Guide to Indigenous DC

Guide to Indigenous DC is a tour map and mobile application featuring sites of importance to Native peoples across the Nation’s capital. The Guide emphasizes Indigenous peoples’ contributions to Washington, DC, highlights the historical and contemporary federal tribal policy developed in the city, and acknowledges the peoples whose homelands upon which the District of Columbia was built. The Guide showcases the empowering stories of how Washington, DC is a place of tribal history, gathering, and advocacy with a long, rich history.

The publicly-facing Guide contributes to tribal historic preservation efforts in Washington, DC, and serves as a resource to primary, secondary, and university-level educational institutions in the city and surrounding areas who can use the guide in conjunction with field trips and curriculum. Tribal leaders and organizations who travel to the capital for business will find value in this tool as an educational and culturally-relevant activity. The Guide also encourages millions of tourists who visit Washington, DC to remember the importance of Indigenous peoples to our shared national history and raises awareness of the role of Indigenous peoples to ongoing political processes and current events.

Developed by Principal Investigator Elizabeth Rule for the AT&T Center for Indigenous Politics and Policy at the George Washington University, and in partnership with the American Indian and Alaska Native Tourism Association, the Guide was created in close collaboration with scholars, historians, and members of the local Native community who have institutional knowledge of key events and locations.