In 1862, the Morrill Act empowered the U.S. government to seize over 10 million acres of indigenous tribal lands, which were then sold or developed to raise funds for public colleges. This practice, however, is just one aspect of a larger system that has caused Indigenous communities to lose their lands to benefit so-called “land-grant universities.”
In an effort to shed light on this issue, Grist undertook an examination of state trust lands, totaling more than 500 million acres across 21 states, which are held and managed by state agencies to support higher education institutions.
To compile a comprehensive dataset, Grist collaborated with state repositories and departments in over 14 states, conducting extensive spatial analysis and reviewing historical financial records. The resulting dataset covers more than 8.2 million acres of state trust parcels that were taken from 123 tribes, bands, and communities through 121 land cessions. It should be noted that this data is a snapshot captured in November 2023 and may differ significantly from historical inventories.
The dataset contains information on various land use activities, such as coal, oil and gas, minerals, agriculture, grazing, commercial use, real estate, water, renewable energies, and easements. Users can access the dataset on GitHub, and the code used to generate it is available for download and adaptation for other types of state trust lands beyond those benefiting land-grant universities.
Furthermore, Grist encourages the use of this data for reporting purposes, noting that it should be credited to Grist when utilized. The database administrator can be contacted at landgrabu@grist.org for further inquiries or collaborations.
The dataset includes a glossary of relevant terminology, such as “STL Parcel,” “PLSS Number,” “CRS System,” “Dataframe,” “REST API,” and “Deduplication.” Additionally, relevant documents and appendices provide information on data sources and processing steps.
The process to reconstruct the redistribution of Indigenous lands and their conversion to revenue for land-grant universities involved seven key steps, including identifying university beneficiaries, acquiring and cleaning data for STL parcels, merging data from various sources within each state, and determining the price paid per acre.
This comprehensive dataset serves to highlight the systemic impact of legislation and land management practices on Indigenous communities and raises awareness about the need for greater transparency and accountability in the use of state trust lands.
