Land Acknowledgement

PS 295 Brooklyn stands on land that is part of the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Lenape Delaware people. As a sign of respect, we recognize and honor the Lenape Delaware Nations, their elders past and present, and future generations.

Brooklyn was originally the “Lenapehoking” or the Land of the Lenape, an offspring of the Algonquin civilization; and includes present day New Jersey, New York and Delaware, until forced displacement started with European “discovery” of the land and continued well into the 19th century.

For many generations, these Native Peoples lived, worked, and created art on this land for which they were the traditional caretakers. Other Nations that have passed through or relocated to the area are Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora, Abenaki, Munsee, Mohegan, Montauk, Shinnecock, Mohican, and Wappinger Tribes.

At PS 295, we celebrate the many Native Peoples who are vibrantly thriving on and around Brooklyn today, and commit to working toward establishing authentic relationships with these Indigenous communities.

We annually welcome our partners at The Redhawk Native American Arts Council to host school-wide educational events that represent North American, South American, Central American, Caribbean, and Polynesian Indigenous cultures.

We are committed to addressing exclusions and erasures of Indigenous peoples, and confronting the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism in our school curriculum.