On Tuesday, Old Fort Niagara announced it will open a new Native American Education Center in 2026. The center will be designed to replicate Native housing at the fort during the Revolution.
Chief Brennen Ferguson of the Tuscarora Nation says this land was a place of refuge for Native people and an important part of their local history.
“We know that this was a site of a huge amount of Haudenosaunee diplomacy during the early colonial period. Our leaders met here regularly, and our people during times of warfare, did seek refuge here. This was a place of survival for our people," said Ferguson.
"And so this is just a little bit about the richness of our history here in the region, and how little bit people know, not only the kids, but adults, know very little bit about this history. And it's an incredible history."
The new center, like the rest of Fort Niagara, will embrace a living history approach to education. Old Fort Niagara has already raised $200,000 to support the build, and is hoping to raise another $50,000.
Ferguson says this initiative will help fill a deficit of Native American education.
“We all know that our education system does a really, a really, a real disservice to not only native history, but history in general. And so it's up to institutions like Fort, old, Fort Niagara and others to make up for that deficit. And you know, I think here at the fort, they do a really great job of trying to make up for that deficit," Ferguson said.
