A State that Leaves No One Behind? Erasure of Native Peoples in Maryland & How This Limits Inclusive Environmental & Climate Action

Abstract

“A State That Leaves No One Behind,” was a bold statement from current Governor Wes Moore when he was campaigning for the governor position. However, his statement did not hold true considering Maryland Tribal communities that are still being left behind. Why? It could be because of their Tribal status. The state of Maryland has no federally recognized Tribes. Out of six Tribes that are ancestral to this region, only three are state-recognized.

I had to ask, who are the Tribal Peoples of Maryland? As a graduate student originally from Arizona, I did not know that Tribes that are ancestral to the Chesapeake Bay region were still here and other Tribes have migrated to this region that call it home. I later learned that the main reason why erasure started in the first place. I and others assumed that Tribal Peoples continue to thrive in the Chesapeake Bay region is because of historical documentations from the colonial governments that were purposely biased and did not document the whole truth of the presence of numerous Tribal Nations still residing in colonial state borders of what is now called Maryland. It didn’t help that the academia supported their documentations because they have the highest credentials and were historical figures that made progression of this country, the United States.

You might think that Indigenous erasure is a thing of the past and it not currently happening. Wrong. It’s still weaving through our societies and systems. For instance, if you Google “Native American” or “Indigenous Peoples” or “Tribal Peoples” in the search engine you will notice that there is a lot of historical information and pictures available but little to no pictures of current Tribal Peoples. Another example are the history books used by our education systems that are told from a Eurocentric perspective and the terminologies they use for Tribal Peoples is past-tense. No present or future tense terminologies or information are included, except in occasional institutional “Land Acknowledgement” statements.

In this thesis, I focus on the work of environmental organizations and those focused on environmental and climate action. In a region where environmental and climate action claims to prioritize inclusion and consider diverse voices, I’ve noticed that groups in Maryland do not involve or engage with Tribal Peoples in the state.