We would like to take this time to acknowledge that our organization, university, and funding recipients are currently occupying Indigenous land. Through this land acknowledgement our organization hopes to promote deeper collective historical understanding of the genocide, injustice, and land theft that took place against Indigenous peoples’. These historical legacies continue to directly impact the lives of Indigenous populations today.

The University of Iowa Dance Marathon supports families of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. Native American and Alaskan Native pediatric cancer patients face large disparities in survival rates for easy-to-treat tumors in comparison to patients of other ethnic or racial backgrounds. It’s important to recognize the additional challenges our Native American and Alaskan Native families may face in order to advocate for equitable care. As an organization, we honor the Indigenous peoples who have been living and working on this land in the time immemorial. We recognize the long-standing history that has brought us to reside on the land, and continue to seek to understand our place within that history. Land acknowledgments do not exist in a past tense or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation.

We stand with our families, dancers, and leadership members who identify as Indigenous peoples.

Listed below are the tribal nations that the University of Iowa resides on:

Ojibwe/Anishinaabe (Chippewa)

Báxoǰe (Iowa)

Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo)

Omāēqnomenēwak (Menominee)

Myaamiaki (Miami)

Nutachi (Missouri)

Umoⁿhoⁿ (Omaha)

Wahzhazhe (Osage)

Jiwere (Otoe)

Odawaa (Ottawa)

Póⁿka (Ponca)

Bodéwadmi/Neshnabé (Potawatomi)

Meskwaki/Nemahahaki/Sakiwaki (Sac and Fox)

Dakota/Lakota/Nakoda, Sahnish/Nuxbaaga/Nuweta (Three Affiliated Tribes)

Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)

The following tribal nations, Umoⁿhoⁿ (Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa), Póⁿka (Ponca Tribe of Nebraska), Meskwaki (Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa), and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska) Nations continue to thrive in the State of Iowa.

View the University of Iowa’s Acknowledgement of Land and Sovereignty.

View Native-Land.ca to learn about which Indigenous territories you currently reside on, as well as Indigenous treaties and languages.