For my third civic issues blog I want to focus more on Native Americans’ struggles with the dispossession of their land and forced migration.  

To make this issue a little more personal, we can see the effects of land dispossession and racism, towards Native Americans in the use of our own college’s land. As you may know, Penn State is a land-grant school, but many do not actually know what that means. I didn’t until my ANTH45 teacher, Dr. Bird, discussed it in class. In short, a land-grant school is a school that was created in the mid-19th century after the passing of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862, which was where schools were created using the proceeds from “federally-owned” land to promote agricultural and scientific education. According to a Cambridge article though, “The land that was sold to support colleges was available because of a deliberate project to dispossess American Indians of land they inhabited” and “the colleges exist only because of a state-sponsored system of Native dispossession.” The land used/owned by Penn State was settled by European colonizers before Penn State was established, but Penn State properties are still on the ancestral lands of Erie, Haudenosaunee,

Map of land grant universities in the US

Lenape, Monongahela, Shawnee, Susquehannock, and Wahzhzhe First Nations and has majorly benefitted from the dispossession of Native American land. To give you some statistics on how much Penn State has profited from the Morrill Act, the original endowment of the land that was $39,000 is now worth $4 billion. Another statistic that Dr. Bird told us that I found astounding was that out of roughly 75,000 undergraduate students at Penn State, only about 103 are American Indian/Native American. 

Penn State has acknowledged the use of the land: “As a land grant institution, Penn State acknowledges and honors the traditional caretakers of these lands and strives to understand and model their responsible stewardship. We also acknowledge the longer history of these lands and our place in that history.” But more can and should be done to teach the students at Penn State the history of why it is here today, could/should work to develop ties with native tribes, and teach Native History.  

Moving away from land-grant colleges, Native Americans have historically been forced out of their historical land and still face the effects of ongoing colonialism. According to a “Science” article, “Indigenous people in the United States have lost nearly 99% of the land they historically occupied, . . .”  Today, native land is at a greater risk for climate change hazards like extreme heat and decreased precipitation. Not only that but settlers often forced Native Americans onto land they deemed less valuable, which excluded them from key parts of the U.S. economy. This is truly detrimental to Native Americans and their culture seeing as they have land-based religions and are connected/know their land better than anyone else.  

The continued challenges Natives face in maintaining their land and culture make me unbelievably livid. More needs to be done to bring attention to this issue. As young adults, it is hard to see how we can help but I think it is important to learn about these issues and the history of Native Americans. We can raise awareness for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their land and teach others why this issue is important. Indigenous cultures benefit all of us and hold so much value and knowledge that would be devastating to lose.  

• Sources:  
• Native tribes have lost 99% of their land in the United States | Science | AAAS  
• Land-grant universities profit off Native lands (insidehighered.com) 
• Entangled Pasts: Land-Grant Colleges and American Indian Dispossession | History of Education Quarterly | Cambridge Core 
• What does it really mean to be a land-grant college? | UCR News | UC Riverside 
• Federal Land Policies Affecting Native American Sovereignty and Traditional Use – Native Tribe Info 
• Why Native Americans struggle to protect their sacred places (theconversation.com) 
• Dr. Bird