Beyond Land and Labor Acknowledgements

Our land and labor acknowledgements recognize that we must go beyond words into actions to address the real, structural issues created by the legacies of colonialism and slavery. This page is a growing collection of resources to learn more about these issues. If you have a recommendation for a resource to add to the page, please contact Cortney Marabetta at cmarabetta@aftwa.org.

If you are unfamiliar with Washington's tribes, there are several resources to start with.

Native-Land.ca: This site provides several versions of a map; one shows traditional territory, language family, and/or treaty, depending on the toggles you set. The other, which is new, is a constellation map that focuses on the relationships between tribes. This map is worldwide.

The Tribes of Washington: This site includes information on the 29 federally-recognized tribes who call Washington their home. This resources does not include the six tribes who are not federally recognized, nor tribes whose traditional lands include parts of Washington and Washington, Oregon, or British Columbia.

Nations and Tribes of Washington State: This resource, hosted by the UW American Indian Studies department, lists all of Washington's tribes and links to their homepages. Tribes not federally recognized are designated by an asterisk. This list includes tribes whose lands are partially in other states or British Columbia.

This is Native Land: A permanent exhibit at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, This Is Native Land invites visitors to understand Washington State through the lived experiences and voices of its Native people.

Despite not being a slave state, Washington State has benefited from the economic and cultural impact of uncompensated Black labor at the same time as Black people have often been, explicitly or implicitly, unwelcome in the state. 

The 1619 Project: An ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.