Using Land Acknowledgements
The Electa Quinney Institute’s Land Acknowledgement, seen below, is intended as a starting point for members of the UWM community. We encourage its use when hosting events, leading meetings, or teaching courses, particularly those that explore place, identity, history, or community.
Land acknowledgements are not governed by a set of rules, and many people believe that a statement alone is not enough. We view land acknowledgements as an opportunity to begin a deeper conversation about place, history, responsibility, and relationships with Indigenous communities.
Meaningful acknowledgement begins with learning. We encourage students, faculty, and staff to:
- Explore their own connections to land and water.
- Learn about the Indigenous history of the places where they live, work, and study.
- Become familiar with the Tribal Nations in their region.
- Support efforts toward understanding, reconciliation, and respectful relationships with Indigenous communities.
The most meaningful land acknowledgements are grounded in historical facts while also reflecting personal, cultural, and community experiences.
If you have questions about land acknowledgements or Indigenous history, EQI staff can provide guidance and resources.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Version
We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.
Grand Portage Trust Lands Agency
Vallen Cook, the current leader of Grand Portage Trust Lands Agency, took the land acknowledgement statement practice one step farther by asking Margaret Noodin for a poem to share the beauty of his home when he goes visiting.
University of Wisconsin Freshwater Collaborative Version
As a system of universities in Wisconsin we share stewardship of the land and water between the Michigami, the full system of Great Lakes, and Michiziibi, the great Mississippi River, with the current sovereign nations of Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Ojibwe, Oneida and Mohican people along with the ancestors before them. Together we commit to being connected to this space, increasing our knowledge of it and transmitting that knowledge to future generations
National Wildlife Federation Version
The name Milwaukee comes from the Anishinaabe and/or Algonquin words for the “good land” or “gathering place”; the area has probably gone by many overlapping names, because it has been a place where people come together for thousands of years. In recent history, Milwaukee has been home to people of the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Odawa, Fox, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sauk, and Oneida nations, and more. Today, more than 7,000 Milwaukee residents identify as Native – the largest concentration of Native people in Wisconsin – and the community includes people from across Wisconsin, the Midwest, and North America. As we virtually gather in Milwaukee for WildlifeUnite, the National Wildlife Federation respectfully acknowledges and honors the ancestral owners and stewards of this place, who preceded – and survived – European colonization and live here today. We offer our respect to the elders, past, present and future, in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin’s Native nations. Even as we honor the people of Milwaukee, we also note that participants in this online conference will be attending from many different lands across North America. We encourage everyone to learn more and recognize the Native people whose ground you stand upon.
Woodland Pattern Version
We acknowledge that in Milwaukee we live and work on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, and Menominee homelands along the southwest shores of Michigami, part of North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida, and Mohican nations remain present. We further acknowledge the grave evil colonialism introduced to these lands through genocide as well as slavery, and also via racist and xenophobic beliefs, laws, and practices that continue to inflict harm upon Black, brown, and Indigenous lives. We honor those who have lived—and do live, now—at these intersections of identity and experience, and are committed to the active dismantling of white supremacy.