The American Booksellers Association acknowledges that Pittsburgh occupies the ancestral homelands of many Indigenous peoples, including the Monongahela Culture, the Shawnee people, and the Osage Nation — the original stewards of the land we now gather upon and call Pittsburgh.
We recognize that their sovereignty was never ceded, nor was this land given freely, but it was taken through colonization, displacement, and broken treaties. Yet, these nations and their descendants continue to share their stories, traditions, and leadership. They are not relics of the past but part of a living, thriving legacy that continues to shape the present and future.
We encourage you to explore the history of the land you reside on, including the realities of tribal removal and the ongoing fight for tribal sovereignty.
In offering this land acknowledgment, we actively affirm tribal sovereignty and respect for the ongoing connection to any land where we gather.
To honor these Native people and the lands that they’ve stewarded, ABA is donating to Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center — Pittsburgh, an organization promoting “the socio-economic development of the Native American community and others who experience the same type of economic difficulties in the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area.