Ponca
Encyclopedia
The Ponca are a Native American
people of the Dhegihan
branch of the Siouan-language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribe
s: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
. Their traditions and historical accounts suggest they originated as a tribe east of the Mississippi River
in the Ohio River
valley area and migrated west for game and as a result of Iroquois
wars.
The term Ponca was the name of a clan among the Kansa, Osage
, and Quapaw
s. The meaning of the name is unknown.
At first European contact, the Ponca lived around the mouth of the Niobrara River
in northern Nebraska
. According to tradition, they moved there from an area east of the Mississippi
just before Columbus
' arrival in the Americas. Siouan-speaking tribes such as the Omaha, Osage
, Quapaw
and Kaw
also have traditions of having migrated to the West from east of the Mississippi River. The invasions of the Iroquois
from their traditional base in the north pushed those tribes out of the Ohio River
area. Scholars are not able to determine precisely when the Dhegian-Siouan tribes migrated west, but know the Iroquois also pushed tribes out from the Ohio and West Virginia areas in the Beaver Wars
. The Iroquois maintained the lands as hunting grounds.
The Ponca appear on a 1701 map by Pierre-Charles Le Sueur
, who placed them along the upper Missouri
. In 1789, fur trader Juan Baptiste Munier was given an exclusive license to trade with the Ponca at the mouth of the Niobrara River
. He founded a trading post at its confluence with the Missouri, where he found about 800 Ponca residing. Shortly after that, the tribe was hit by a devastating smallpox
epidemic
. In 1804, when they were visited by the Lewis and Clark Expedition
, only about 200 Ponca remained. Later in the 19th century, their number rose to about 700. Unlike most other Plains Indians
, the Ponca grew maize
and kept vegetable gardens. Their last successful buffalo hunt was in 1855.
the US mistakenly included all Ponca lands in the Great Sioux Reservation
. Conflict between the Ponca and the Sioux/Lakota, who now claimed the land as their own by US law, forced the US to remove the Ponca from their own ancestral lands.
(present-day Oklahoma
) in 1876, the Ponca were on the list. After inspecting the lands the US government offered for their new reservation and finding it unsuitable for agriculture
, the Ponca chiefs decided against a move to the Indian Territory. Hence, when governmental officials came in early 1877 to move the Ponca to their new land, the chiefs refused, citing their earlier treaty. Most of the tribe refused and had to be moved by force. In their new location, the Ponca struggled with malaria
, a shortage of food and the hot climate. One in four members died within the first year.
Chief Standing Bear
was among those who had most vehemently protested the tribe's removal. When his eldest son, Bear Shield, lay on his deathbed, Standing Bear promised to have him buried on the tribe's ancestral lands. In order to carry out his promise, Standing Bear left the reservation in Oklahoma and traveled back toward the Ponca homelands. He was arrested for doing so without US government permission and ordered confined at Fort Omaha. Many people took up his cause, and two prominent attorneys offered their services pro bono. Standing Bear filed a habeas corpus
suit challenging his arrest. In Standing Bear v. Crook (1879), held in Omaha, Nebraska
, the US District Court established for the first time that native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law" of the United States, and that they have certain rights as a result. This was an important civil rights
case.
to the Ponca, and about half the tribe moved back north from Indian Territory. The tribe continued to decline.
After World War II, the US government began a policy of terminating its relationship with tribes. In 1966, the US federal government terminated
the tribe (then called the Northern Ponca). It distributed its land by allotment to members, and sold off what it called surplus. Many individuals sold off their separate allotments over the decades, sometimes being tricked by speculators.
In the 1970s, the tribe started efforts to reorganize politically. Members wanted to revive the cultural identity of its people and improve their welfare. First they sought state recognition, and then allied with their Congressional representatives to seek legislation for federal recognition. On October 31, 1990, the Ponca Restoration Bill was signed into law, and they were recognized as the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. They are now trying to rebuild a land base on their ancestral lands. They are the only federally recognized tribe in Nebraska without a reservation.
Today the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has over 2500 enrolled members and is headquartered in Niobrara, Nebraska
.
Reservation in Indian Territory, the tribe moved west to their own lands along the Arkansas
and Salt Fork River
s. The full-bloods formed a tipi
village, while the mixed-bloods settled about Chikaskia River
. During opposition by Ponca leadership, the US government began dismantling tribal government under the Curtis Act. In an attempt to encourage assimilation (and to allow Oklahoma to become a state), they allotted reservation lands to individual members under the Dawes Act
in 1891 and 1892. Any land remaining after allotment was made available for sale to non-natives.
After Oklahoma achieved statehood, some remaining Ponca land was leased or sold to the 101 Ranch, where many Ponca people found employment. The 1911 discovery of oil
on Ponca lands provided revenues but had mixed results. There were environmental disasters as oil refineries dumped waste directly into the Arkansas River
.
In 1918, two Ponca men, Frank Eagle and Louis McDonald, helped co-found the Native American Church
.
