ARLIS/NA 2024 Land Acknowledgment

ARLIS/NA acknowledges the extensive history of colonization, displacement, enslavement, and exploitation in the United States, and the traumatic impact these forces continue to have on society today. Pittsburgh occupies the unceded ancestral lands of a number of Indigenous nations. The story of this region includes the presence of the Adena, Hopewell and Monongahela people in prehistoric times. Later the Onondowaga (more commonly known as the Senecas) established themselves here. They were a member nation of the great Haudenosaunee Five Nations confederacy, whose territory also included much of New York state. Some Senecas are also known as Mingos. The Seneca were later joined by the displaced Lenape and Shawnee here in western Pennsylvania. We honor these native stewards of the land, community and future generations and remain committed to learning and sharing the history of the region. We are grateful for the guidance of the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center in developing this acknowledgement. As an organization and individuals, we aim to support indigenous communities through our service and our resources.

Resources about Indigenous Communities

• Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center (COTRAIC)
  "We promote the socio-economic development of the Native American community and others who experience the same type of economic difficulties in the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area."

• Cultural Survival
  "Our work is predicated on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) where we work to empower Indigenous Peoples as they strive to assert their rights to self-determination and sustain their lands, cultures, and vital ecosystems that are essential to the health of our planet and all living things."

• Ganondagan
  "Ganondagan State Historic Site located in Victor, NY is a National Historic Landmark, the only New York State Historic Site dedicated to a Native American theme (1987), and the only Seneca town developed and interpreted in the United States."

• Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators (PDF)
  Guide from the National Museum of the American Indian "written by staff at the Museum in consultation with Haudenosaunee scholars and community members."

• Indian Health Service
  "Our Foundation: to uphold the Federal Government's obligation to promote healthy American Indian and Alaska Native people, communities, and cultures and to honor and protect the inherent sovereign rights of Tribes."

• National Congress of American Indians
  "Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities."

• National Indian Law Library
  "The National Indian Law Library (NILL) of the Native American Rights Fund is a law library devoted to federal Indian and tribal law. NILL maintains a unique and valuable collection of Indian law resources and assists people with their Indian law-related research needs."

• National Museum of the American Indian
  "Since the passage of its enabling legislation in 1989 (amended in 1996), the NMAI has been steadfastly committed to bringing Native voices to what the museum writes and presents, whether on-site at one of the three NMAI venues, through the museum's publications, or via the Internet. The NMAI is also dedicated to acting as a resource for the hemisphere's Native communities and to serving the greater public as an honest and thoughtful conduit to Native cultures—present and past—in all their richness, depth, and diversity."

• National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
  The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition's mission is "to lead in the pursuit of understanding and addressing the ongoing trauma created by the U.S. Indian Boarding School policy."

• Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project
  "This Project is a cooperative effort among the University of Oklahoma Law Center and the National Indian Law Library (NILL), and Native American tribes providing access to the Constitutions, Tribal Codes, and other legal documents."

• Native Languages of the Americas
  "We are a small non-profit organization dedicated to the survival of Native American languages, particularly through the use of Internet technology. Our website is not beautiful. Probably, it never will be. But this site has inner beauty, for it is, or will be, a compendium of online materials about more than 800 indigenous languages of the Western Hemisphere and the people that speak them."

• Seneca-Iroquois National Museum
  "The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum proudly houses an extensive collection of Hodinöhsö:ni’ historical and traditionally designed decorative and every-day-use items and archaeological artifacts. SINM, along with the Seneca Nation Archives Department, are the safe keepers of historical documents, including articles, special publications, historical and family photographs and various multi-media productions regarding the Onöndowa’ga:’ and Hodinöhsö:ni’."