Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

Indigenous Faculty Staff Alliance Land Acknowledgement

(January 15, 2020)

As the first land-grant institution established under the 1862 Morrill Act, we acknowledge that the state of Kansas is historically home to many Native nations, including the Kaw, Osage, and Pawnee, among others. Furthermore, Kansas is the current home to four federally recognized Native nations: The Prairie Band Potawatomie, the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska.

Many Native nations utilized the western plains of Kansas as their hunting grounds, and others – such as the Delaware – were moved through this region during Indian removal efforts to make way for White settlers. It’s important to acknowledge this, since the land that serves as the foundation for this institution was, and still is, stolen land.

We remember these truths because K-State’s status as a land-grant institution is a story that exists within ongoing settler-colonialism, and rests on the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and nations from their lands. These truths are often invisible to many. The recognition that K-State’s history begins and continues through Indigenous contexts is essential.

→ K-State IFSA Land Acknowledgement (PDF)

 

K-State Land Acknowledgement from CaleMitchell Photography on Vimeo.

 

Resources:

Native Lands Digital Map - This map does not represent or intend to represent official or legal boundaries of any Indigenous nations. To learn about definitive boundaries, contact the nations in question.