The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, is located within the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples who lived here since time immemorial.
In the 1850s, these Tribes were displaced when colonization and Gold Rush brought thousands of Euro-Americans to their lands, leading to warfare, epidemics, starvation, and villages being burned. Starting in 1853, treaties were signed, confederating these Tribes and others together, who would be referred to as the Rogue River Tribe.
These treaties ceded most of their homelands to the United States, and in return, they were guaranteed a permanent homeland reserved for them. At the end of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, these Tribes and many other Tribes from Western Oregon were removed to the Siletz Reservation and the Grand Ronde Reservation.
Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians are living descendants of the Takelma, Shasta, and Latgawa peoples of this area.
We encourage YOU to learn about the land you reside on, and to join us in advocating for the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous people.