Land Acknowledgement

We meet here at [City Hall] in Macomb, Illinois, in the West-Central region of what you know as the State of Illinois. Please join me in taking some time to remember and acknowledge the legacy of this land and the many people who first called it home.

In the 1820s, when the first European settlers arrived in the area around what is now the City of Macomb, they noted evidence of a seasonal hunting camp, just west of the University, which is memorialized by the name “Wigwam Hollow Road.” The Illinois nation which comprised the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Peoria, and Tamaroa tribes, and the Dakota were present in Western Illinois when European explorers first arrived. The Delaware, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox, and Wyandot tribes were displaced from out east by the westward expansion of European settlers, only to later be forcibly removed when this region was designated a Military Tract and parceled out to veterans of the War of 1812.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on this amazing land and the bountiful resources that it provides. Let’s give thanks that, through their shared experiences and their stories, the ancestors nurtured values prioritizing care for the waters and the earth, for the plants and the animals, and toward building alliances and harmony among all people. Let’s remember their contributions, and try to carry that legacy forward, here in this place, and in the world beyond.