Páⁿka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Total population | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6,700[1][2]
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| Regions with significant populations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 United States(  Nebraska, Oklahoma) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| English,Omaha-Ponca | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Native American Church,Christianity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Related ethnic groups | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dhegihan speaking people(Omaha,Kaw,Osage, andQuapaw) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| People | Páⁿka |
|---|---|
| Language | Páⁿka Iyé, Páⁿka Gáxe |
| Country | Páⁿka Mazhóⁿ |
ThePonca people[a] (Omaha-Ponca:Páⁿka) are a nation primarily located in theGreat Plains of North America that share a common Ponca culture, history, and language, identified with two Indigenous nations: thePonca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma or thePonca Tribe of Nebraska.
This nation comprised the modern-day Ponca,Omaha,Kaw,Osage, andQuapaw peoples until the mid-17th century when the people sought to establish their nation west of theMississippi River as a result of theBeaver Wars. By the end of the 18th century, the Ponca people had established themselves at the mouth of theNiobrara River near its confluence with theMissouri River, remaining there until 1877 when the United Statesforcibly removed the Ponca people from thePonca Reservation in theDakota Territory to theIndian 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 byStanding 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 byWhite Eagle, ultimately gave rise to the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma.
At first European contact, the Ponca lived around the mouth of theNiobrara River in northernNebraska.[5] According to tradition, they moved there from an area east of theMississippi just beforeColumbus' arrival in the Americas. Siouan-speaking tribes such as theOmaha,Osage,Quapaw andKaw also have traditions of having migrated to the West from east of the Mississippi River. The invasions of theIroquois from their traditional base in the north pushed those tribes out of theOhio River area.[6] Scholars are not able to determine precisely when theDhegiha Siouan tribes migrated west, but know the Iroquois also pushed tribes out from the Ohio and West Virginia areas in theBeaver Wars. The Iroquois maintained the lands as hunting grounds.[7]
The Ponca appear on a 1701 map byPierre-Charles Le Sueur, who placed them along the upperMissouri. In 1789, fur traderJuan Baptiste Munier was given an exclusive license to trade with the Ponca at the mouth of theNiobrara 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 devastatingsmallpoxepidemic. In 1804, when they were visited by theLewis and Clark Expedition, only about 200 Ponca remained. Later in the 19th century, their number rose to about 700.[2]
_migration_story_according_to_oral_tradition._(Map_improved_2018).png)
Most of the leadership of the Ponca people was destroyed in 1824. Hostile Lakotas attacked a delegation of 30 leaders of various rank returning from a visit in a friendly Oglala Lakota camp. Only twelve survived. "Numbered among the dead were all the Ponca chiefs, including the famous Smoke-maker ...".[8]: 27
Unlike most otherPlains Indians, the Ponca grewmaize and kept vegetable gardens. Their last successful buffalo hunt was in 1855.[5]
In 1817 the tribe signed a peace treaty with the United States.[9] By a second treaty in 1825, they regulated trade and tried to minimize intertribal clashes on the Northern Plains.[10] 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.[11] The Ponca signed their last treaty with the US in 1865.[12] In the 1868 US-SiouxTreaty of Fort Laramie[13] the US mistakenly included all Ponca lands in theGreat 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.
WhenCongress decided to remove several northern tribes toIndian Territory (present-dayOklahoma) in 1876, the Ponca were on the list. After inspecting the lands the US government offered for their new reservation and finding it unsuitable foragriculture, 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 withmalaria, a shortage of food and the hot climate. One in four members died within the first year.[citation needed]
ChiefStanding 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 servicespro bono. Standing Bear filed ahabeas corpus suit challenging his arrest. InStanding Bear v. Crook (1879), held inOmaha, 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 importantcivil rights case.[2]
In 1881, the US returned 26,236 acres (106 km2) ofKnox County, Nebraska to the Ponca, and about half the tribe moved back north from Indian Territory. The tribe continued to decline.
In the 1930s, theUniversity of Nebraska and theSmithsonian Institution conducted anarcheological project[14] to identify and saveprehistoricartifacts 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.[15][14]
After World War II, the US government began a policy of terminating its relationship with tribes. In 1966, the US federal governmentterminated 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.[2]
Today the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has over 2,783 enrolled members and is headquartered inNiobrara, Nebraska.[2]
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After the 1877 forced relocation onto theQuapaw Reservation in Indian Territory, the tribe moved west to their own lands along theArkansas andSalt Fork Rivers. The full-bloods formed atipi village, while the mixed-bloods settled aboutChikaskia River. During opposition by Ponca leadership, the US government began dismantling tribal government under theCurtis Act. In an attempt to encourage assimilation (and to allow Oklahoma to become a state), they allotted reservation lands to individual members under theDawes Act in 1891 and 1892. Any land remaining after allotment was made available for sale to non-natives.[5]
After Oklahoma achieved statehood, some remaining Ponca land was leased or sold to the101 Ranch, where many Ponca people found employment. The 1911 discovery ofoil on Ponca lands provided revenues but had mixed results. There were environmental disasters as oil refineries dumped waste directly into theArkansas River.[5]
In 1918, three Ponca men, Frank Eagle, Louis McDonald, and McKinley Eagle, helped co-found theNative American Church.[16][17]: 224–226 As of 2024[update], 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 theOklahoma Indian Welfare Act. Ponca leaders adopted the Ponca Constitution on 20 September 1950.[18] Today, the Ponca Tribe is headquartered inWhite Eagle, Oklahoma and conducts business fromPonca City.
Recognized Ponca Chief Mitchell (Wash com oni) Cerrie was a signatory to the 1858 and 1865 Ponca Treaties and was the recipient of the February 8th 1878 Certification of Treaty Stipulations with the United States Government.
The first officers of the Central Church were Frank Eagle (Ponca), president; Mack Haag (Cheyenne), vice-president; George Pipestem (Oto), secretary; and Louis McDonald (Ponca), treasurer. For the first twenty-five years about thirty people from seven or eight tribes occupied all elected offices and the five or six appointed positions. As well as the member of the original general council, they included Alfred Wilson (Cheyenne), James W. Waldo (Kiowa), Ned E. Bruce (Kiowa), Edgar McCarthy (Osage), Frank W. Cayou (Omaha), and McKinley Eagle (Ponca).
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