STERNA

As the US celebrates 250 years of independence, it’s important not to forget the communities living there for thousands of years prior.

This 4th of July, huge celebrations are unfolding across the country for the Semiquincentennial. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 following the American Revolution, which marked the birth of a nation separate from Great Britain. 

It holds immense significance for the millions of European immigrants who had settled in the preceding centuries, looking to build something entirely of their own.

The only problem is the land was already home to someone else. When we celebrate 250 years of independence, it comes with the uncomfortable reality that this milestone also commemorates a centuries-long history of colonisation.

The complexity of a milestone 

This moment in history accelerated the disruption of Indigenous communities that had thrived on the continent for millennia. For many Native Americans, the anniversary brings a complicated layer of nuanced emotions. 

Justin Velasquez, director of the Tunica-Biloxi Chicago Branch Office, captures this duality: “I think 250 is very complicated for Native Americans because that’s 250 years of admitting we’ve been conquered. But at the same time I was born in America and I only know America and I love this country, so it is a very complicated feeling.”

This sentiment is echoed by Ernie Zah, announcer of The Standing Horse Route 66 Pow Wow in Winslow: “There’s that checkerboard past of reservations, boarding schools, some of the atrocities that we still have to deal with today. It’s what we call historical trauma – going back to being at war with the United States, being placed on reservations, having our kids taken from our homes and forced to learn the American culture.”

This trauma isn’t just confined to the past; it is reinforced by a modern data gap and ongoing inequality. While the US celebrates the document that established its own sovereignty, historians point out that the federal government subsequently went on to sign – and later violate or rewrite – more than 300 treaties with sovereign Indigenous nations.

Today, this systemic fracturing of trust manifests in stark realities, from underfunded healthcare infrastructure on tribal lands to the disproportionate omission of Indigenous communities from federal census and economic data. For many Native Americans, the 250th anniversary highlights a painful contrast of a grand celebration of American liberty existing alongside a persistent gap in basic equity.

Honouring the past

For many Native Americans, the anniversary is a chance to educate the wider public about the deep history right beneath their feet. Take Chicago, a city situated on the ancestral land of several Indigenous tribes. Many of the city’s modern thoroughfares are actually ancient Indigenous roads.

Archer Avenue, for example, follows the historic Chicago-to-Peoria Trail, a route used by Native Americans for trade and travel between the Illinois River and Lake Michigan. In the city’s northern suburbs, Ridge Avenue follows a dry glacial ridgeline engineered by Indigenous peoples long before European arrival. 

Shelly Tucciarelli, vice president of the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative, emphasises the importance of honouring the tribes that shaped the present-day environment. Chicago’s terrain was carved by four distinct periods of glacial melting dating back 14,500 years.

When Native peoples inhabited the area around 11,000 years ago, they learned how to survive within the environment, passing down ecological knowledge through generations. In the 1600s and 1700s, European settlers depended entirely on this Indigenous knowledge for their survival, later adapting those ancient trails for commercial and military routes. 

This is just one example of how America’s story is a vast timeline that stretches far beyond the last 250 years. True independence shouldn’t require historical amnesia. As the fireworks fade this 4th of July, perhaps the most meaningful way to honour the continent’s history is to also acknowledge the ancient trails people still walk on every day, as well as the original people who carved them.