In 1950 the tribe organized a new government under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
. They adopted their tribal constitution on 20 September 1950.
Today the tribe is headquartered in White Eagle, Oklahoma
. It conducts business from Ponca City
. The Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma has over 4200 members.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
people of the Dhegihan
Dhegihan
The Dhegihan languages are a group of Siouan languages that include Kansa–Osage, Omaha–Ponca, and Quapaw. Their historical region included parts of the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, the Great Plains, and southeastern North America....
branch of the Siouan-language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
The Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, also known as the Ponca Nation, is a federally recognized tribe located in Oklahoma. The Ponca traditionally speak the Omaha-Ponca language, part of the Souian language family. Another portion of the people belong to the larger Ponca Tribe of...
. Their traditions and historical accounts suggest they originated as a tribe east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
valley area and migrated west for game and as a result of Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
wars.
The term Ponca was the name of a clan among the Kansa, Osage
Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
, and Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...
s. The meaning of the name is unknown.
Early history
Niobrara River
The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska. The river drains one of the most arid sections of the Great Plains, and has a low flow for a river of its length...
in northern Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. According to tradition, they moved there from an area east of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
just before Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
' arrival in the Americas. Siouan-speaking tribes such as the Omaha, Osage
Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
, Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...
and Kaw
Kaw (tribe)
The Kaw Nation are an American Indian people of the central Midwestern United States. The tribe known as Kaw have also been known as the "People of the South wind", "People of water", Kansa, Kaza, Kosa, and Kasa. Their tribal language is Kansa, classified as a Siouan language.The toponym "Kansas"...
also have traditions of having migrated to the West from east of the Mississippi River. The invasions of the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
from their traditional base in the north pushed those tribes out of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
area. Scholars are not able to determine precisely when the Dhegian-Siouan tribes migrated west, but know the Iroquois also pushed tribes out from the Ohio and West Virginia areas in the Beaver Wars
Beaver Wars
The Beaver Wars, also sometimes called the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, commonly refers to a series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern North America...
. The Iroquois maintained the lands as hunting grounds.
The Ponca appear on a 1701 map by Pierre-Charles Le Sueur
Pierre-Charles Le Sueur
Pierre-Charles Le Sueur was a French fur trader and explorer in North America, recognized as the first known European to explore the Minnesota River valley....
, who placed them along the upper Missouri
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
. In 1789, fur trader Juan Baptiste Munier was given an exclusive license to trade with the Ponca at the mouth of the Niobrara River
Niobrara River
The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska. The river drains one of the most arid sections of the Great Plains, and has a low flow for a river of its length...
. He founded a trading post at its confluence with the Missouri, where he found about 800 Ponca residing. Shortly after that, the tribe was hit by a devastating smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
. In 1804, when they were visited by the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
, only about 200 Ponca remained. Later in the 19th century, their number rose to about 700. Unlike most other Plains Indians
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
, the Ponca grew maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
and kept vegetable gardens. Their last successful buffalo hunt was in 1855.
Treaties with USA
In 1817 the tribe signed a peace treaty with the United States. By a second treaty in 1825, they regulated trade and tried to minimize intertribal clashes on the Northern Plains. In 1858 the Ponca signed a treaty by which they gave up parts of their land to the United States in return for protection from hostile tribes and a permanent reservation home on the Niobrara. The Ponca signed their last treaty with the USA in 1865. In the 1868 US-Sioux Treaty of Fort LaramieTreaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
The Treaty of Fort Laramie was an agreement between the United States and the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota, and Arapaho Nation signed in 1868 at Fort Laramie in the Wyoming Territory, guaranteeing to the Lakota ownership of the Black Hills, and further...
the US mistakenly included all Ponca lands in the Great Sioux Reservation
Great Sioux reservation
The Great Sioux Reservation was established in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and includes all of modern western South Dakota and modern Boyd County, Nebraska...
. Conflict between the Ponca and the Sioux/Lakota, who now claimed the land as their own by US law, forced the US to remove the Ponca from their own ancestral lands.
Relocation
When Congress decided to remove several northern tribes to Indian TerritoryIndian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
(present-day Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
) in 1876, the Ponca were on the list. After inspecting the lands the US government offered for their new reservation and finding it unsuitable for agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, the Ponca chiefs decided against a move to the Indian Territory. Hence, when governmental officials came in early 1877 to move the Ponca to their new land, the chiefs refused, citing their earlier treaty. Most of the tribe refused and had to be moved by force. In their new location, the Ponca struggled with malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, a shortage of food and the hot climate. One in four members died within the first year.
Standing Bear
Standing Bear
Standing Bear was a Ponca Native American chief who successfully argued in U.S...
was among those who had most vehemently protested the tribe's removal. When his eldest son, Bear Shield, lay on his deathbed, Standing Bear promised to have him buried on the tribe's ancestral lands. In order to carry out his promise, Standing Bear left the reservation in Oklahoma and traveled back toward the Ponca homelands. He was arrested for doing so without US government permission and ordered confined at Fort Omaha. Many people took up his cause, and two prominent attorneys offered their services pro bono. Standing Bear filed a habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
suit challenging his arrest. In Standing Bear v. Crook (1879), held in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
, the US District Court established for the first time that native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law" of the United States, and that they have certain rights as a result. This was an important civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
case.
