In an effort to be honest about the fact that the Grand Canyon's establishment as a national park depended on the Havasupai people being forcibly relocated, the National Park Service announced that it has renamed a part of the park. The former Indian Gardens will now be known as Havasupai Gardens, as reported by CNN. The park service was responding to a formal request from the Havasupai tribe to change the name.
The Havasupai people lived in the canyon's inner rim area "since time immemorial," said park official Ed Keable in a National Park Service press release. But in 1919, the Grand Canyon was established as a national park, and in 1926 park policies forced the tribe out. Calling the area along the Bright Angel trail 'Indian Garden' is offensive both for not giving an indication of the violent history and for using a "catch-all" name rather than focusing on the actual name of the tribe. The Havasupai people originally called the area Ha'a Gyoh. according to the NPS statement.
Havasupai tribe member Ophelia Watahomigie-Corliss said today's Bright Angel Trail was originally forged by a Native man called Billy Burro by park employees; he was then pushed out of the land his family had farmed for generations. Kind of thought-provoking for the 100,000 annual hikers on this trail to think of this painful history.
A rededication ceremony will take place in early spring 2023, hosted by the Havasupai Tribe and the park service. The disrespectful and offensive name will be removed from signage, the NPS website and other materials.