Morrill Reckoning
Acknowledging Indigenous lands that funded the University of Maryland
Land Grant or Land Grab?
Occupying the land of the Piscataway-Conoy, the University of Maryland is one of 52 land grant universities funded by the seizure and sale of Indigenous lands. In 1862, U.S. Congress enacted the Morrill Act, which granted "public domain" land to states to fund institutions of higher education. The 2020 Land-Grab Universities investigation by Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone documents that the nearly 11 million acres of land distributed through the Morrill Act were taken from nearly 250 Indigenous nations or communities through seizures and violence-backed treaties.
According to Lee and Ahtone, Maryland received over 202,000 acres of land from land cessions by 37 Indigenous nations. This land was sold in 1867 to raise $112,504 for the University's endowment– the equivalent of $1,866,138 today.
UMD rose on Piscataway-Conoy land: whose land funded its ascent?
Creating "Public" Lands
Mapping UMD's Impact
In total, Maryland received 202,971 acres from 29 cessions distributed across 10 (current) states. The related cession documents name 37 Indigenous nations that can be traced to 29 federally-recognized Indigenous sovereign nations today.
In the map below, lands shown in purple (left) represent the cessions from which Maryland and other states received parcels. In yellow (right) are the current reservation lands of the 29 nations that were displaced from lands sold for UMD's endowment.
Click on the icons in each map for additional information about each cession or reservation, including links to cession maps and treaty text.
The map on left was created with filtered data from GIS map, "Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States," updated August 20, 2022 by the USDA Forest Service Office. The map on the right was created with filtered data from GIS map, "Federal American Indian Reservations," updated continuous by Esri Federal Datasets.
The above map only includes cessions from which Maryland received parcels, and only from federally-recognized nations or nations with reservations. However, many Indigenous lands were appropriated through multiple cessions and distributed to numerous state legislatures. Furthermore, the mapped cessions only reflect a limited extent of each nation's actual domain because treaty documents imposed artificial boundaries on territory already encroached upon for decades by the United States, European nations, and their respective citizens.
Sovereign Nations
Once the means of appropriating Native lands, now cession numbers allow us to identify the nations that have been impacted as they are recognized by the U.S. federal government today.
Although it may be impossible to quantify the magnitude of the impact that land dispossession had on these nations, we can engage with them directly to hear their stories and seek their requirements for restorative justice and reparative measures. The websites for their governing bodies, included below, stand testament to the fact that these nations are undeniably still here, cultivating their communities and histories.
Select an image or location marker below to access more information by and about each federally-recognized nation whose land was transferred to Maryland. An entry for the Piscataway-Conoy, recognized by the state of Maryland, is also included.
As the Maryland community reflects on the enduring impacts of both slavery and Indigenous dispossession on and near campus, we must also reckon with the reverberations on Indigenous communities whose lands in other locations were sold to finance our endowment.
Next Steps
- Continue to educate yourself about land displacement its ongoing effects. Seek out the perspectives, concerns, and recommendations of Indigenous communities, tribal governments, and organizations.
- Amplify Indigenous voices by sharing their messages, supporting their enterprises, and participating in their campaigns.
- Collaborate with campus organizations to develop initiatives that advocate for reparative action. Invite Indigenous activists and leaders to speak to your group.
- Engage with university administrators and faculty to advocate for curriculum changes, scholarships, community engagement, and other measures that promote restorative justice.