Land Acknowledgment

We acknowledge that Indian Hills and Billy Mills Middle School sit on the ancestral homelands of the Kaw (Kanza) people, for whom the state of Kansas is named. This land was later set aside for the Shawnee Nation under an 1825 treaty, before being taken from them in 1854.

Our neighborhood is deeply connected to Haskell Indian Nations University. Founded in 1884 as a federal boarding school, Haskell was part of a system that separated Native children from their families, languages, and cultures. Today, it thrives as a university serving students from tribal nations across the country. The very building where we gather stands on land that once belonged to Haskell, transferred away by the federal government during the mid-20th century.

The Legacy of Broken Arrow

The land encompassing Broken Arrow Park and the former Broken Arrow Elementary School was originally a part of Haskell's campus. In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. Department of the Interior transferred these parcels to the city and county. The name "Broken Arrow" originated from an essay contest held at Haskell, where a student won for describing a broken arrow as a universal symbol of peace.

While Broken Arrow Elementary deeply saddened our neighborhood when it closed its doors as a traditional K-5 school in 2023, the building remains a vital cornerstone of education. It is now the central hub for the district's Native American Student Services (NASS), providing critical cultural resources, mentorship, tutoring, and programming for Indigenous and Alaska Native youth throughout Lawrence.

Our school proudly carries the name of Billy Mills, an Oglala Lakota runner who attended Haskell and won Olympic gold in 1964.

We honor the Indigenous people who came before us and those who are here today—our neighbors, Haskell’s students, faculty, and alumni, and the tribal nations of Kansas. As we build this association, we commit to learning this history, listening to our Native neighbors, and actively caring for this land and its community.