Vogue Knitting acknowledges the breath of those that came before us. What is now known as Santa Fe was occupied between 900 CE and the 1500s by Indigenous Tanoan or Tewa peoples, who lived in numerous Pueblo villages along the Rio Grande. In 900 C.E., a group of native Tanoan built a cluster of homes, in what is now known as downtown Santa Fe, that centered around the site of today’s Plaza. This village was called Oghá P'o'oge (“white shell water place”) in Tewa. The Tanoans and other Pueblo peoples spread for half a mile to the south and west and settled along the Santa Fe River. 

Don Juan de Oñate led the first Spanish effort to colonize the region in 1598, establishing Santa Fe as a province of New Spain. Juan de Oñate was banished and exiled from New Mexico by the Spanish after his rule was deemed cruel toward the Indigenous population. Colonists came from Spain, Mexico, France, Greece, and Portugal. The Indigenous communities were forcibly removed from their lands through genocide, ethnic cleansing, and slavery by these settlers and governments. 

We are pausing to reflect, honor, and acknowledge that those in New Mexico are on the stolen homelands of the Diné, Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zuni and Zia, and the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the Mescalero Apache Tribe. Indigenous Peoples are still in New Mexico, persisting despite ongoing colonialism and oppression. 

This acknowledgment does not take the place of authentic relationships with Indigenous communities; it serves as a first step in honoring the land and the people. We have given to the Santa Fe Indigenous Center; consider giving to one of the below. 

Stand in Solidarity with Native Nations 
Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board
Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women
Healthy Native Communities Partnership
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
Native American Community Academy
Native American Relief Fund
Native American Rights Fund
NB3 Foundation COVID-19 Response Fund
Navajo Ethno-Agriculture
Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund
Pueblo Relief Fund
Pueblo Action Alliance
Santa Fe Indigenous Center
The Red Nation
Tewa Women United
Three Sisters Kitchen
Zuni Youth Enrichment Project