This photo of an elderly Chief Seattle is the only known image of the Duwamish chief. Seattle is the subject of a documentary tonight on KCTS.
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The real Chief Seattle remains an elusive figure to B. J. Bullert - even after three years producing a documentary about the American Indian leader’s life.
Chief Seattle, which airs at 8 p.m. today on KCTS, uses the known facts of Seattle’s life to examine a period of rapid change for the native people of Puget Sound. But Bullert, an independent filmmaker and senior fellow at the UW’s Center for Communication and Civic Engagement, says viewers shouldn’t expect to learn the definitive truth about the Duwamish chief.
“That’s the idea,” she said recently. “My hope is that people will have more questions than answers after seeing the film.”
The son of a Duwamish mother and a Suquamish father, Chief Seattle, at about age 6, watched the arrival of Capt. George Vancouver off Restoration Point in 1792. And it was an elderly Seattle who welcomed a boatload of American pioneers who arrived at Alki on Nov. 13, 1851, marking the beginning of white settlement of the area. In fact, Chief Seattle’s signature appears at the top of the list of signatures on the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855 where he signed as a representative of Duwamish and Suquamish people. That treaty ceded the land of the greater Seattle area to the American government.
Historical facts such as these frame the film’s narrative and serve as the foundation for understanding the famous speech attributed to him in 1887 by the American settler, Henry Smith.
“Two historians, two descendants of Seattle, and a literary critic interpret the speech and weigh in on its authenticity and meaning,” Bullert said. “I hope viewers will appreciate the complexity of the debate.”
The Washington Commission for the Humanities is sponsoring a premiere broadcast party and discussion of Chief Seattle the evening of the KCTS broadcast at Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave. in downtown Seattle. The event starts at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
B.J. Bullert
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After a ceremonial welcome by the Duwamish tribe, Chief Seattle will be screened, followed by a panel discussion hosted by Lyall Bush of the Washington Commission for the Humanities. Panelists include Alexandra Harmon, a UW associate professor of American Indian Studies; Cecile Hansen, Chairperson of the Duwamish Tribe; Jonathan Raban, author of Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings; historian David Buerge; and Bullert.