Land and Labor Acknowledgement Toolkit

You may choose to begin each of your public programs by delivering a verbal land acknowledgment—a brief formal statement that honors Native peoples as traditional guardians of the land and recognizes the enduring relationships that exist between Native peoples and their traditional, ancestral territories. It also recognizes that property ownership is a Euro-American, not an Indigenous, concept.

Consider this description, offered by Heather Ahtone, Senior Curator at the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in Oklahoma City, as we were working on our statement:

“Land Acknowledgements are, at their core, intended to be a mechanism to express respect, recognizing historical and contemporary relationships, and center Indigenous presence within the place at hand. Our relationship as Native people to the earth is an enduring experience that binds us as humans with the earth that sustains us.”

Adopting this practice is a very achievable step that demonstrates respect for Native peoples and moves on a path toward decolonization and reconciliation. The practice also honors Indigenous protocol, as Native people commonly acknowledge the earth and their connection to it at gatherings.