We collectively acknowledge that VUMC’s Office of Health Equity occupies the ancestral and traditional Lands of the Cherokee, Yuchi, and Shawnee peoples. We in the Office of Health Equity are grappling with this history and recognize that this acknowledgement is insufficient to address the harm inflicted on these communities. We are striving to learn more about Native American and Indigenous history in the Nashville region and to celebrate these communities today. We in the Office of Health Equity are committed to a lifetime of antiracist work. Understanding the history of Native American communities is central to this work and we will continually strive to include and center the voices of Tennessee's Native communities in our efforts.  

For more information on developing land acknowledgments, please see these resources - which helped inspire our statement above.

- A guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment - Native Governance Center

- Native American and Indigenous Initiatives & Land Acknowledgment - Northwestern University

- Five Steps to Writing A Land Acknowledgment - Care About Climate

-Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land