The 1854 Oration

＂It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many＂.
A powerful lament for an imperilled way of life, the 1854 speech traditionally attributed to Chief Seattle of the Duwamish Tribe is a vital document in the history of the Indigenous peoples of North America. Chief Seattle’s oration was delivered in the face of the impending loss of his people’s land to the State of Washington, and it remains a profound meditation on the nature of time, colonialism, and religion.

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Chief Seattle (1786-1866) was a leading member of the Duwamish Tribe in the territory that is now the State of Washington.