Land Acknowledgment

Land Acknowledgment for Ratner Montessori School

Written by the Middle School Indigenous Peoples of North America Class, Fall 2023

The Land Acknowledgement and accompanying history notes below were written by Skyler Cobb ('23), Jordan Exum ('24), Danica Johnson('23), Khloe Mathews ('23), Nicolas Oliver ('24), Cameron Taylor ('23), and Liam Zalevsky ('23). These students worked collaboratively to research the history and write the land acknowledgment, with input and guidance from Sundance, Executive Director of the Cleveland American Indian Movement.

We at The Ratner Montessori School recognize that the land on which we reside was ceded from Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Odawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Miami, Eel Rivers, Wea, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw, and Kaskaskia through the Treaty of Greenville on August 3, 1795, in which most of Ohio was ceded, and later ratified on December 22, 1795. We acknowledge that relatives of the Lenape (Delaware), Miami, Ottawa, Seneca, and Wyandot are still present in our area today.

These are the treaties that took place in Ohio:

Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1768. Six Nations also had interests in land west and north of the boundary line negotiated at Fort Stanwix.
Fort Mcintosh Treaty of 1785. The treaty allowed settlers access to the points past the fort and the Ohio country.
Mouth of the Great Miami Treaty of 1786. This treaty was signed between the United States and Shawnee leaders after the American Revolutionary War and ceded parts of the Ohio country to the United States.
Fort Harmar Treaty of 1789. Representatives of the Six Nations, the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi and Sauk were involved in this treaty which allowed Americans to settle on their land.
The Greenville Treaty of 1885. It was an imperfect agreement not agreed upon by all the tribes, but it ended violence at least temporarily, and established “Indian” lands.

For us to express acknowledgment we wish to take action by teaching the indigenous perspective of colonization, understanding the impact of erasure, and knowing and understanding that Native Americans had their food and culture taken away.