With gratitude, I acknowledge that I grew up on and inhabited the land of the Cherokee people. I also acknowledge the benefit I have from their tragic loss of land, colonization, and genocide.

The University of North Georgia, where I currently live and work, rests on the land of the Creek and Cherokee people. This land was taken from them in a series of treaties. The first being the Treaty of Indian Springs in 1825. This was only 48 years before the founding of the university.

Through my work at The Lost Colony in Manteo, North Carolina, I was educated on the arrival of the first explorers and colonizers onto Native Land. There, I had the honor to work with members of the Tuscarora, Lumbee, Coharee, and other Waccamaw Sioux tribes. I will forever be deeply thankful for their education, friendship, and cultural exposure.