tansi ninôtemik,
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump vowed to rename North America’s tallest peak, Denali, to Mount McKinley.[1] Located in Alaska, entirely within Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, this peak was referred to as “Mount McKinley” by an explorer in the late 1800s; the name “Mount McKinley” was later formally recognized by the U.S. government.[2] However, then-President William McKinley never visited nor had any significant historical connection to the peak or to Alaska.
This peak was renamed Denali in 2015 by then-President Barack Obama to reflect the traditions of Indigenous peoples in Alaska and to acknowledge the preference and deep cultural significance to many Alaskan residents.[3] The term Denali is an Athabascan word meaning “the high one” or “the great one.”[4] This renaming was one among many by the U.S. federal government in an attempt to rename places that were considered disrespectful to Indigenous peoples.[5] Part of Obama’s 2008 campaign promises was to improve relationships between the federal government and Indigenous nations in the U.S.
However, Trump plans to eradicate and reverse any progress made by the Obama Administration to improve relationships between the federal government and Indigenous nations in the U.S., embodying reverse reconciliation. During his January 20 speech, Trump stated that he plans to "restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs…President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent."[6] During a rally in December 2024, Trump went even further to say that “[t]hey took his name off Mount McKinley, right? That’s what they do to people.”[7] This is not the first time Trump has tried to change the name of Denali. He floated the idea around back in 2017, during his first term of presidency, but received strong pushback from political leaders.[8]
Jay Johnson, a University of Kansas associate professor of geography, whose research focuses on Indigenous peoples’ cultural survival discussed that “for traditional societies, place names were typically associated with histories and stories and mnemonic devices to aid those societies to find knowledge about anything, such as our environment or who we are as a society.”[9] The changing of names has been seen in Canada and the United States over the past few years and gave the hopeful feeling of reconnection for Indigenous people to their land, and reconciliation with the government.[10] However, with the political climates changing in both Canada and the United States it begins to feel less hopeful and that reconciliation is moving in the wrong direction.
It will be interesting to see whether Trump will be successful in his bid to rename Denali, and whether there will be strong pushback from political leaders as there was in the past. What do you think about this potential name change? How do you see the political climate moving and its effects on Indigenous people and their connection to land in Turtle Island?
ekosi.
The ReconciliACTION Team
Citations
[1] The Associated Press, “Trump vows to change the name of North America's tallest peak from Denali to Mount McKinley”, CBC News (20 January 2025), online: <cbc.ca> [perma.cc/Q2Z3-8DWH].
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Katia Hetter, “Beyond Denali: Restoring Native American names”, CNN (30 June 2016), online: <cnn.com> [perma.cc/3SK3-JT5W].
[10] See e.g. Jackie McKay, “Geographical place names in B.C. honour colonizers, but Indigenous names returning”, CBC News (30 December 2023), online: <cbc.ca> [perma.cc/BT7H-5CUM].
[Image] National Park Service, "Denali or Mount McKinley?", (3 January 2025), <nps.gov> [perma.cc/RAM7-2GB8].
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