The dxʷdəwʔabš "Duwamish" are the tribe of people Indigenous to the Seattle/Tacoma area. The Duwamish have a rich cultural and historical influence to our region, including Chief Sealth being the namesake of our city. In the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, the Duwamish tribe ceded land in return for rights to reservation, social services, and sovereignty. While the land was taken, the Duwamish still wait, a hundred and fifty years later, for the recognition they were promised. 

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 "Duwamish" is an Anglo-Europeanized word meaning "people of the inside" describing the way the Duwamish lived on the interior of the Duwamish, Black, and Cedar rivers. While there were many different groups of people including the saltwater people, the lake people, the river people, and the inside people, these groups banded together with the arrival of the European settlers under the united title of Duwamish. 

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Duwamish culture revolved around a close-knit family structure and the environment they inhabited. In the winter months, families lived in one-room cedar planked houses which cultivated family bonding and security. In the summer the families would leave these winter villages to hunt, fish, trade, living in smaller tent-like dwellings constructed of mats. Most of their food derived from the water they lived next to, ranging from fish, shellfish, and ducks, to roots, nuts, and berries. The Duwamish hunted and traveled via canoes, which they considered to be a home itself on the water. This lifestyle cultivated health and prosperity that often allowed people to life into their hundreds. 

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The Duwamish continue in their fight today for federal recognition and environmental justice. They are currently operating multiple environmental restoration projects including developing a soft-surface trail system from the West Seattle Bridge to WestCrest Park. You can support the Duwamish and their efforts by sending a letter of support to your representatives from www.Duwamish.org, donating, or committing to Real Rent Duwamish, an organization that collects monthly donations as reparations for the unjust occupation of Duwamish land.