INDIAN MOUNDS IMMEDIATE ACKNOWLEDGMENT MESSAGING

Saint Paul, Minnesota

2018-2023

Situated on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in the Mounds neighborhood of Saint Paul, the Indian Mounds Regional Park is a Indigenous burial ground converted to park in the 19th century. Building upon our work on the Indian Mounds Cultural Landscape Study and Interpretive Plan, Phase 1 included a recommendation for “Immediate Acknowledgment” messaging to ensure that the key message of Respect + Honor was consistently conveyed across the site as soon as possible. The introduced messaging aims to transform the perception of the Mounds site from that of a park for picnics, barbeques, and play, to that of an Indigenous place of burial to be respected and honored. This family of messaging is integrated into existing site features--the pavilion, benches, sidewalks, trail signs and street lights--as an intentionally light touch on the site, but with an explicit message to behave with dignity and respect on this sacred land.

The Messaging Plan supports a holistic proposal to gradually phase park features and activities out of the site to protect this sacred burial ground. Messaging, themes, and stories were arrived at through an iterative and collaborative process with the Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs), the Project Advisory Team (PAT), the community and the City of St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department. Direct engagement and consultation with the THPO’s—from the Upper Sioux, Lower Sioux, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, Prairie Island, and Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin communities—was essential to this process.

Key pieces of Phase 1 of the Cultural Landscape Study and Messaging Plan have been implemented most recently, including the conversion of three acres of lawn into native prairie and the introduction of new messaging that re-centers the history of this place toward Indigenous-led truth-telling

All of this work was introduced with care and sensitivity to the sacredness of the ground, using practices and design decisions catered to protecting this landscape, and with guidance from Dakota tribal leaders and community members throughout the process.