The Land We Inhabit in Athens, Ohio
First, please note that OHIO is an Iroquois word for great river.
The Athens County Foundations acknowledges that we gather, work, and live on the ancestral lands and/or historical territories of Native American peoples.
In Athens, we want to particularly acknowledge the Adena, Hopewell, Osage, and Shawnee who were once living in what is now Athens County.
We reflect on their great contributions and on the forced and violent removal of Native Americans from their lands and the colonial history of oppression that continues to this day in the United States of America, including various oppressive maneuvers that allowed European colonizers to wage war to forcefully seize land, desecrate it, convert it to their own uses, and force indigenous peoples to move outside the state.
We also assert that while there are currently no reservations and no federally recognized tribes in Ohio, significant numbers of people of Native American heritage continue to live in our state. We must honor the legacy of indigenous groups in Ohio’s history, including:
ADENA
HOPEWELL
FORT ANCIENT
SANDUSKY
SENECA-CAYUGA
LENAPE
PLANKASHAW
SAUK
POTAWATOMI
OSAGE
ERIE
CHIPEWA
OTTAWA
DELAWARE
IROQUOIS
MIAMI
MINGOS
SHAWNEES
OJIBWA
EEL RIVER
KASKASKIA
MUNSEE
WEA
WYANDOTS
This Land Acknowledgment Statement is adapted from the Athens Community Relations Commissions.
The Athens Community Relations Commission requests that you consider adding a land acknowledgment to your community organization practices to make visible the richness and vibrancy of indigenous peoples as well as the oppressive history that led to their removal and the theft of their lands. According to the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, “Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.”
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