![]() ![]() American Indian Movement activist and Monacan Assistant Chief George Whitewolf and Monacan writer Karenne Wood served as advisors for the program. They also advocated for the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program at Virginia Tech, the first of its kind in the Commonwealth. In 1990, the Monacan Nation Tribal Council issued a statement in support of collaborative initiatives serving Virginia Indians. Virginia Indians are advocates for Native representation in the Virginia Tech community. Despite ongoing colonialism and segregation, Native people preserve tribal sovereignty and remain active in Virginia politics. After the Civil War, many Monacans left ancestral lands to escape Jim Crow while others stayed in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Amherst County where they work and live today. By 1723, most free Native people could not vote, own firearms, testify in court, or serve in militias. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, colonists enslaved Native and African people while restricting their mobility and legal rights. During colonization, Native people expanded a network of trading towns, facilitating the exchange of hides and metal goods. ![]() ![]() By 1600, about 15,000 Monacans lived in towns that fanned out north and west from the capital city of Rassawek, located at the confluence of the Rivanna and James Rivers. People who became the Monacans and Tutelos first built permanent settlements in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge around 1000 A.D. The red section represents the calling of student and family to campus the yellow section represents welcoming students to campus with resources and new opportunities white represents thriving, healing, and transitioning in affirming community, events, and spaces black represents releasing students from this environment with proper preparation and guidance as they pursue opportunities beyond VT. The four quadrants of the medicine wheel, pictured at the top of this page, can represent many things to different Nations, including the four directions and the four stages of life, and this version details students’ journeys through higher education. The Sacred Hoop Model informs the work of the AIICC. Finally, we acknowledge and honor the Monacan/Tutelo People and other Indigenous Peoples who historically cared for the Land, Air, and Waters that Virginia Tech now consumes. We also encourage you to visit Native Lands to learn more about the tribal communities that exist in your area. The American Indian and Indigenous Community Center, and those who tirelessly worked on this project, invite you to learn more about the Native community at Virginia Tech and those tribes of the Commonwealth. Additionally, it seeks to honor Native communities within the Commonwealth, creating awareness around the history and continued presence of Tribes within our state. This exhibit is an effort to disrupt narratives of erasure and highlight the amazing accomplishments of students, faculty, and staff who have added to the rich history of our campus. Spaces of higher learning are no exception to this phenomenon as institutional histories are implicated in projects of colonization. Indigenous history and contemporary presence are often rendered invisible in many aspects of life. While it may represent one of the smallest demographics on campus, student, faculty, and staff activism has led to visible transformation over the years. I have often referred to the Indigenous community at Virginia Tech as a small but mighty force.
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