Ground Blessing Marks Launch of Jim Thorpe Center at Dickinson College

A new chapter in the history of Native American education began on March 16, 2024, with the ground blessing ceremony for the **Jim Thorpe Center for the Futures of Native Peoples** at **Dickinson College** in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This center aims to honor the legacy of **Jim Thorpe**, one of the most celebrated athletes in history and a former student of the **Carlisle Indian Industrial School**.

The event attracted a gathering of Native American leaders, Dickinson College officials, and local residents, all eager to witness the beginning of a facility that will serve as a vital resource for cultural revitalization and intergenerational knowledge-sharing. Architect **Johnpaul Jones**, who has Native American heritage and is the lead design consultant for the National Museum of the American Indian, emphasized the importance of honoring the land before construction begins. “We should not just come build on this site here at Dickinson. We should speak to it first and explain our intentions,” he stated during the ceremony.

The center is envisioned as a place where the historical trauma associated with the Carlisle name can be transformed into a hub for celebration and healing. For many years, Carlisle has been synonymous with the federal government’s efforts to assimilate Native American children through boarding schools. This legacy has left deep scars in the community, as **Amanda Cheromiah**, the executive director of Dickinson’s existing Center for the Futures of Native Peoples, noted. She remarked, “The boarding school system completely changed our communities forever.”

The new center will host symposiums, art exhibits, ceremonial gatherings, and ongoing research aimed at celebrating the cultures that were once targeted for erasure. During the ceremony, four descendants of Jim Thorpe, including his granddaughter **Mary Thorpe**, expressed their gratitude and pride. “There’s a lot of emotion that you go through coming up here,” said Mary Thorpe, reflecting on the complex history associated with the site. “You’re a survivor of children that were meant to be broken. You come back here and you’re trying to heal some of that generational trauma.”

The ground blessing was led by **Perry Martinez**, a tribal council member of the **San Ildefonso Pueblo** in New Mexico. He highlighted the significance of acknowledging the Earth as a living entity, a belief held in many Native American traditions. “This will be a welcoming, healthy, and good-spirited place,” Jones added, reinforcing the center’s intended role as a supportive environment for Native American communities.

As the ceremony concluded, the sentiment was clear: the new Jim Thorpe Center represents not only a reclamation of identity but also a commitment to the future. “It just shows that Pratt didn’t succeed in killing the Indian,” remarked a participant, capturing the resilience of Native American communities. “We’re still here.”

This initiative aims to redefine the narrative surrounding Carlisle, transforming it from a site of pain into a beacon of hope for future generations. The **Jim Thorpe Center** is set to play a crucial role in fostering understanding, appreciation, and celebration of Native American cultures, ensuring that the legacy of resilience continues to thrive.