Acknowledging Indigenous Land

​Where do you live?

Have you never known what native peoples first walked the land where you walk, sleep, and eat? 

This is a quick little letter of love to acknowledge those indigenous people who lived and loved on this soil long before settlers sailed across the ocean to be here.

My current home city of Columbus, Ohio, named for the conquistador who initiated a five centuries-long colonial oppression and genocide of the native people, is on Myaamia and Hopewell land. I grew up in Osage and Shawnee land, on a street named for a Mingo chief (a village leader, not a war chief). I grew up finding arrowheads in the field lining the road and knowing where names came from.

The city of Columbus decided to stop observing Columbus Day as a holiday in 2018, and after weeks of protesting downtown this summer (My kids and I went to celebrations of peaceful protest there, on this very day, for years before 2018), the statue of Columbus at City Hall was removed. Small things that do not make much reparation, but perhaps less painful to now not have to hear the name of that man celebrated.


Where do you live?
Find your location here

By acknowledging the land on which we live, we:

• Normalize the existence of native people

Instead of:

• Passively normalizing the exclusion (erasure) of native people

Today, in honor of the Myaamia and Hopewell people, I have included this acknowledgement on my website address footer and I strive to do more as I move forward in business and in life. Today I ask you to teach those around you about this and that includes the children! When I was teaching we had this as a topic of discussion along with our science, art, math and cultural language learning. Please share this site so that we may all learn and respect our neighbors, the original inhabitants of this land.


Cheers and wild herbs,
Sarah