At first glance, Miami University in southwestern Ohio seems an unlikely spot for a major American Indian language and cultural preservation and revitalization project. There are no reservations in the state, nor is there a significant American Indian population. Yet, Miami University houses the Myaamia Project, a unique collaboration between academia and a sovereign tribe, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. This article discusses the significant role that the Myaamia Project plays in bringing back the culture and language of the Miami tribe and explores why learning the language now is part of the healing process of their oppressive history. The project was created in 2001 and conducts a large array of programs for Miami tribal citizens, Miami University students and academia at large. According to project director Daryl Baldwin, their cultural and language efforts are in direct response to the history of the Miami tribal members who experienced forced removal from ancestral homelands. He added that largely due to the work of the Myaamia Project, tribal members in Ohio and Oklahoma now speak a language that linguists declared dead in the 1960s.