On October 14, the School of Theology’s Diversity and Reconciliation (D&R) Committee will be hosting three events across campus to commemorate and remember Indigenous People’s Day. The day will include an Indigenous Sunrise Service. an Indigenous Medicine Wheel Labyrinth, and a Trail of Tears Remembrance event. When discussing the aims of the event, D&R co-chair Adam Conley (T ‘25) said, “I wanted to do something that acknowledged the sense of place here as well as the history and the current realities of what it means to be here in a place with such complicated and difficult history.”
On the University’s website, under the Indigenous Engagement Initiative (IEI), is the acknowledgement that “The University of the South is situated on land sacred to numerous Indigenous tribes.” Furthermore, Sewanee is on the Trail of Tears. Students, Alumni and Staff have such emotional connections to Sewanee as a place, but it’s a place with a long history of violence. As Conley put it, “I have a sense that this place is sacred: it’s sacred with spilled blood.” This sentiment is doubly complicated for students in the School of Theology like Conley who are considering “what it means to be on this land where chattel slavery was something that was in the charge and in the hands of bishops in the church who founded this University.”
Sewanee’s Indigenous People’s Day event was founded by Rev. Myra Ryneheart Corcorran (C
‘91, T ‘24) with the goal to honor and celebrate Indigenous people. This often includes collaboration with local Indigenous communities.
The first of D&R’s Indigenous People’s Day events, an Indigenous Sunrise Service, will be led by Rev. Dr. Bude VanDyke (T ‘99 D ‘03) who is a descendent of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. The service will feature readings from the First Nations Version of the New Testament which uses Indigenous language and naming patterns. The service will take place at Angel Park and a shuttle will be available outside McClurg at 6:30 a.m. for the event.
D&R’s second event, a Medicine Wheel Labyrinth, will take place in the Quad at noon. Conley estimated that the labyrinth will be about 60 feet in diameter. Labyrinths, like the one in Abbo’s Alley, are important to the faith and spirituality of many people. For those unfamiliar with labyrinth walking, meditation guides will be available at the event.
Lastly, D&R will be hosting the Trail of Tears Remembrance event at St. Mary’s Ayers Center for Spiritual Development at 6:30 p.m. The event will feature two first-hand historical accounts from the Trail of Tears researched by Dr. Stuart Marshall and flute music by Rebecca Paluzzi. A vigil walk will be held in remembrance of those who died. A shuttle will be available at 6:15 p.m., outside McClurg dining hall, for undergraduate students.