We would like to acknowledge that Macalester College and the College Archives are located on the traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Waȟpékhute band of Dakhóta Oyáte, the Dakota nation.
We make this acknowledgement to respect and affirm the sovereignty of the Dakota people, ancestors and descendants, and to respect the land itself.
We recognize that this acknowledgment is but a first step in recognizing and dismantling aggressive and persistent policies of settler colonialism that continue to oppress to this day. These are the contexts in which the archives functions to this day. The work of acknowledgement must be paired with active practices like the amplification of Indigenous voices and land repatriation in order to be substantive and meaningful.
With thanks to Jennings Mergenthal, Class of 2021, for their time and effort in crafting this land acknowledgement.
Learn more about the specific history of the land that Macalester is on here.
To engage with, learn from, and support, please check out these organizations and sites:
- Bdote Memory Map
- Birchbark Books
- Local Dakota Land Map by local artist Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota)
- Migizi
- Minneapolis American Indian Center
- Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center
- Native Governance Center
- Native Land
- Why Treaties Matter
