Starting this coming fall, the Mashpee Public School (MPS) District will be hanging Land Acknowledgement posters in classrooms and common areas in each of the three MPS school buildings: KC Coombs, Quashnet, and Mashpee Middle/High School.
The idea to implement the land acknowledgment originated in 2018 during the delivery of a professional development series created by WLRP that taught MPS educators about Wampanoag tribal history, culture, sovereignty, and governance.
The posters, which will be in both English and Wôpanâak will feature the image shown below of beloved tribal chief, Sôtyum Vernon "Bunny" Lopez.
The English portion of the poster reads as follows:
The Mashpee Wampanoag welcome you to our traditional homeland. The Mashpee Public Schools recognizes and honors the many generations of Wôpanâak people who have lived and been sustained in this territory for more than 10,000 years.
We applaud the Mashpee School District for this important gesture of recognition!
