Ponca

The Ponca

The Ponca people[a] are a nation primarily located in the Great Plains of North America that share a common Ponca culture, history, and language, identified with two Indigenous nations: the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma or the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.

Historically, the Ponca originated as a constituent part of a large nation situated along the Ohio River valley. This nation comprised the modern-day Ponca, Omaha, Kaw, Osage, and Quapaw peoples until the mid-17th century when the people sought to establish their nation west of the Mississippi River as a result of the Beaver Wars. By the end of the 18th century, the Ponca people had established themselves at the mouth of the Niobrara River near its confluence with the Missouri River, remaining there until 1877 when the United States forcibly removed the Ponca people from the Ponca Reservation in the Dakota Territory to the Indian Territory. This event, known as the Ponca Trail of Tears, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Ponca civilians and the splintering of the nation. In 1879, two years after the removal, a small portion of the Ponca elected to return to Nebraska in 1879. This group, led by Standing Bear, ultimately gave rise to the present-day Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Two years later, the majority of the Ponca were given the opportunity to return to Nebraska but elected against doing so, having established themselves on a new reservation in the Indian Territory. This group, led by White Eagle, ultimately gave rise to the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma.

Nebraska

In 1881, the US returned 26,236 acres (106 km2) of Knox County, Nebraska to the Ponca, and about half the tribe moved back north from Indian Territory. The tribe continued to decline.

In the 1930s, the University of Nebraska and the Smithsonian Institution conducted an archeological project to identify and save prehistoric artifacts before they were destroyed during agricultural development. The team excavated a prehistoric Ponca village, which included large circular homes up to sixty feet in diameter, located almost two miles (3 km) along the south bank of the Niobrara River.

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.[2] 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 2,783 enrolled members and is headquartered in Niobrara, Nebraska.

Oklahoma

After the 1877 forced relocation onto the Quapaw Reservation in Indian Territory, the tribe moved west to their own lands along the Arkansas and Salt Fork Rivers. 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.[4]

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.[4]

In 1918, three Ponca men, Frank Eagle, Louis McDonald, and McKinley Eagle, helped co-found the Native American Church.[15][16]: 224–226  As of 2024, the Native American Church is the most widespread Indigenous religion among Native Americans in the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico, having an estimated 300,000 adherents.

In 1950, the nation organized a new government under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. Ponca leaders adopted the Ponca Constitution on 20 September 1950.[17] Today, the Ponca Tribe is headquartered in White Eagle, Oklahoma and conducts business from Ponca City.

Notable Ponca

• Carter Camp, AIM (American Indian Movement) leader
• Brett Chapman, attorney and Native American rights advocate
• Tommy Morrison, former heavyweight boxer/co-star in Rocky V movie
• Chief White Eagle, chief and civil rights advocate
• Susette La Flesche, civil rights activist, writer, lecturer, interpreter, artist
• Paladine Roye, painter, 1946–2001
• Ponka-We Victors, Kansas state legislator
• Clyde Warrior, activist for Native self-determination
• Standing Bear, chief and civil rights advocate

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponca

• https://www.poncatribe-ne.org/culture/history/
• https://www.ponca-nsn.gov/
• http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.na.088
• https://www.nps.gov/mnrr/learn/historyculture/standingbear.htm

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Photograph: Standing Bear in his formal attire
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution