The Schuylerville Public Library acknowledges that our physical spaces, and the community that our library serves are located on the stolen lands of Native peoples. For ten thousand years, an Algonkian people, the Mohican, tended to this rich river valley.
Around fifteen hundred years ago, the Kanien-ke-haka, or Mohawk people, one of the five groups that make up the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, migrated to the area. Both nations regard the area surrounding what is now called Saratoga Springs as sacred.
The forced removal of Native peoples by the government of the United States led to many Mohican people moving to modern day Stockbridge, Wisconsin where they joined together with a group of Lenni Lenape/Munsees and formed the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. Most Mohawk people were forced north towards and into Canada. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is now based out of Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. In the seventeenth century, when Native peoples began moving to avoid European colonization, the Abenaki people settled in this area as well, and still call the greater Saratoga area home.
It is worth noting that Native lands often overlapped and various groups had borders that shifted over the hundreds or thousands of years they lived here. This statement is not definitive. We are respectfully attempting to acknowledge the indigenous stewards of this land, and aim to do so as accurately as possible. We also realize that acknowledgement without action means little to the Native communities. Knowing that, we put forth the following action plan to continue to honor the Mohican, Mohawk, Abenaki, and all Native peoples:
What is housed in this library represents our community. We will dedicate a portion of our budget to buying books and other materials written and created by indigenous people that tell the stories of Native peoples.
The programming we bring to our patrons matters. We commit to bringing programming by and about indigenous people and culture to our library.
The library helps to connect people to resources, including our local history. We will archive and preserve materials given to us that feature local indigenous people, history, and culture to the best of our ability.
Sources:
https://www.ndakinnacenter.org/
https://www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/
https://www.mohican.com/
https://artsmidwest.org/resources/ideas/going-beyond-land-acknowledgments/
https://nativegov.org/resources/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/
statement approved by the Board of Trustees of the Schuylerville Public Library April 9, 2024