The New Orleans Public Library acknowledges the original inhabitants of this land. The City of New Orleans is a continuation of a multicultural Indigenous civilization on the Mississippi River known for thousands of years as Bulbancha, a Choctaw term meaning “a place of many tongues.” The Choctaw, Houma, Chitimacha, Biloxi, and other Native peoples have lived on this land since time immemorial, and the resilient voices of Native Americans remain an inseparable part of our local culture.

Considering our mission, we ask that you take some time to support Native authors. We recommend requesting a book by an Indigenous author from your local Library location. This call to action is a tangible way to help Native writers tell their stories, take back their narratives, and have their voices heard. We support your efforts to continue learning as we aid in avoiding superficial gestures and work to be equitable and inclusive for all. Explore our list of resources to start your journey.

We are holding ourselves accountable for a lack of collective action and demonstrated support to be in community with Indigenous nations. We ask our New Orleans Public Library community to join us on this journey to reject the superficial nature of land acknowledgments, to examine our relationships with the land we occupy, and to engage in meaningful activities to support reparative action for Indigenous communities. We recognize the symbolic nature of offering these statements, particularly given the emotional labor this creates for our Indigenous colleagues and communities to help craft them and the meaningful, reparative action that often fails to accompany them.