The importance of a capital letter

Essay written by TNSM Communications Director, Ann Baumgardner

I’m one of those people who listens to the podcast Grammar Girl for fun and isn’t mad if I receive a grammar book for Christmas or birthday. I find language fascinating and like to know my “lie from my lay” and always try to have my verbs in perfect agreement. However, I am still learning and feel mortification and shame each time I make a mistake. 

As TNSM’s director of communication, I write an article for North Avondale’s local newspaper each month about our school. One day I informed my family they needed to start packing; we were going to have to move to another state. I had misspelled Hanukkah in my article. We must make a new start! My daughter, Emily, googled it and found there are 24 possible spellings for Hanukkah. (Mine wasn’t among the 24, but I decided we could stay anyway.)

So imagine my horror when I was posting Hope Miller’s D+CE essay and noticed her constant use of a capital letter on the word Indigenous. I ran to google for advice and had another painful epiphany. Of course Indigenous should always be capitalized. My whole being flushed in embarrassment over my ignorance.

Here is what Google had to say: 

Always capitalize Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Nation, Inuit, Métis as a sign of respect the same way that English, French and Spanish etc are capitalized. Avoid using possessive phrases like “Canada’s Indigenous Peoples” or “our Indigenous Peoples” as that has connotations of ownership.

It seems so obvious once you know it. Nevertheless, I decided I must forgive myself for my ignorance and add this good information to my file of lessons learned. Respect comes in many forms, whether it be a capital letter for a nation of people, a properly spelled religious holiday or a pronoun that more closely matches how people see themselves. We apologize for our ignorance and then move forward with new understanding and respect.

Does your family observe a tradition or cultural holiday that you’d like to share with the TNSM community? Do you have a passion for or expertise in a certain area of DEI? The D&CE committee is always looking for books, resources, and classroom speakers to help deepen the cultural competency of our school community.  Contact us as diversity@

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