Land Acknowledgment

The Earth and Planets Laboratory acknowledges that Washington DC, where our campus is located, is the traditional territory of Nacotchtank, Anacostan, and Piscataway people. The District of Columbia shares borders with Maryland and Virginia and connects with lands along the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. These river systems are where the Piscataway, Pamunkey, the Nentego (Nanichoke), Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Monacan, and the Powhatan cultures thrived. We acknowledge this legacy, as well as the ongoing struggle faced by the Indigenous communities around Washington, DC for recognition and land ownership. 

A land acknowledgment is our way of recognizing the Indigenous presence in our everyday life and our research endeavors—in the lab and the field. We all have a responsibility to consider the legacy of colonialism in our history as a nation, as a community, and as a scientific institution. We recognize the privileges we enjoy today because of colonialism, and we strive to understand and break down the systems that perpetuate these harmful patterns while building and supporting systems that are just.

This page uses information from the land acknowledgment and local history written by the American Library Association. Find their complete statement and accounting of Indigenous history and the Washington, D.C. region here. It was also based on the American University School of Education land acknowledgment, found here.