Land Acknowledgment

 
 

Land Acknowledgment/Ga Dnezéthêk Shodë KIK
(The ones who lived here on this land)*

The Board of the Charnley-Persky House Museum acknowledges that the Charnley-Persky House sits on a threshold between ceded and unceded land that is the traditional homeland of the Potawatomi (Bodéwadmi / Neshnabek). To this day the Potawatomi still claim those natural assets. The Chicago area was a traditional place for trade, gathering, and healing for the Potawatomi and more than a dozen other Native nations including the Illinois Confederacy (the Peoria and Kaskaskia Nations), Ojibwe, Odawa, Myaamia, Wea, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Thakiwaki, Meskwaki, Kiikaapoi, and Mascouten people. One of the largest urban Native American communities in the U.S. (or Turtle Island), currently resides in Chicago. The Charnley-Persky House Museum acknowledges the contributions of Indigenous communities and commits to an ongoing collaboration to share a complex and inclusive history.


We gratefully acknowledge the consultation of Dr. John N. Low in crafting this land acknowledgment.


*This Potawatomi translation of the land acknowledgment’s title was taken from the Chicago History Museum’s land acknowledgement, translated by Kyle Malott, and also written in consultation with Dr. John N. Low.


To learn more about the Pokagon Potawatomi people of Chicago, see Imprints: The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the City of Chicago (Low 2016).


To learn more about the Indigenous communities of Chicago, please visit these organizational websites:

American Indian Association of Illinois                                 

American Indian Center of Chicago

Native American Educational Services (NAES) College

Menominee Community Center of Chicago                    

Trickster Cultural Center

Native American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois       

Native American Support Program - UIC                              

Mitchell Museum of the American Indian

D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library

Schingoethe Center of Aurora University