The Land We’re On

Every organization, community, and individual owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy — seen and unseen, acknowledge or ignored. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Truth and acknowledgment are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We begin this effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth.

TIPP is situated on the ancestral lands of the Kiikapoi (Kickapoo) and Kitikiti'sh (Wichita) People. 

The Wichita people are a confederation of Southern Plains Native American tribes. Historically they spoke the Wichita and Kichai languages, both Caddoan languages. They are indigenous to Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. Today, Wichita tribes, which include the Kichai people, Yscani, Waco, Taovaya, Tawakoni, and the Wichita proper (or Guichita or Kanoatino), are federally recognized as the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, and Tawakoni).

Ancestors of the Wichita and their allies—the Tawakoni and Waco—have resided on the southern plains since pre-contact times. The Southern Plains Village archaeological tradition was well established by A.D. 800, and the villages of these early horticulturalists and hunters were located from south central Kansas to northern Texas throughout the historic period. During the eighteenth century the Kichai, once a member of the Caddoan Confederacy, joined the allied tribes who were assigned to a reservation in Indian Territory in 1859. The Wichita remained in their ancestral homeland, with headquarters at Anadarko, Oklahoma.

The Kickapoo Indians, an Algonkian-speaking group of fewer than 1,000 individuals scattered across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and northern Mexico, are the remnants of a larger tribe that once lived in the central Great Lakes region. When first encountered by French explorers in the early 1640s, the Kickapoo were still living in the region between lakes Michigan and Erie—the area considered to have been their ancestral home. There they formed a loose alliance with other displaced Algonkians while carrying on a vigorous trade with the French. At the time of first contact with whites, the Kickapoos were an independent and self-sufficient people whose mode of life continues to be a distinguishing characteristic of the group.

Nonetheless, over the next two centuries, the pressures of white expansion, Indian removal policies, and the escalating cycle of frontier violence forced the Kickapoos into a series of relocations, divisions, and reassociations. By the mid-nineteenth century the tribe had divided into three distinct groups: the Kansas Kickapoos, the Oklahoma Kickapoos, and the group known as either the Mexican Kickapoos or the Texas Band of the Oklahoma Kickapoos. With time, these divisions became more distinct as each group adapted to its particular situation.

We pay respects to their elders past and present. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that bring us together. And please join us in uncovering such truths in any institution or community, with any individual, and at any and all public events. We welcome the efforts to decolonize our psychology, our programs, and our communities.