Akron marks North American First People's Day in a contentious era

Akron is marking North American First People’s Day on Monday.

It's the annual celebration meant to honor the Indigenous people who inhabited the country including in the Akron area, according to Dave Lieberth, president of the Akron History Center.

“We've been doing that for nine years now,” Lieberth said. “It’s been truly rewarding for those of us who've been involved with the collaborative this past decade.”

A focal point of First People’s Day is the Portage Path, an eight-mile trail linking the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers. The path, Lieberth said, was used for thousands of years to travel between Lake Erie and the Ohio River.

“They came through the Cuyahoga River, stopping at the big bend in what we now call the Merriman Valley,” Lieberth said, “then portaged their canoes and the