Misplaced Trust

From education to penitentiaries, public institutions were built with stolen Indigenous lands – and still survive on Indigenous resources. Using publicly available data, Grist has located millions of acres of land taken from hundreds of Indigenous nations, land that provides revenue to state universities, K-12 schools, hospitals, and other beneficiaries through fossil fuel exploration, mining, timber harvesting, and other industries. This series explores how stolen wealth continues to transform public institutions.

PART I

GRIST

The extractive industries filling public university coffers on stolen land

How 14 land-grant colleges took more than 8.3 million acres from 123 Indigenous nations.

Tristan Ahtone, Robert Lee, Amanda Tachine, An Garagiola, Audrianna Goodwin, Maria Parazo Rose, & Clayton Aldern February 7, 2024

Methodology

User Guide

Data and Code