The headings and terms below are largely derived from archival documents, which often contain terms, phrases, and biases that reduce, minimize, or alter Native identities and views of the world. As part of our commitment to decolonize and recontextualize these sources, these decolonizing statements appear next to the search filters in the “Explore” page, to help better interpret and understand the headings and terms given in the primary sources. The decolonizing context is designed to Indigenize the archive by disrupting and revising the colonial perspectives that largely inform the original archival materials. The Stolen Relations project incorporates Indigenous voices in a variety of ways throughout the project and, in so doing, hopes to create a greater sense of wholeness to the individuals in the archival documents that would otherwise be described only by colonial perspectives. 

Name: 

European colonizers often assigned European names to Indigenous peoples (or garbled their Native names). When possible, we have used or restored the Indigenous names of people mentioned. In many instances, enslavers simply did not give a name at all in order to facilitate erasure and ensure conquest is complete. 

Gender: 

We recognize that the archive largely does not recognize that gender is fluid nor acknowledges two-spirited people. European colonizers often ignored the non-binary gender identities of some Native people.

Tribal Nation: 

Archival documents often used terms that diminished the nationhood and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples (such as “tribe”). In many cases, however, the tribal/national affiliation of enslaved Native people was completely erased. 

We recognize that ‘tribe’ is often used in the colonial documents and diminishes the nationhood of Indigenous groups. We assert the nation to nation relationship that tribal nations have. In many cases, the tribal/national status of enslaved Indigenous peoples was completely erased.

Racial descriptor: 

Racial terms in colonial documents are highly subjective and often served the purposes of colonial powers. This included, at times, minimizing or erasing Indigeneity in order to make individuals more enslavable. We recognize that labels are not sufficient in describing indigeneity and that simply listing “Indian” can erase indigeneity without specific tribe, nation, etc.

Location: 

Colonial documents often impose European names for geographic features, thereby erasing Native names for places and rivers.We have tried to list the Indigenous name for the land listed in the archival documents on our project website.