Seminole “Indians” in the Everglades Courtesy of
Dunn, Hampton, “Seminole Indians in the Everglades” (1910).
Hampton Dunn Collection of Florida Postcards. Image 2072.
A Land Acknowledgment for a library geographically divided:
A Land Acknowledgment is meant to acknowledge an area’s original inhabitants and stewards. USF Libraries are situated on three different campuses which different indigenous groups have called home at different times. The USF Libraries Belonging and Equitable Access committee has worked with the Seminole to create and implement our land acknowledgment, recognizing that such an acknowledgment is only a first step towards truth and reconciliation towards the genocide and destruction of the Indigenous people of the Americas and their way of life.
USF Libraries Land Acknowledgment:
The University of South Florida Libraries wish to acknowledge and honor the Indigenous communities who lived and took stewardship of the land that our three libraries stand on. USF Libraries recognize that our libraries are built on the indigenous homelands and resources of the Seminole, Miccosukee, Mascogos, Calusa, and Tocobaga people, in addition to their ancestors going back over 10,000 years. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal of people from this land. This is a call for all of us to commit to being better stewards of the land we inhabit and to continue learning from the indigenous people still connected to the land.