The DePaulia
What was once vast miles of largely untouched marshland surrounding a river lined with cattails has since become a booming metropolis home to nearly 3 million people. Back then, the land was occupied by the indigenous tribes around the Great Lakes who maintained deep connections with this land where they lived, worked and worshiped.
Today, the city of Chicago sits on the ancestral lands of more than ten native tribes and is home to one of the largest urban native communities in the United States, with more than 65,000 Natives from over 175 different tribes recorded in 2018.
Over 200 years after white settlers first occupied this area and forced Native Americans to relocate, DePaul is now taking steps to acknowledge the complex history, present-day and future of the land it calls home.