Land Acknowledgment
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is located on the ancestral lands of the Adena, Hopewell, Monongahela, Haudenosaunee, Lenape, Shawnee, Wyandotte and Osage Peoples.
We seek to give recognition to these and all other ancestors whose names have been erased with intention or forgotten by time.
We humbly pay respects to their elders past, present and future.
What is a land acknowledgement?
A land acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes the unique and enduring relationships that exist between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories.
To acknowledge the traditional territory is to recognize its longer history, reaching beyond colonization and the establishment of European colonies, as well as its significance for the Indigenous peoples who lived and continue to live upon this territory, and whose practices and spiritualities were tied to the land and continue to develop in relationship to the land and its other inhabitants today.
Among other things, they can help to begin to repair the relationships with Native Communities and with the land, they can create a broader public awareness of the history that has led to this moment, and they take cues from Indigenous protocols to enter spaces with reverence and respect.
They can also remind people that colonization in an ongoing process, with Native Lands still occupied due to deceptive and broken treaties and practices of eminent domain and other mechanisms intended to benefit certain entities but not all.
We would like to acknowledge that Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted.
Truth and acknowledgment are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We begin this effort honoring the truth so as to acknowledge what has been buried.
Finally, we recognize and articulate that acknowledgment is only the beginning. It must serve to be an invitation to deeper analysis, relationship and action.
