September 11 Healing Poles

Carved by the Lummi Nation of Washington State in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, these healing poles stand along the Ward Six 9-11 memorial path and also represent people from twelve American Indian tribes interred here, most of whom died in Washington D.C. while negotiating treaties or conducting business with the U.S. government. Originally located at the Pentagon in 2004, Liberty and Freedom are part of three memorial totems, with Healing outside New York City and Honoring in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. More than 80 people from the Lummi and other nations helped harvest, prepare, carve, and paint the poles, which are meant to connect past and present and to heal grief. Their basic structure represents a house, signifying that all Americans live under one roof, and their red, yellow, black, and white colors represent the diversity of the United States. The Liberty Pole depicts a female bear with a grandmother moon in her abdomen, and the Freedom Pole depicts a male bear with grandfather sun. The thirty-four-foot Sovereignty Crossbar joining them has eagles carved on each end, with two sets of seven feathers representing American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11; the female eagle symbolizes peace and the male symbolizes war. The poles honor those who lost their lives on 9/11, their families, and men and women in uniform who gave their lives for freedom and liberty, including policemen, firemen, and soldiers. During the carving, Lummi carvers felt a spiritual call to add the turtle to the healing pole without understanding why. On a four thousand five hundred mile journey across the continent, the poles stopped in nearly forty American Indian nations, where tribes prayed over and blessed them. When they were delivered into the care of the Piscataway Tribe of Maryland, the deeper connection became clear: the turtle is also the Piscataway clan symbol, and the Anacostia river bank, where the healing poles now stand, was their homeland.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States