SPOKANE, Wash. – Middle school history lessons usually happen in a classroom, but this one is so important that it happened in the gym for every student to hear.
“You are the students of Sacajawea Middle School, you have to be brilliant, you have to know her history,” said Rose Ann Abrahamson to a gym full of middle schoolers. “You are representing one of the most famous women in the world.”
Abrahamson is a direct familial descendant of Sacajawea herself, and visited Sacajawea Middle School on Spokane’s South Hill Tuesday morning to give students the context and a glimpse of the cultural significance of their school’s namesake.
“Understanding who Sacajawea is, understanding her culture and also knowing that she has a legacy–but that legacy is a part of them,” Abrahamson said. “How she got her name, the traditional aspects of it and why we’re so insistent that that name is said properly, appropriately and respectfully.”
That name–Sacajawea–is Shoshoni for “that is her burden,” Abrahamson says, and was given to Sacajawea by her grandmother.
“And–in respect to her–I hate to say this, but you will battle anyone that calls her otherwise, right?” Abrahamson asked the group, to which she received a resounding “yes!”
“Having them come here today made it more of a big deal, which I think really should resonate with people that we should learn and talk about,” said eighth grader–and student body president–Ava Andrews.
“Learning more about her–where she came from, how she got her name, all of this different stuff–just makes her so much more real to me and other students at Sac,” eighth grader Bailey Swinyard said.
“I think it’s important that they hear it from the people, they hear their perspectives,” Abrahamson said. “We are raised in the valley–in the homeland–with the history, and we are her family.”
A family that’s committed to making sure their ancestor’s name lives on for generations.
“We are a human tribe, we are here together, we are all part of the sacred colors,” Abrahamson said. “I want them to understand that I want to hear your story, and I want to hear your story and let’s make it right.”
