Native & Indigenous Student Union Presents
Indigenous Peoples' Week Resource Hub
Willamette University is located on the homelands of the Kalapuyan peoples, who in 1855 signed a treaty with the US Federal government that dispossessed them of their lands, following encroachment and harassment by American settlers. This treaty made binding legal promises of resources, including education, in perpetuity to the Willamette Valley Kalapuyans, who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. These promises have largely not been honored. Willamette University can trace its history back to the Methodist mission schools that existed in this valley, this includes the 'Indian Manual Labor Training School' and other such institutions that once stood on this campus. These institutions were part of a campaign of colonialism, Christian evangelicalism, and cultural genocide perpetrated against the original peoples of this area, as well as being part of the greater history of colonialism in this country, this continent, and the world. We acknowledge the space that we occupy on this land, as well as those who came before us, and the historical injustices and inaccuracies that we must strive to rectify in the future. We honor all past, present, and future Native and Indigenous students of Willamette and strive to give space for their voices and their stories.
This is a version of the Land Acknowledgement as written by the Collegian
If you would like to view resource hubs from past years that go over different - but equally important - topics/issues, we urge you to look them over if you haven't already.
The Native & Indigenous Student Union extends gratitude for your engagement with the Resource Hub this week. We hope that the highlights included here have expanded your understanding of how Indigenous peoples’ are in constant relation with the land and how this translates into their contemporary struggles. It is important to recognize that most of us are constantly occupying land that we are not Indigenous to, and own up to the fact that this fact is largely a result of violence and attempted genocide. We urge you to remember that supporting Indigenous people does not end here, it begins.