Albany Celebrates Native American Territory Signs

ALBANY, CA — The city of Albany on Tuesday will celebrate 13 signs throughout the city that acknowledge that it is situated on Ohlone land. City officials will join the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust to honor the signs, and the city’s ongoing commitment to recognizing and honoring the fact that it is situated on native land.

Corrina Gould, the tribal spokesperson for a group of seven Ohlone tribes residing around the Bay Area known as the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, will speak at the ceremony. It will take place at 3:30 at the Ohlone Greenway on 1100 Block of Masonic Avenue.

The Albany City Council passed Resolution 2021-95 in September to install signs featuring the city logo that say “Ohlone Territory” next to the city seal and the words “Welcome! Albany, California.” The signs can be found at Buchanan Park, Memorial Park, San Pablo Avenue, Pierce Street, and several other locations.

Photo courtesy City of Albany. Locations of the 13 signs throughout the city.

The signs are part of a larger campaign introduced by the city to “make things right,” as Mayor Ge’Nell Gary told the San Francisco Chronicle. In October, a flag acknowledging the Ohlone people flew over Albany City Hall for an entire month. Albany was the first Bay Area city to fly a Native American flag. Per the resolution, the city is also working with the Confederated Villages and the Land Trust to develop plans to:

• Give back portions of public land and open spaced “in perpetuity” through the Sogorea Te’Land Trust
• Pay an annual Shuumi Land Tax to the Land Trust
• Dedicate a park of section of a park to the Ohlone people
• Draft a land acknowledgement wit the Confederated Villages of Lisjan that will be read at the start of all city meetings
• Work with the Albany School District to conduct a “thorough evaluation” of curriculum, programs, and events pertaining to the Lisjan people

The Ohlone people lived in the Bay Area for thousands of years before they were either kidnapped, enslaved or killed under the Spanish mission system.

“The City Council recognizes that despite over two hundred years of colonial occupation, displacement and invisibilization, the Ohlone tribe of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan continue to live here, revitalize their cultural practices and uphold their responsibilities to protect and care for their ancestral homeland,” the September resolution reads.

Other Bay Area cities have taken similar actions. Berkeley unveiled 12 new “Ohlone territory” signs in 2019, and the Richmond City Council voted in April to name a new park Ookwe, which means “medicine” in the Chochenyo language. Alameda voted to pay a Shuumi Tax of $11,000 per year for the next two years.

““We really honor the city of Albany (for) doing this really important work with us — recognizing that we continue to be here,” Gould said in October during the unveiling of the flag, according to the Chronicle.