The Metro: A new plaque will honor the past and present of the Three Fires Confederacy
Coinciding with the 2026 public opening of Greenfield Village and the commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary, The Henry Ford invites the public to a ceremonial unveiling of a Land Acknowledgement plaque, honoring the enduring presence, history and stewardship of Indigenous peoples on Saturday, April 11 at 9 a.m.
Travis Schuyler (left), Program Manager for North American Indian Association of Detroit and Heather Bruegl (right), Curator of Political and Civic Engagement at The Henry Ford.
The Anishinaabe alliance makes up the the Three Fires Confederacy. It includes Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi. This land was and remains spiritual.
It was a place to gather and hunt. A place to convene with nature and flow with the river, no matter where it led.
A new land acknowledgement plaque is being unveiled this weekend at Greenfield Village. It’s a step toward visibility, toward truth-telling, and toward honoring a history that too often goes untold.
But moments like this are about more than a plaque, they’re about the ongoing work of making Indigenous voices seen and heard.
Heather Bruegl is the curator of political and civic engagement at The Henry Ford. Travis Schuyler is director of programming for the North American Indian Association of Detroit. They joined The Metro to talk about the unveiling and the new plaque.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
