, /PRNewswire/ —
Media Advisory
What:
On October 17, 2024, Gallaudet University, the leading institution in the world for deaf and hard of hearing students, will host two historic events on its Washington, D.C. campus. Free and open to the public, both events will center Native Deaf experiences, reclaim Indigenous heritages, and acknowledge and heal past trauma.
Building 103 Healing and Renaming Ceremony, led by Turtle Island Hand Talk with a traditional Indigenous healing ceremony, will rename Building 103 to òkànkwèpihëna tëtpi/Circle of Signers. The name is in Lenape, the language that was spoken by the Nacotchtank and Piscataway Peoples, the First Residents of the land that would become the District of Columbia. Building 103 was originally named after Senator Henry L. Dawes, who served on Gallaudet’sBoard of Directors for 34 years and initiated The Dawes Act of 1887, which gave the government the authority to regulate land rights …