Land Acknowledgement

 

At Actors Theatre of Louisville, we believe it is important to acknowledge the history of the people here before us and of the land we reside on. We recognize that by not acknowledging the stewards of this land, we perpetuate the legacy of violence, genocide, and of forcibly removing Indigenous people from this area and from its history.

The area we occupy, now called Kentucky, is the homeland of more than twenty Indigenous tribes, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Osage peoples. Although the federal government does not officially recognize the existence of Native Americans in Kentucky, we want to honor the land itself, as well as honor and acknowledge the presence and influence of Indigenous people of the past, and the over 30,000 Native Americans living in Kentucky today.

This acknowledgement in no way takes the place of an effective communication and relationship with the land or with Indigenous people, but serves as a first step into honoring the land, and building community with those who inhabit this land with us.

Learn what lands you occupy: Our home on native land | Native Land Digital

Native-led organizations to support:

• Proud to Be
• The Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women
• Greater Cincinnati Native American Coalition
• llumiNative
• Change the Mascot

Sources

• Kentucky Heritage Council
• The People of the Hunting Ground
Indigenous Lands Acknowledgement | Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
• A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement | Native Governance Center
• Land Acknowledgement | Native Governance center
• A Native History of Kentucky
• Land Acknowledgement | Northwestern University
• Native Americans of Appalachian Kentucky | Appalachian Advocate
• Native American Indian Studies - A Note on Names | University of Massachusetts 
• 7 Things You Should Never Say to a Native American | Insider
• For Our Nations To Live, Capitalism Must Die | Unsettling America
• Dispelling the Myth: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Indian Life in Kentucky | Preservation Kentucky
• Our Home on Native Land | Native Land Digital