Nebraska
In 1881, the US returned 26,236 acres (106 km²) of Knox County, NebraskaKnox County, Nebraska
-History:The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through the area on 4 September 1804.The US Treaty with the Ponca tribe was signed at White Paint Creek on 9 June 1825.Knox County was formed in 1854. It was named after Major General Henry Knox.-Demographics:...
to the Ponca, and about half the tribe moved back north from Indian Territory. The tribe continued to decline.
After World War II, the US government began a policy of terminating its relationship with tribes. In 1966, the US federal government terminated
Indian termination policy
Indian termination was the policy of the United States from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. The belief was that Native Americans would be better off if assimilated as individuals into mainstream American society. To that end, Congress proposed to end the special relationship between tribes and the...
the tribe (then called the Northern Ponca). It distributed its land by allotment to members, and sold off what it called surplus. Many individuals sold off their separate allotments over the decades, sometimes being tricked by speculators.
In the 1970s, the tribe started efforts to reorganize politically. Members wanted to revive the cultural identity of its people and improve their welfare. First they sought state recognition, and then allied with their Congressional representatives to seek legislation for federal recognition. On October 31, 1990, the Ponca Restoration Bill was signed into law, and they were recognized as the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. They are now trying to rebuild a land base on their ancestral lands. They are the only federally recognized tribe in Nebraska without a reservation.
Today the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has over 2500 enrolled members and is headquartered in Niobrara, Nebraska
Niobrara, Nebraska
Niobrara is a village in Knox County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 370 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Niobrara is located at ....
.
Oklahoma
After the 1877 forced relocation onto the QuapawQuapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...
Reservation in Indian Territory, the tribe moved west to their own lands along the Arkansas
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...
and Salt Fork River
Salt Fork Arkansas River
The Salt Fork of the Arkansas River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma in the United States. Via the Arkansas River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River.-Course:...
s. The full-bloods formed a tipi
Tipi
A tipi is a Lakota name for a conical tent traditionally made of animal skins and wooden poles used by the nomadic tribes and sedentary tribal dwellers of the Great Plains...
village, while the mixed-bloods settled about Chikaskia River
Chikaskia River
The Chikaskia River is a tributary of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma in the United States...
. During opposition by Ponca leadership, the US government began dismantling tribal government under the Curtis Act. In an attempt to encourage assimilation (and to allow Oklahoma to become a state), they allotted reservation lands to individual members under the Dawes Act
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into allotments for individual Indians. The Act was named for its sponsor, Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again...
in 1891 and 1892. Any land remaining after allotment was made available for sale to non-natives.
After Oklahoma achieved statehood, some remaining Ponca land was leased or sold to the 101 Ranch, where many Ponca people found employment. The 1911 discovery of oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
on Ponca lands provided revenues but had mixed results. There were environmental disasters as oil refineries dumped waste directly into the Arkansas River
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...
.
In 1918, two Ponca men, Frank Eagle and Louis McDonald, helped co-found the Native American Church
Native American Church
Native American Church, a religious denomination which practices Peyotism or the Peyote religion, originated in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans in the United States...
.
In 1950 the tribe organized a new government under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, also known as the Thomas-Rogers Act, is a United States federal law that extended the US Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. It sought to return some form of tribal government to the many tribes in former Indian Territory...
. They adopted their tribal constitution on 20 September 1950.
Today the tribe is headquartered in White Eagle, Oklahoma
White Eagle, Oklahoma
White Eagle is an unincorporated community in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States.White Eagle was named for the Ponca principal chief, White Eagle , who led the Ponca to their reservation in Indian Territory. Other names for the town are Ponca, White Eagle Agency, and Whiteagle.-Geography:White...
. It conducts business from Ponca City
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Ponca City is a small city in Kay and Osage counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, which was named after the Ponca Tribe. Located in north central Oklahoma, it lies approximately south of the Kansas border, and approximately east of Interstate 35. 25,919 people called Ponca City home at the...
. The Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma has over 4200 members.
Notable Ponca
- Standing BearStanding BearStanding Bear was a Ponca Native American chief who successfully argued in U.S...
, chief and civil rights advocate - Paladine RoyePaladine RoyePaladine Roye was an award-winning Native American painter.-Background:Paladine H. Roye was born December 8, 1946 in White Eagle, Oklahoma. He was a full blood, enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma...
, painter, 1946–2001 - Clyde WarriorClyde WarriorClyde Merton Warrior was a member of the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and raised according to their traditions. In the 1960s, he became an activist for Native American sovereignty and civil rights, seeking to improve conditions for his people....
, activist for Native self-determination