An oasis halfway down the Grand Canyon formerly known as “Indian Garden” is now called “Havasupai Gardens” in honor of its original inhabitants. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports, the Havasupai Nation celebrated the change on Thursday in a ceremony at the canyon’s rim that opened with a blessing.
In 1928 the federal government forcibly removed the last Havasupai farmer from the oasis, where tribal members had grown crops for generations.
Descendants of that farmer spoke at the ceremony, among them, Carletta Tilousi, who said the renaming is a step toward healing from injustice. "I hope the average citizen across the country educates and learns that Native Americans still reside in and around the Grand Canyon, and that we are still here, present, and not in the past."
Edmund Tilousi, vice chairman of the Havasupai Tribe, spoke of the need for further collaboration with the National Park Service. "This place is really important," he said. "It’s really culturally important, it’s geologically important for us to save this place. There’s no other place like this on Earth."
And other members of the family expressed the hope that they might be able to return to Havasupai Gardens and farm it again one day.
