Throughout the nation, for over 150 years, some of America’s finest universities have been instilling education, facilitating research, and providing direct services to their communities, all on lands that were stolen from Native tribes and peoples. Now, universities are beginning to recognize their land’s original inhabitants, acknowledge the truth of their histories, and explore ways in which reparations with Native people can be made. In a new project toward truth and reconciliation, First Nations is working with leaders at The Ohio State University to examine the dispossession of tribal lands at this land-grant university and the effects it has had on the economic, educational, and health disparities of Ohio’s Native peoples.
History of Land Grant Institutions
The work is part of Ohio State’s “Stepping Out and Stepping Up Racial Justice” project, funded in part by the university’s Seed Fund for Racial Justice. The project seeks to address the “original sin” of the nation’s first public universities, how schools like The Ohio State University came to be, and how the stealing of these lands has continued to marginalize Native people.
The project’s principle investigator and First Nations’ partner is Stephen M. Gavazzi, PhD, a professor in Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology. Dr. Gavazzi explains in Forbes that America’s first public universities came into existence with the Morrill Land-Grant Act, which was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Named after its main sponsor, Vermont Senator Justin Morrill, this congressional action provided each state with parcels of land that could be used or sold off to build an institution of higher learning.
As a result of this act, Dr. Gavazzi writes, some of the world’s finest public universities – 52 altogether – were created to bring science, technology, agriculture, and the arts to the American people. These universities include, for example, Cornell, Maryland, Michigan State, MIT, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, and the University of California. But, while creating hubs for higher education may have seemed noble, the truth is that the parcels granted to state governments were from territories taken from Native American tribes, typically by brute force or lopsided treaties.
This stolen land and long-term impact can be quantified. Dr. Gavazzi reports that the land-base of America’s “land-grab” universities account for almost 11 million acres seized from approximately 250 tribes.
“And because the original Morrill Act stipulated that the money raised from the land had to be used in perpetuity, the funds remain on university ledgers to this day. Perhaps even more shocking is the fact that these parcels have a current estimated worth of approximately half a billion dollars when adjusted for inflation,” writes Dr. Gavazzi.
Understanding Harm to Native Communities
Recognizing the violence and atrocities behind the land seizure of the nations’ land-grant universities is the first step to righting this historic and ongoing wrong. According to Dr. Gavazzi, this involves contrition – a call for remorse and apology. Schools like Colorado State University and University of Minnesota have taken this step with official acknowledgements of tribes affected by the land seizures that led to their founding. Schools like South Dakota State University have taken a second step: In addition to acknowledging the truth, they are moving toward reconciliation and compensation to their lands’ original inhabitants. The university’s Wokini Initiative is designed to give back to the Native American people living in the state the total estimated $600,000 annual income gleaned from the 160,000 acres originally given to the university, in the form of scholarships and programs aimed to support tribal members.
Photo credit Ohio History Connection
As Williams concludes, “If we are able to create a greater awareness about the truth of what happened in America to Native people, and people are responsive, we will create a change in the future for all of Americans.”
Awareness about the truth’ is key. Land acknowledgment is one step toward recognizing historical injustices, but it must be paired with meaningful action to repair the harm caused. Merely stating that land was stolen without actively addressing the ongoing effects of colonization risks making the acknowledgment feel hollow. Putting the information out there doesn’t guarantee people will take the initiative to learn about it, but it’s part of the effort.
The Ohio State University has done a great job of giving back to the Indigenous community showing it through action. Being a land-grant university carries this tremendous guilt because of how they came to be, utilizing the stolen land and also the money made from it. The university although they have never made a formal land acknowledgement statement, they are making the effort to give back to these communities. They have yet to made a statement because how they can be problematic when it’s just that gesture without any true intention behind it. They are focused on actually building these relationship from scratch.
Source: Dotting the “I” at The Ohio State University | First Nations Development Institute. (n.d.). https://www.firstnations.org/stories/dotting-the-i-at-the-ohio-state-university/#:~:text=Today%2C%20there%20are%20no%20federally,that%20once%20called%20Ohio%20home.
Image Home | The Ohio State University. (n.d.). https://www.osu.edu/
