site. Accessed 12 March 2007.
  16. Bernie Whitebear Center for Human and Community Development Archived February 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , UIATF site. Accessed 12 March 2007.
  17. Daybreak Star Youth Summer Camp Archived February 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , UIATF site. Accessed 12 March 2007.
  18. Northwest Area Foundation Awards $3.5 Million to United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, Northwest Area Foundation Press Release, 10 October 2007, posted by Philanthropy News Digest, 15 October 2007. Accessed online 25 October 2007.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tlingit</span> Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

The Tlingit or Lingít are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America and constitute two of the 231 federally recognized Tribes of Alaska. Although the majority, about 14,000 people, are Alaska Natives, there is a small minority, 2,110, who are Canadian First Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makah</span> Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast

The Makah are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast living in Washington, in the northwestern part of the continental United States. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Makah Indian Tribe of the Makah Indian Reservation, commonly known as the Makah Tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daybreak Star Cultural Center</span> Native American cultural center in Seattle, WA

The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is a Native American cultural center in Seattle, Washington, described by its parent organization United Indians of All Tribes as "an urban base for Native Americans in the Seattle area." Located on 20 acres in Seattle's Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood, the center developed from activism by Bernie Whitebear and other Native Americans, who staged a generally successful self-styled "invasion" and occupation of the land in 1970. Most of the former Fort Lawton military base had been declared surplus by the U.S. Department of Defense. "The claim [Whitebear and others made] to Fort Lawton was based on rights under 1865 U.S.-Indian treaties promising reversion of surplus military lands to their original owners."

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation is the federally recognized tribe that controls the Colville Indian Reservation, which is located in northeastern Washington, United States. It is the government for its people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Centro de la Raza</span>

El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, Washington, United States, is an educational, cultural, and social service agency, centered in the Latino/Chicano community and headquartered in the former Beacon Hill Elementary School on Seattle's Beacon Hill. It was founded in 1972 and continues to serve clients in Seattle, King County and beyond. It is considered a significant part of civil rights history in the Pacific Northwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arts in Seattle</span>

Seattle is a significant center for the painting, sculpture, textile and studio glass, alternative, urban art, lowbrow and performing arts. The century-old Seattle Symphony Orchestra is among the world's most recorded orchestras. The Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, are comparably distinguished. On at least two occasions, Seattle's local popular music scene has burst into the national and even international consciousness, first with a major contribution to garage rock in the mid-1960s, and later as the home of grunge rock in the early 1990s. The city has about twenty live theater venues, and Pioneer Square is one of the country's most prominent art gallery districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Washington (state)</span>

The history of Washington includes thousands of years of Native American history before Europeans arrived and began to establish territorial claims. The region was part of Oregon Territory from 1848 to 1853, after which it was separated from Oregon and established as Washington Territory following the efforts at the Monticello Convention. On November 11, 1889, Washington became the 42nd state of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Lawton</span> United States historic place

Fort Lawton was a United States Army post located in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington overlooking Puget Sound. In 1973 a large majority of the property, 534 acres of Fort Lawton, was given to the city of Seattle and dedicated as Discovery Park. Both the fort and the nearby residential neighborhood of Lawton Wood are named after Major General Henry Ware Lawton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinixt</span> Indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States

The Sinixt are a First Nations People. The Sinixt are descended from Indigenous peoples who have lived primarily in what are today known as the West Kootenay region of British Columbia in Canada and the adjacent regions of Eastern Washington in the United States for at least 10,000 years. The Sinixt are of Salishan linguistic extraction, and speak their own dialect (snsəlxcín) of the Colville-Okanagan language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Hill</span> American artist (1930–2020)

Joan Hill, also known as Che-se-quah, was a Muscogee Creek artist of Cherokee ancestry. She was one of the most awarded Native American women artists in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawney Reyes</span> American Sin-Aikst artist (1931–2022)

Lawney L. Reyes was an American Sin-Aikst artist, curator, and memoirist, based in Seattle, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luana Reyes</span> Native American activist (1933–2001)

Luana Reyes was an American Indian health care administrator. As executive director of the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) 1972–1982, she grew that institution from a staff of five to nearly 200 and made it a model for urban Indian institutions; subsequently, she worked for the federal Indian Health Service, eventually becoming deputy director of that 14,000-person institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Whitebear</span> American Indian activist

Bernie Whitebear, birth name Bernard Reyes, was an American Indian activist in Seattle, Washington, a co-founder of the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB), the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, and the Daybreak Star Cultural Center, established on 20 acres of land acquired for urban Indians in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gang of Four (Seattle)</span> American minority activists

In the politics of Seattle, Washington in the United States, "Gang of Four" refers to Bernie Whitebear, Bob Santos, Roberto Maestas, and Larry Gossett, who founded Seattle's Minority Executive Directors's Coalition.

Joe DeLaCruz was a Native American leader in Washington, U.S., president for 22 years of the Quinault Tribe. He was reputed for his "thorough, in-depth knowledge of probably every Indian tribe in North America." According to Suzan Harjo, "His programs became models for Native Americans everywhere."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longhouse Media</span>

Longhouse Media is a Washington state non-profit indigenous media arts organization, based in Seattle. It was established in January 2005 by Executive Director, Tracy Rector and former Artistic Director, Annie Silverstein, with the support of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Longhouse Media supports the use of today’s technologies by indigenous people and communities as a tool for self-expression, cultural preservation, and social change. Longhouse Media counts 4 full-time and 3 part-time staff, 30 active volunteers, and 8 board members. Among the founding board members is award-winning author, playwright and poet Sherman Alexie, from the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quinault Cultural Center and Museum</span> Museum in Washington state

The Quinault Cultural Center and Museum is a museum of culture in Taholah, Washington, owned and funded by the Quinault Indian Nation. It contains artifacts, arts, and crafts of the Quinault, housed in a converted retail building. Some of the art forms have been influenced by Polynesian cultural motifs, brought home by World War II veterans.

Johnpaul Jones is an American architect and landscape architect, partner in Seattle-based architecture firm Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects, best known for innovative habitat immersion method design of zoo exhibits. A person who self-identifies as Native American, he has also executed many projects for various Native American organizations, and was lead design consultant for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, completed 2004 in Washington, D.C. He was the first architect ever to receive the National Humanities Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramona Bennett</span> Puyallup leader and activist

Ramona Bennett is an American Puyallup leader and activist who was involved in the 1960s and 1970s Fish Wars of the US Pacific Northwest and in tribal sovereignty.

Ella Pierre Aquino was a Lummi-Yakama-Puyallup civil rights activist and community organizer who was a matriarch of the Native American community in Seattle. She advocated on behalf of foster children and co-founded the American Indian Women's Service League in 1958. She published the Indian Center News and served as editor and columnist for the Northwest Indian News. Aquino was one of the key organizers of the occupation of Fort Lawton in 1970, which led to the establishment of the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Discovery Park. She was the subject of the 1987 documentary Princess of the Pow Wow.

References