About

We begin with gratitude for nearby waters and lands, including the Kwinitekw -- the southern portion of what’s now called the Connecticut River. We recognize these lands and waters as important Relations with which we are all interconnected and depend on to sustain life and wellbeing.

The Norrwutuck community was one of many Pocumtuc Indian towns, including the Tribal seat at Pocumtuc (in present day Deerfield), Agawam (Springfield), and Woronoco (Westfield) to name just a few. The Pocumtuc, who had connections with these lands for millennia, are part of a vast expanse of Algonqiuan relations. Over 400 years of colonization, Pocumtuc Peoples were displaced. Many joined their Algonquian relatives to the east, south, west and north— extant communities of Wampanoag, including Aquinnah, Herring Pond, and Mashpee, Massachusetts; the Nipmuc with a reservation at Grafton/Hassanamisco, Massachusetts; the Narragansett in Kingstown, Rhode Island; Schagticoke, Mohegan and Pequot Peoples in Connecticut; the Abenaki and other Nations of the Wabanaki Confederacy extending northward into Canada; and the Stockbridge Munsee Mohican of New York and Massachusetts, who were removed to Wisconsin in the 19th century. Over hundreds of years of removal, members of Southern New England Tribes would make the journey home to tend important places and renew their connections to their ancestral lands. Such care and connection to land and waters continues to the present day.

Today, Indigenous Nations in southern New England continue to employ diverse strategies to resist ongoing colonization, genocide, and erasure begun by the English, French, Dutch, Portuguese and other European Nations, and that continued when Tribal homelands became part of the United States. Native Americans from Tribal Nations across the U.S. and Indigenous peoples from around the world also travel into these Pocumtuc homelands to live and work. This land has always been and always will be, Native Land.

We also acknowledge that the University of Massachusetts Amherst is a Land Grant University. As part of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, Tribal lands from 82 Native Nations west of the Mississippi were sold to provide the resources to found and build this university.

This Land Acknowledgement is the first step in the university’s commitment to practice intellectual humility whilst working with Tribal Nations toward a better shared future on Turtle Island. We aim to foster understanding, deep respect, and honor for sovereign Tribal Nations; to develop relationships of reciprocity; and to be inclusive of Native perspectives and thriving Native Nations far into the future. Members of Massachusetts-based Tribal Nations who are kin to the historic Pocumtuc contributed their insights in composing this acknowledgement -- namely Tribal representatives from Mashpee, Aquinnah, and Stockbridge Munsee. As an active first step toward decolonization, we encourage you to learn more about the Indigenous peoples on whose homelands UMass Amherst now resides on and the Indigenous homelands on which you live and work.

What Is Land Acknowledgement?

A Land Acknowledgement is a formal statement that recognizes and respects Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories.

The UMass Land Acknowledgement

In a year-long consultative and deeply collaborative process with respected advisors from local Tribal Nations, the UMass Native Advisory Council co-developed this campus Land Acknowledgement. This Acknowledgement affirms our campus connection and relationship to the land the campus is built upon and our continued connection to the Nations who were the original inhabitants and caretakers of this land. The Land Acknowledgement also affirms our connection and responsibility to the 82 Native nations west of the Mississippi whose homelands were sold through the Morrill Act of 1862. The money from these sales were used to establish this campus as a land-grant institution. The Land Acknowledgement is part of a broader effort of building and sustaining relationships and partnerships with the Native Nations to whom we, as a university community, are connected.

Why Introduce The Practice Of Land Acknowledgement?

• Offer recognition and respect.
• Counter the “doctrine of discovery” with the true story of the people who were already here.
• Create a broader public awareness of the history that has led to this moment.
• Begin to repair relationships with Native communities and with the land.
• Redefine relationship with land and waters. To respect these as living beings.
• Support larger truth-telling and reconciliation efforts.
• Remind people that colonization is an ongoing process, with Native lands still occupied
• Take a cue from Indigenous protocol, opening up space with reverence and respect.
• Inspire ongoing action and relationship building.

How To Utilize A Land Acknowledgement

The Land Acknowledgement may be utilized by the campus community as a means to recognize and reaffirm existing relationships to people and land, honor the complex and difficult history that impacted Native peoples, and educate students, faculty, and staff. Land acknowledgements may be read at the beginning of an event or meeting. They are particularly appropriate at occasions of special significance such as ground breaking ceremonies, building openings, convocations, and large conferences or events.

UMass Amherst does not have a policy requiring Land Acknowledgements. This information is designed to provide resources for offices and event planners who wish to employ this practice in a respectful, appropriate manner.

Land acknowledgement by itself is a small gesture. It becomes meaningful when coupled with authentic relationship and informed action. It is meant as a starting point toward greater public education of Native sovereignty and cultural rights - a critical step toward equitable relationship and reconciliation.

Pronunciations for UMass Land Acknowledgement

• Pocomtuc is pronounced "poh-cum-tuck."
• Norwutuck is pronounced “nor-wuh-tug”
• Mashpee is pronounced “mash-pee”
• Aquinnah is pronounced “uh·kwi·nuh”
• Wampanoag is pronounced “waam·puh·no·ag”
• Nipmuc is pronounced “nip-muk”
• Narragansett is pronounced “neh·ruh·gan·suht”
• Mohegan is pronounced “mow·hee·gn”
• Pequot is pronounced “pee·kwaat”
• Mohican is pronounced “mow·hee·kn”
• Abenaki is pronounced “a·buh·naa·kee”
• Wabanaki is pronounced “waa·bun·aa·kee”

• Assumption of Risk:

  • Each participant is responsible for determining their fitness level before engaging in activities.
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• General Expectations:

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• Inappropriate Behavior:

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• Locker Rooms:

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