Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished.
Chief Seattle
Every Part of this Soil
“Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as they swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors.”
Chief Seattle (c. 1786 – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish Tribe (Suquamish) and Dkhw'Duw'Absh (Duwamish) chief. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, was named after him. A widely publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility and respect of Native Americans' land rights had been attributed to him. However, what he actually said has been lost through translation and rewriting. The name Seattle is an anglicization of the modern Duwamish conventional spelling Si'ahl.
1854 Oration
Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 131 [Chief Seattle, 1854 Oration].
Chief Seattle
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Chief Seattle [Sealth (Ts’ial-la-kum)]
Chief Seattle (also Sealth, Ts’ial-la-kum) (c. 1786 – June 7, 1866) was a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes in what is now the U.S. state of Washington.
Additional Chief Seattle Quotes
“This we know. The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth. All things are connected, like the blood that unites one family. Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the children of the Earth. We do not weave the web of life; we are only a strand of it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”
— Chief Seattle [Sealth (Ts’ial-la-kum)].
Verification Issues
“Chief Seattle gave a speech in January 1854 that was reported by Dr. Henry A. Smith in the Seattle Sunday Star in 1887. It is most usually called Seattle’s Reply since it was a response to a speech by Territorial Governor Isaac I. Stevens. While there is no question that Chief Seattle gave a speech on this occasion, the accuracy of Smith’s account is doubtful.”
The speech or “letter” attributed to Chief Seattle has been widely cited as a “powerful, bittersweet plea for respect of Native American rights and environmental values”. But this document, which has achieved widespread fame thanks to its promotion in the environmental movement, is of doubtful authenticity.
Chief Seattle (c. 1786 – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish and Duwamish chief. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with “Doc” Maynard. The city of Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, was named after him. A widely publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility and respect of Native Americans’ land rights had been attributed to him; however what he actually said has been lost through translation and rewriting.
–Chief Seattle [Wikipedia; Wikiquotes; Snopes.com]