List of 251 Indigenous Nations and Communities Impacted by Cornell’s Past and Present Land Manipulations
Written by Professor Troy Richardson
One of the many responsibilities inherent to working in American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) is to present on and discuss the self-governance of Indigenous peoples with various audiences. There are many forms that self-governance can — and does – take, from the Sami Parliament to band councils to hereditary and non-hereditary title holders. In every case, particular histories, languages, and experiences provide the context out of which a people enact their self-governance. However, there is not simply a pedagogical or research responsibility in AIIS to elaborate on Indigenous governance, but also an obligation to defend it in regularly hostile local, national, and international contexts. Moreover, this responsibility involves the enactment of practices and protocols for engaging with Indigenous leadership when needed within the institutional contexts of AIIS departments and programs. Diplomacy is often the word used to describe practices of engaging with the governing bodies of a people, and is useful to understand what guided this particular diplomatic effort of Cornell’s AIIS Program to reach out to the specific Indigenous peoples who were directly impacted by the Morrill Act and the moments out of which those lands became “available” for the funding of land grant educational institutions, and Cornell University specifically.
For our diplomatic outreach, AIISP followed a protocol of contacting the current leadership of every Nation whose lands funded the establishment of Cornell University and contribute to its current operations. This included both Nations affected by the Morrill Act, as well as Nations impacted by Cornell’s current landholdings in New York State and elsewhere. AIISP’s taking responsibility to open a channel of communication to the leadership was made to:
- introduce Cornell’s AIIS Program and its Director;
- highlight the obligation of AIISP to personally acknowledge Cornell’s history of Indigenous dispossession and the kinds of benefits it bestowed to the institution;
- offer greater detail and specificity to the original 2020 High Country News (HCN) report;
- invite a dialogue on possible forms of redress desired by the impacted communities;
- convey the historical and ongoing efforts of the AIISP in calling for Cornell University to provide restitution to Indigenous peoples; and
- affirm a commitment to building effective relationships and possible partnerships between the AIISP and the Nations.
Our intention in proceeding this way has been to let the impacted peoples speak for themselves about these issues and their interests related to Cornell. AIISP can play a mediating role, but the best way to proceed will be to have the governments of these peoples make clear their interests and desires directly to the current President and Provost of Cornell University.
Cornell’s AIISP has followed this protocol with 251 Indigenous governments thus far to make formal introductions, outline our intentions with clarity, provide information, and invite partnerships for effective and lasting change. This action should be understood as crucial for processes of establishing transparent diplomatic relations to each self-governing Indigenous people. It is admittedly the beginning of a long process, yet by establishing diplomatic relations to the 251 individual Indigenous peoples, we enacted the principles of recognizing Indigenous self-governance, broadly understood. That is, each people required an acknowledgement from the AIISP at Cornell that respected their particular contexts and further sought to learn of the specific interests of their people. In doing so, what we do convey as part of the larger transformative agenda at Cornell University regarding Indigenous peoples is informed directly by these meetings. Ultimately, the AIISP serves as a perhaps temporary intermediary in this diplomatic work seeking to not overstep its role by ‘speaking for’ those peoples most impacted, even while the AIISP itself continues to press a transformational agenda centered on actions within the university.
Thus, pursuing formal diplomatic relations with each of the 251 affected Indigenous peoples is one of several inter-related, complimentary, and co-coordinated actions of the AIISP at Cornell University. Ongoing efforts to create sustained and transformational institutional change at Cornell for Indigenous youth, families, and self-determining peoples is ongoing. These issues are not new: past Directors, faculty, staff, and students have raised and fought for a full range of policies time and again to Cornell University administrators. The timeline that is provided at the bottom of the home page attests to the ongoing work of the AIISP at Cornell in only its most recent moment since the publication of the HCN essay. In this way, AIISP’s Cornell University and Indigenous Dispossession Committee presses onward with a transformational institutional agenda with the Office of the Provost, College Deans, the Faculty Senate and so on.
Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, St. Francis-Sokoki Band
Accohannock Indian Tribe
Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of San Juan Bautista
Amah-Mutsun Tribal Band
Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation
Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Bay Mills Indian Community
Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria
Big Sandy Rancheria of Mono Indians of California
Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians of the Big Valley Rancheria
Birdtail Sioux First Nation
Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana
Blue Lake Rancheria
Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Bridgeport Indian Colony
Brothertown Indian Nation
Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Native of the Colusa Indian Community
Calaveras Band of Mi-Wuk Indians
California Choinumni Tribal Project
California Valley Miwok Tribe
Cayuga communities located in New York
Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
Chi-cau-gon Band of Lake Superior Chippewa of Iron County
Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
Chinook Indian Nation
Chippewa-Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Choinumni Farm Tribe
Choinumni Tribe
Chowchilla Tribe
Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes of Oregon
Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation
Coastal Gabrieleño Diegueño Band of Mission Indians
Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians of California
Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe of the Colfax Rancheria
Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation
Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon
Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians of Oregon
Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki
Cowlitz Indian Tribe
Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation
Dakota Plains First Nation
Dakota Tipi First Nation
Delaware Nation
Delaware Nation at Moraviantown
Delaware Tribe of Indians
Displaced Elem Lineage Emancipated Members
Dry Creek Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California
Dumna Wo-Wah Tribal Government
Duwamish Tribe of Indians
Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation
El Dorado County Wopumnes Nisenan-Mewuk Nation Tribe
Elem Band of Pomo/Elem Indian Colony
Elnu Abenaki Tribe
Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California
Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe
Fond Du Lac Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Fort Belknap Indian Community
Gabrieleno/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians
Gabrielino Tongva Indians of California Tribal Council
Gabrielino/Tongva Nation
Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe
Ganienkeh Mohawk Community
Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians
Guidiville Rancheria of California
Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake
Haudenosaunee Confederacy
Haudenosaunee Six Nations of the Grand River
Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin
Hopland Band of Pomo Indians of the Hopland Rancheria
Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians
Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California
Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians
Kainai Nation
Kanaʼtsioharè꞉ke Mohawk Community
Kaʼnehsatà꞉ke Mohawk Community
Kansas Munsee
Kaw Nation
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
Kizh Nation (Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians)
Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation
Ko’asek Traditional Band of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation
Koi Nation of the Lower Lake Rancheria
KonKow Valley Band of Maidu Indians
Kootenai Tribe of Idaho
Ktunaxa Nation
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Lake Superior Chippewa of Marquette
Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians
Lower Elwha Tribal Community
Lower Sioux Indian Community
Lummi Nation
Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians
Manchester-Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians
Marietta Band of Nooksacks
Matinecock Tribal Nation
Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California
Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Mishewal Wappo Tribe of the Alexander Valley
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne
Mohawks Council of Kahnawà꞉ke
Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte
Monacan Nation
Monachi Indian Tribe
Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe of California and Nevada
Montauk Tribe of Indians
Montaukett Indian Nation
Mooretown Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California
Morongo Band of Mission Indians
Munsee-Delaware Nation
Muskegon River Band of Ottawa Indians
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe
Nashville Enterprise Miwok-Maidu-Nishinam Tribe
Nevada City Nisenan Rancheria
Nisqually Indian Tribe of the Nisqually Reservation
Nooksack Indian Tribe
North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians
North Valley Yokut Tribe
Northern Band of Mono Yokuts
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation
Northern Chumash Tribal Council
Nulhegan Band of the Coosuck-Abenaki
Odanak Abenaki Council
Omaha Tribe of Nebraska
Oneida communities located in New York
Oneida Nation of the Thames
Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
Onondaga Nation of New York
Osage Nation
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians
Pamunkey Tribe
Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians
Passamaquoddy Nation
Patowomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma
Penobscot Nation
Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California
Piikani Nation
Pinoleville Pomo Nation
Piscataway Conoy Tribe of Maryland
Piscataway Indian Nation
Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe
Potter Valley Tribe
Prairie Island Indian Community
Puyallup Tribe of the Puyallup Reservation
Quartz Valley Indian Community
Quinault Indian Nation
Ramapo Munsee Lenape Nation
Rappanhannock Indian Tribe
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
Redwood Valley Rancheria
Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
River Valley Miwok Indians, formerly known as Historical Families of Wilton Rancheria
Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California
Round Valley Indian Reservation
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan
Saginaw, Swan Creek and Black River Chippewa
Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe
Salinan Tribe of Monterey & San Luis Obispo Counties
Salinan-Chumash Nation
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria (aka Tachi Yokut Tribe)
Santee Sioux Nation
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan
Scia’new First Nation
Semiahmoo First Nation
Seneca Nation of Indians
Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma
Shakopee-Mdewakanton Sioux Community
Shasta Indian Nation
Shebelna Band of Mendocino Coast Pomo Indians
Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians of Shingle Springs Rancheria
Shinnecock Indian Nation
Shoalwater Bay Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation of Idaho
Sierra Foothill Wuksachi Yokuts Tribe
Siksika Nation
Sioux Valley First Nation
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation
Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah
Snohomish Tribe of Indians
Sokaogon Chippewa Community
Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation
Spirit Lake Tribe
Spokane Tribe of Indians
Squaxin Island Tribe of the Squaxin Island Reservation
St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin
Standing Buffalo Dakota First Nation
Stockbridge-Munsee Community
Strawberry Valley Band of Pakan’yani Maidu
Sts’ailes First Nation
Susanville Indian Rancheria
Table Mountain Rancheria of California
Tejon Indian Tribe of California
Tonawanda Seneca Nation
Traditional Choinumni East of Kings River
Tsi-Akim Maidu of Taylorsville Rancheria
Tulalip Tribes of Washington
Tule River Indian Tribe
Tuolumne Band of Me-wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota
Tuscarora Nation of New York
Tyme Maidu Tribe of the Berry Creek Rancheria
United Auburn Indian Community of Auburn Rancheria
Unkechaug Nation
Upper Sioux Indian Community
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation
Wahpaton Dakota Nation
Wahta Mohawks
Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California
Washoe/Paiute of Antelope Valley
White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Whitecap Dakota First Nation
Wilton Rancheria Indian Tribe
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Wiyot Tribe of the Table Bluff Rancheria
Woodfords Community Council or Hung A Lel Ti
Wukchumni Tribal Council
Wuksache Indian Tribe/Eshom Valley Band
Xolon Salinan Tribe
Yak Tityu Tityu Yak Tilhini Northern Chumash Tribe
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation
Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute Indian Community