Indigenous Peoples Library Guide
RESOURCES
Chief Seattle Club is a 501(c)(3) registered organization dedicated to physically and spiritually supporting American Indian and Alaska Native people. At our Day Center in the Pioneer Square district of downtown Seattle, we provide food, primary heath care, housing assistance, an urban Indian legal clinic, a Native art job training program, as well as frequent outings for members to cultural and community-building events.
Chief Seattle Club is a human service agency that provides basic needs for our members, many of whom are experiencing homelessness. Over 90,000 meals are served every year and members can access quality nursing care, mental health providers, chemical dependency professionals, and traditional healing practices. Native people in urban areas face unique challenges and Chief Seattle Club embraces the cultures, languages, and traditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives as the primary method for healing and transformation.
Providing a sacred space to nurture, affirm, and renew the spirit of urban Native people.
- Chief Seattle Club
Mother Nation is a non-profit 501 (C) 3 grassroots Native American organization which offers culturally informed healing services, advocacy, mentorship and homeless prevention in the State of Washington.
Mother Nation celebrates and inspires the success of Native American families to honor the beauty and strength of Native American culture, spirituality and values built on the ancestral strength of each participant.
Mother Nation’s culturally informed healing services are custom designed and provided by credentialed Native American Elders who apply culture to clinical practice.
By bringing back Native values of family, supporting one another during times of transition from chronic homelessness, gender based violence, we provide the guidance and assistance necessary to ensure Mother Nation participants have access to the spiritual support needed to remain stably housed over time.
By acknowledging the past and re-learning who we are as a Native people, Indigenous Sisters who participate in our programs transform their path to a journey of natural leadership and wisdom built on their ancestral strength gifted to them by Creator.
- Mother Nation
"We are an Indigenous women-led organization dedicated to the ongoing regeneration of Indigenous communities. Through grantmaking, capacity-building and community-based intergenerational programming, we seek transformative change by supporting culturally grounded leadership and organizing.
Focused on Indigenous Ecology, Food Sovereignty, and Wise Action, we work to advance climate and gender justice, while creating healthy pathways towards self-determination and movement-building."
- Na'ah Illahee Fund
Seattle Indian Health Board is a community health center that provides health and human services to its patients, while specializing in the care of Native people. We are recognized as a leader in the promotion of health improvement for urban American Indians and Alaska Natives, locally and nationally.
The Mission of Seattle Indian Health Board is to advocate for, provide, and ensure culturally appropriate, high quality, and accessible health and human services to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
-Seattle Indian Health Board
PLACES TO VISIT
Before it became a park, the Suquamish tribe used the island as camping grounds. It is an important place for the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes as well as other Coast Salish people. The park has 5 miles of saltwater beach shoreline and is a marine camping park. You can hike, camp, bird watch, dig for clams and more.
On the island is Tillicum Village, a tourist attraction owned by Argosy Cruises which is used to give tourists a "Native experience". The nature of the attraction raises questions about cultural appropriation, authenticity, and cultural integrity for some.
Seattle based social service provider, community center, and cultural home for urban Indians.
Founded in 1970, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation provides an extensive array of culturally responsive services and programming to Seattle and King County’s urban Native community. Our headquarters, the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, was completed in 1977, and has become a hub of activity for Native peoples and their supporters locally, nationally, and internationally. Daybreak Star is home to a permanent collection of Native art, as well as the Sacred Circle Gallery featuring rotating exhibits of work by contemporary Native artists.
the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is a land base and community center for Native Americans in the Seattle area, and United Indians’ headquarters. It is located on 20 acres (81,000 m²) in Discovery Park in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood.
- United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
The mission of the Cultural Center Project is to promote the social, cultural, and economic survival of Seattle Washington’s aboriginal Duwamish Tribe.
- Duwamish Tribe
Native Works exists to better Seattle's homeless Native American community.
Native Works started out as a way to give some of our Chief Seattle Club members a part-time job as Apprentices, a gateway to full-time employment and from there, housing. Being a trauma informed and indigenous aware vocational rehabilitation program, the success of our Apprentices means the success of Native Works.
100% of the Native Works shop proceeds go directly to providing meals, mental healthcare, drug and alcohol counseling, housing referrals, legal consultation and more to those in need within Seattle’s Native community.
- Native Works
wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House is a longhouse-style facility on the UW Seattle campus. It provides a multi-service learning and gathering space for American Indian and Alaska Native students, faculty and staff, as well as others from various cultures and communities to come together in a welcoming environment to share knowledge.
- wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House, University of Washington
Within the park is the Volunteer Park Conservatory and the Seattle Asian Art Museum which has free days and tickets for purchase. Next to the park is the Lake View cemetery where Kikisoblu, Princess Angeline, lays to rest. Princess Angeline is the daughter of Chief Seattle and was an artist. People are able to pay respects to Princess Angeline and Bruce Lee.
The following statement is offered as a way for our community to recognize this land and our history; to honor the people past and present who belong to this place; to create common and consistent language for our events and ceremonies; and to have language that was crafted with care and wisdom.
"As we begin our gathering, I/we respectfully acknowledge that our event today is taking place on the homelands of the Coast Salish peoples, who continue to steward these lands and waters as they have since time immemorial. We recognize tribal nations and organizations who actively create, shape, and contribute to our thriving community at Seattle University and beyond.
“We, as an academic community, should be and are committed to doing our part to engage with and amplify the voices of Native peoples and tribes. We acknowledge our collective responsibility to advance proper education of Native peoples and tribes and call for further learning and action to support the Native people of this land."
Source: Native American Law Student Association
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
In addition to the resources above the Lemieux Library and the IPI co-created a library guide that has additional resources to access. Some resources are only available to SU students.
Email address
Office number
206-296-2235
Mailing address
Seattle University
Indigenous Peoples Institute
901 12th Avenue
P.O. Box 222000
Seattle, WA 98122-1090