Land Acknowledgement Statement
The Midwest Trust Center acknowledges that we reside on the ancestral territory of several tribal nations, including the Kanza, Osage and Shawnee peoples, and specifically, JCCC occupies land taken from these nations. We recognize that Native Americans are traditional guardians of the land and that there is an enduring relationship between Native peoples and these traditional territories. In addition, we recognize, advocate, and support the sovereignty of the Federally recognized tribes of Kansas.
Thomas Johnson, for whom our county and College are named, was a slaveholder and missionary to the Shawnee. Upon their next removal to Oklahoma Indian Territory, he was compensated for his missionary work with this county’s land. The success of Johnson County and the Community College is a result of our location on these lands. (Source: John Bowes, Exiles and Pioneers: Eastern Indians in the Trans-Mississippi West, Cambridge University Press, 2007. Available through JCCC Library.)
For more information on tribes in Kansas:
