land acknowledgment

noun

variants or land acknowledgement

plural land acknowledgments or land acknowledgements

: a usually brief statement (such as one made at a public gathering) that recognizes the surrounding land as the ancestral, traditional, or contemporary homeland of one or more Indigenous peoples

An increasing number of institutions across the country have started making verbal land acknowledgments to the Aboriginal groups who traditionally occupied the territory.

—Maija Kappler

For the first time in its 94-year history, the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade featured a land acknowledgement and blessing to honor the Wampanoag and Lenape people.

—Intertribal Life

When people ask for guidance in making land acknowledgments, we suggest reaching out directly to local Indigenous communities and to Native Nations forcibly removed from the area in the past to ask how they want to be recognized.

—National Museum of the American Indian

This is the core issue with land acknowledgments: they aren't enough. And while no single action can speak to all historical sins, this one in particular lacks nuance. At its worst, a land acknowledgment may make someone feel like they've done their part, and that Native history—and past and present identity—fit into a neat little box.

—Len Necefer

Examples of land acknowledgment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The director scores easy laughs off of modern-day progressive shibboleths such as gender-fluid pronouns, trigger warnings and Native American land acknowledgments. —Gustavo Arellano, Houston Chronicle, 25 Mar. 2026

The director scores easy laughs off of modern-day progressive shibboleths such as gender-fluid pronouns, trigger warnings and Native American land acknowledgments. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2026

The group successfully defended a University of Washington professor after the school fired him for parodying the school’s Native American land acknowledgment. —Jack O'Connor, Chicago Tribune, 27 Jan. 2026

In this city, climate change is real, people wake up to newscasts on NPR, and public meetings might begin with a land acknowledgment. —Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Jan. 2026

Only a few other NBA teams have incorporated a land acknowledgment at their arenas, the Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns being among them. —Cecilio Padilla, CBS News, 24 Nov. 2025

There will be music, singers, a children’s choir, speakers from different faith traditions, a land acknowledgment and an interfaith choir. —Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Nov. 2025

In 2020 and 2024, the party platform began with land acknowledgments for the Native American tribes that had previously inhabited their convention sites. —David Weigel, semafor.com, 27 Oct. 2025

Anaheim’s celebration on Monday featured the morning prayer walk, a land acknowledgment program at City Hall and finished at the Downtown Community Center with a closing prayer and potluck, with food provided by local restaurants and community members. —Victoria Le, Oc Register, 13 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2014, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for land acknowledgment

• acknowledgement