Seattle owes an enormous debt to the Duwamish tribe.

The city bears the name of its most famous chief, and members of the UW’s crew team still row on the waters where the tribe’s ancestors fished.

The federal government, however, does not recognize the Duwamish as a legitimate tribe.

UW junior Jonathan Houston would like to change that.

Houston, a Community, Environment and Planning major (CEP), works as an intern with the Duwamish Federal Recognition Committee.

To the rallying cry of “Real dawgs respect culture” Houston is looking to start a registered student organization called “Duwamish Awareness Week Group Supporters” or D.A.W.G.S. The group would work in conjunction with Duwamish Awareness Week to spread understanding of the tribe.

“I believe that the University of Washington could be very influential in speeding up the recognition process,” he said.

Through “Duwamish Awareness Week,” UW students can help the Duwamish gain recognition as the tribe that first settled the Puget Sound region.

The tribe of Seattle’s namesake, Chief Sealth or Si’ahl, has been fighting for recognition by the federal government since 1978.

“How is Seattle named after great Chief [Sealth] when his tribe is not recognized?” Houston said.

The tribe was never allocated land for a reservation and members were not allowed to live within the city limits when the city was first established, said Cynthia Updegrave, an instructor with the CEP major.

“Did we stop people at the shore? No, we opened our arms,” said Cecile Hansen, a chairperson of the Duwamish tribe, which has more than 500 members according to the tribe’s Web site.

Hansen has been fighting for tribal recognition since 1975.

“No tribe in the United States should have to prove who they are,” she said. “They’re indigenous. That’s the key word.”

Houston’s goal is to educate the campus about the Duwamish tribe and provide support to the tribe such as advertising, research and funding.

“Basically, the support of D.A.W.G.S. is heard from our bark and felt from our bite — our voice and our action,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Eleventh hour federal recognition by President Clinton was reversed in 2001 when President Bush came into office. Hansen was told of the “negative determination” in an e-mail.

“I came unglued; that really hurt. … That was a really bad time,” she said. “What were they doing internally? There has to be an investigation.”

House Resolution 949, a bill asking for Duwamish tribal recognition, has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. Houston wants students to rally and petition the community to support the tribe and push the bill through.

“I feel that the University as a whole is uninformed of the situation,” he said.

Federal recognition would bring vast economic changes for the Duwamish people, said Rev. Paul Benz, Houston’s internship supervisor.

“The effect on the taxpayer [would be] nothing more than any other government program,” he wrote.

The tribe is building a longhouse across from the site of one of their ancestral villages on the banks of the Duwamish River. The building is the first since 1894, when its longhouses were burned down by white settlers.

The longhouse will serve as a meeting place for the tribe and an educational center for the community.

Hansen wants the city of Seattle to know its first people.

“Most people say I didn’t know they (the tribe) still existed,” she said. “We want schools to come visit.”

One overwhelming concern she had was for the safety of those who visit the longhouse.

“We need signal lights,” she said. “Nobody slows down [in front of the site].”

Hansen is optimistic, though anxious, about recognition.

“I pray for patience,” she said.

[Reach reporter Erinn Unger at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]