Learning about Land and Community

The Museum of Us recognizes that it sits on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Kumeyaay Nation. The Museum extends its respect and gratitude to the Kumeyaay peoples who have lived here for millennia. They continue to care for and maintain connection to this ancestral homeland.

In October 2022, our Museum of Us staff and Board of Trustees joined community consultants on a training retreat focused on cultural competency. Hosted by members of the local Kumeyaay community, our team visited three locations throughout San Diego to learn more about the region’s landscapes, and the close connections of the Kumeyaay peoples to this land. The Museum of Us recognizes and honors the generosity, resilience, and courage of the Kumeyaay People. We are humbled by their ongoing partnership and contribution to making the Museum of Us a place to learn and share knowledge.

The Kumeyaay Nation’s territories span the San Diego/Imperial County and Baja California region. These lands include a variety of ecosystems, from the ocean to the mountains and desert. As a group, the team visited Kumeyaay Lake for an introduction to the native plants and their many uses. The group then visited the Kendall Frost Marsh Reserve in Mission Bay, and learned about the marsh and wetlands as a complex ecosystem and valuable natural resource.

At the Iipay-Tipai Kumeyaay Mut Niihepok Park in San Diego’s modern-day Old Town Historic State Park, our team enjoyed the scenic public space, just recently opened in October 2021. The park features trilingual displays in Kumeyaay, Spanish, and English, about the local animal and plant life, and Kumeyaay lands and place names. The Kumeyaay Constellations Mosaic in the park is a mosaic depiction of constellations in the summer sky, an important aspect of Kumeyaay culture.

Thank you to Brandon Linton, Rebekah Loveless, Michael Connolly Miskwish, and Stan Rodriguez for sharing your time and knowledge with Museum staff and Trustees.