LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
DAI Land Acknowledgment
The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is situated on what was a gathering place for more than 40 Indigenous Nations and Tribes that met on the high grounds where four waterways came together : the Mad, Stillwater, and Great Miami River and Wolf Creek. Unique from other indigenous areas, this land was not a home to one group, but a sacred place where indigenous peoples gathered for celebrations, ceremonies, trading and burials. Research indicates that the following Nations and Tribes were present in the area now known as Montgomery County: Chippewa; Delaware; Eel River (Miami); Kaskaskia (Miami, Peoria); Kickapoo; Miami; Ottawa; Piankishaw (Miami, Peoria); Potawatomi; Shawnee; Wea (Peoria); and Wyandot. This is a fluid list and as research continues, there could be additional nations and tribes discovered in the future.
Our Accountability
As a fine ar t museum built on sacred land, it is our responsibility to share what we know and to continue to learn about the people who lived on this land. We acknowledge that the history of colonialism is complicated and the land on which the museum now stands was taken from its original inhabitants. In keeping with the Dayton Ar t Institute’s - vision that is committed to inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, we commit to building meaningful relationships with the indigenous community of the Miami Valley and beyond. Through shared knowledge, exchange, gatherings and ar t experiences, we will continue to learn and understand this history, enrich the contemporary relationships with the ancestors of these indigenous peoples and demonstrate respect for the land on which they once gathered and lived. We respect and acknowledge that the ancestors of the indigenous peoples are a living culture present in our community today. We desire to establish an ongoing rich relationship with the local indigenous population.
Indigenous Ohio and the Dayton Art Institute
The region now known as the Miami Valley, southern Ohio, beginning around 2,000 years ago, was the home to the Woodland peoples known as Mound-Builders, such as the For t Ancient and Adena cultures. They built mounds that were ear then effigies and burial grounds. In the Dayton region, the Mound in Miamisburg is an example of such a location. In addition, SunWatch Indian Village / Archaeological Park, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 33-MY-57, is a reconstructed For t Ancient Native American village next to the Great Miami River on West River Road in Dayton, Ohio. There was a series of Native America mounds, now known as the Jane Reece Neighborhood, located between the corner of Edwin C. Moses Boulevard and Salem Avenue. While they were excavated and destroyed circa 1820, it is still on the maps of the mid-nineteenth century. All the Native American lands in SW Ohio were seized circa 1785 following the revolution. Later, Native cultures in the state consisted of four major cultural divisions: the Miami in the Miami Valley, western Ohio; the Lenape in the Muskingum Valley in eastern Ohio; the Odawa and Wyandotte in the Maumee River Valley of nor thwest Ohio; and the Shawnee along the Scioto River in southern Ohio. Europeans, using the ancient Roman concept of terra nullius—a term meaning “nobody’s land”—in which the land was assumed to be unoccupied, took over Indian lands. When it became clear the land was, in fact, inhabited, colonists justified its seizure by declaring the land as “uncultivated.” With the growing numbers of European settlers in the 18th century, Ohio was deemed “Indian Territory” and many indigenous peoples from the eastern par t of the country were displaced to Ohio lands. After the Revolutionary
War (1765–1783), the U.S. Government entered into treaties with Indian Nations—treaties that the U.S. Government later violated—in order to “lawfully” shrink this territory. With the 1830 Indian Removal Act, most Indigenous Peoples living east of the Mississippi River, including Ohio, were forcibly removed by the U.S. Government to Reservations in the West during the 19th century. As a result, while more than a dozen nations and tribes have ties to Ohio lands, there are now no federally recognized nations or tribes in the state. All of what is now Grafton Hill Historic District was par t of a village for the Miami Indians. The Dayton Ar t Institute was built on land ceded to the United States in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. Prior to the museum being built, two mansions sat on the land which now makes up the seven-acre DAI campus. The two Victorian mansions were built between 1870-1878 and were owned by the Hawes and Reibold-Canby families. During the excavation process to build the homes, seven known Indigenous Peoples’ remains were found. The bones were left on display for people to view and even take as souvenirs. The land and the homes were purchased with donations made to pay the landowners to build the Dayton Ar t Institute. When the building of the museum began, another discovery was made and believed to be a tribal chief and his dog. Those remains were relocated to Dayton Natural History Museum (The Boonshoft) where they remain today. These lots were sold off from the Nor thwest Territory Land Office in Cincinnati. Initially woods occupied by Indigenous People, the land became farmland and is the current site of DAI and Dayton Masonic Center.
What is Land Acknowledgment?
A Land Acknowledgement is a public statement that acknowledges that land was - inhabited by Indigenous Peoples who were forcibly removed so colonists could own and occupy the land.
Why do we acknowledge the land?
The DAI acknowledges that the museum sits on what was once the land and gathering location for Indigenous Peoples who were forced off their land. We acknowledge indigenous people embrace the understanding that the essence of people is embodied in that we as people are the land and the water.
How was the DAI Land Acknowledgment developed? The acknowledgment was developed through conversations and communications with local Indigenous Peoples, historians, The Ohio History Connection, (formally known as the Ohio Historical Society), local and regional universities and other Ohio ar t and natural history museums.