Acknowledgments

This site is a collaborative effort of Not in Our Town, a local human rights organization, and the McLean County Museum of History. Relevant Museum exhibits are also linked. A visit to the Museum is a great way to learn these stories more deeply and to see the actual artifacts that help tell the story. Tour originators were Museum Executive Director Emeritus Greg Koos and Museum Board Member Mike Matejka, with Museum Librarian Bill Kemp also joining the effort. Museum of History staff and many community members aided in this research.

This project was financially supported by the Illinois Humanities Council and an Illinois Department of Human Services Healing Illinois Grant, as well as a grant from Business Builders.

Illinois Humanities is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Illinois General Assembly [through the Illinois Arts Council Agency], as well as by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed by speakers, program participants, or audiences do not necessarily reflect those of the NEH, Illinois Humanities, our partnering organizations or our funders.

Land Acknowledgement Statement

We want to acknowledge that the land we call McLean County is the ancestral land of many Native groups, beginning with the Paleoindians 12,000 years ago and most recently Algonquin-speaking groups, including the Kickapoo, who were forced west from this area in the 1830s. Other groups in this area include (but are not limited to) Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascouten, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Lenape, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. These lands were the traditional territory of these Native Nations before their forced removal, and these lands continue to carry the stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity. This statement was drafted in collaboration with Lester Randall, Tribal Chairman of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, and Nichole Boyd, former Director of the Native American House at UIUC.

Website Development Team:

Not In Our Town: Mike Matejka, interns Aaron Sanders, Yvin Shin and Aditi Sharma

McLean County Museum of History: Julie Emig, Susan Hartzold, Hannah Johnson, Bill Kemp, Torii Moré, George Perkins, Candace Summers, and Jeff Woodard

Business Builders Marketing team

Proofreading provided by Ruth Cobb, Loretta Santejka, Hannah Johnson, Torii Moré, and Julie Emig