Today, we honor our Veterans for keeping our country safe. In addition, November is National American Indian Heritage Month! Members of various departments at LMU recently created a website to showcase the Native American and Indigenous Community at LMU. This site educates readers on specialized programs, student and employee groups, events, and other resources relevant to the Indigenous community.
The website here acknowledges the land that LMU resides on as Tongva land, and also as well details the importance of land acknowledgments. It also highlights LMU’s Tongva Memorial, which overlooks the bluff as the first memorial anywhere dedicated in 2000 to the Gabrielino Tongva Indians, “People of the Earth”. The site was re-dedicated in 2004 after the remains of 200+ Native Americans were found on the Playa Vista property below the bluff. These were re-buried in an earthen mound visible below, within Ballona Discovery Park.
The website also brings attention to featured resources, including the Indigenous Student Union (Instagram linked). They aim to empower and unite Indigenous students at LMU, as well as allies. The site also provides links to other resources, including the Ballona Discovery Park and CURes.
Finally, courses at LMU with content on Indigenous Peoples are listed with the course description. In this way, students interested in learning more can consider taking a class at LMU, connecting with their peers in the class as well as the professors.
CURes has helped the development of this website by providing links, details on events, and other resources while the site was being created.
Pictured Below: Home Page – Native American and Indigenous Community at LMU