LUSHOOTSEED RESEARCH
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Mission Statement
The mission of Lushootseed Research is to preserve and sustain the language and culture of this land, to lift up all people.
About This Cause
Our founder, the late Vi taqšəblu Hilbert, an Upper Skagit tribal member, began her extensive formal work with Lushootseed in 1967 and later founded the organization in 1983. She started working with linguist, Thom Hess who introduced her to the written language. Vi taught the language at the University of Washington for nearly two decades and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Seattle University in 1994. She encouraged and assisted many of the local tribes in developing their own language programs. Vi received many awards for her dedication including being named a Washington State Living Treasure, a US National Heritage Fellow and the Ken Hale Prize for lifelong achievement. Most recently Seattle University named a new ten-story building on campus in her honor. In all of our activities LR honors the teachings of our ancestors, the strength of their philosophy, cultural education, discipline and respect for all living things. We are dedicated to sustaining Lushootseed Language and culture through research, recording, publishing and the presentation of oral traditions and literature. We seek to enrich cross-cultural wisdom and relations, as shared and celebrated by the First Peoples of the Puget Sound, in order to ensure this beautiful legacy is available to the coming generations. Since 2010, LR has hosted an annual Lushootseed Language Conference, which brings together tribal communities, language teachers, anthropologists, linguists, scholars, and others who are interested in the language and culture, for a one-day event, to network, practice, learn and share resources. We also worked collaboratively with Deryle Lonsdale, an Upper Skagit descendant and linguist, to create an on-line version of the Lushootseed Dictionary which is available to the general public. Most recently we have been working on a documentary film which illuminates the incredible story of Vi̓s spiritual journey to commission an orchestral symphony, which was performed by the Seattle Symphony in May 2006, to bring healing to the heart of the world, after the tragedy of 9/11. There is still much healing needed in the world today, and it is our hope that the documentary will re-ignite the passion to bring communities together to lift up kindness and compassion for all of humanity. The symphony and documentary are gifts from the Lushootseed people, our ancestors, and our culture.