All Words Are Monuments

“The Other 250: America from Below,” a roundtable on the contested terrain of the United States’ 250th birthday—and the counter-histories that can help us confront the authoritarian politics of the present. Featuring Cherokee journalist and podcaster Rebecca Nagle, activist educator Jesse Hagopian, geographer Derek Alderman, and NHM’s Beka Economopoulos, this conversation asks vision of freedom is being celebrated in 2026, what histories cannot be accommodated by the official narrative, and what forms of public education, storytelling, and cultural work are needed to bring those histories into view.

SPEAKERS

* Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee), award-winning journalist and citizen of Cherokee Nation

* Jesse Hagopian, classroom teacher, curriculum builder, cultural thought leader, mentor, and organizer

* Derek H. Alderman, Chancellor’s Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

* Beka Economopoulos, Director of The Natural History Museum

This is a Words Are Monuments event produced by The Natural History Museum. Made possible with support from the Mellon Foundation and 4culture.

“We were trying to aim at those folks who were interested in questions of ecology and conservation but didn’t know how to deal with these questions about racism and settler colonialism, how to think about what that might mean in terms of place names and parks.”

Cultural geographer and ethnic studies professor Natchee Blu Barnd discusses “Words Are Monuments,” a quantitative analysis of 2,000 National Park place-names categorized according to various forms of settler-colonial violence.

More info: http://WordsAreMonuments.org

“The place names you see on a visitor map aren’t just meaningless. They hold power and they tell a story. What stories are they telling? Are they stories that represent justice or do they represent oppression?”

Ecologist Bonnie McGill, PhD, discusses “Words Are Monuments,” a quantitative analysis of 2,000 National Park place-names categorized according to various forms of settler-colonial violence.

More info: http://WordsAreMonuments.org

“We talk about colonial powers coming in and renaming the world around us. It’s like cutting a ribbon. It’s an attempt to destroy your relationship with that place, that power that’s there. It’s part of that genocidal policy, to destroy who we are within. Because who we are inside reflects how we relate to earth outside. And if you have a belief system where the earth deserves to be respected, it structures the way you think and you feel.”

Lummi Nation elder, organizers, and Master Carver Jewell James discusses how place-names and language serve to structure a way of relating to the world around us.

More info: http://WordsAreMonuments.org