 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Roughly 5,000 (3,000 enrolled members) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| English,Spanish,Kickapoo | |
| Religion | |
| Native American Church;Christianity (manyCatholic, someProtestant);tribal religious practices | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Sauk,Meskwaki, otherAlgonquian peoples |
TheKickapoo people (/ˈkɪkəˌpuː/;Kickapoo:Kiikaapoa orKiikaapoi;Spanish:Kikapú) are anAlgonquian-speakingNative American tribe andIndigenous people in Mexico, originating in the region south of theGreat Lakes. There are threefederally recognized Kickapoo tribes in the United States: theKickapoo Tribe in Kansas, theKickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, and theKickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. The Oklahoma and Texas bands are politically associated with each other. The Kickapoo in Kansas came from a relocation from southern Missouri in 1832 as aland exchange from their reserve there.[1] Around 3,000 people are enrolled tribal members.
Another band, theTribu Kikapú, resides inMúzquiz Municipality in the northernMexican state ofCoahuila, ending up there after disputes between leaders of rival bands in the tribe caused a schism between followers of the "Kickapoo Prophet"Kennekuk and Prairie band Chief Kishko.[2] Smaller bands live inSonora, to the west, andDurango, to the southwest.
The Kickapoo are anAlgonquian-language people who likely migrated to or developed as a people in a large territory along the southernWabash River in the area of modernTerre Haute, Indiana, where they were located at the time of first contact with Europeans in the 1600s. They were confederated with the largerWabash Confederacy, which included thePiankeshaw and theWea to their north, and the powerfulMiami Tribe, to their east. A subgroup occupied theUpper Iowa River region in what was later known as northeastIowa and theRoot River region in southeastMinnesota in the late 1600s and early 1700s. This group was probably known by the clan name "Mahouea", derived from the Illinoian word for wolf,m'hwea.[3]
The earliest European contact with the Kickapoo tribe occurred during theLa Salle Expeditions intoIllinois Country in the late 17th century. The French colonists set up remotefur trading posts throughout the region, including on the Wabash River. They typically set up posts at or near Native American villages. Terre Haute was founded as an associated French village. The Kickapoo had to contend with a changing cast of Europeans; the British defeated the French in theSeven Years' War and took over nominal rule of former French territory east of the Mississippi River after 1763. They increased their own trading with the Kickapoo.
The United States acquired the territory east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River after it gained independence from Great Britain (now the United Kingdom). As white settlers moved into the region from the United States' eastern areas, beginning in the early 19th century, the Kickapoo were under pressure. They negotiated with the United States over their territory in several treaties, including theTreaty of Vincennes, theTreaty of Grouseland, and theTreaty of Fort Wayne. They sold most of their lands to the United States and moved north to settle among the Wea people.
Rising tensions between the regional tribes and the United States led toTecumseh's War in 1811. The Kickapoo were among the closest allies of Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Many Kickapoo warriors participated in theBattle of Tippecanoe and the subsequentWar of 1812 on the side of the British, hoping to expel the white American settlers from the region.
The 1819 treaty of Edwardsville saw the Kickapoo cede the entirety of their holdings in Illinois comprising nearly one-half area of the state, in exchange for a smaller tract on the Osage river in Missouri and $3,000 worth of goods.[4] The Kickapoo were not eager to move, partly as their assigned tract in Missouri was made of rugged hills and already occupied by theOsage, who were their hereditary enemies. Instead, half of the population traveled south and crossed onto the Spanish side of the Red River in modern dayTexas. The US government quickly mobilized to prevent this emigration and force their removal to Missouri. This remnant of Kickapoo remained in Illinois under the guidance ofKennekuk, a prominent, nonviolent spiritual leader among the Kickapoo. He led his followers during theIndian Removal in the 1830s to their current tribal lands in Kansas. He died there of smallpox in 1852.[5]
The close of the war led to a change of federal Indian policy in theIndiana Territory, and later the state ofIndiana. White American leaders began to advocate theremoval of tribes to lands west of theMississippi River, to remove their claims to Native lands wanted by white American settlers. The Kickapoo were among the first tribes to leave Indiana under this program. They accepted land inKansas and an annual subsidy in exchange for leaving their land in the state.
Three federally recognized Kickapoo communities are in the United States in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. TheMexican Kickapoo are closely tied to the Texas and Oklahoma communities. These groups migrate annually among the three locations to maintain connections. Indeed, the Texas and Mexican branches are the same cross-border nation, called the Kickapoo of Coahuila/Texas.[6]
The tribe in Kansas was home to prophet Kenekuk, who was known for his astute leadership that allowed the small group to maintain their reservation. Kenekuk wanted to keep order among the tribe he was in, while living in Kansas. He also wanted to focus on keeping the identity of the Kickapoo people, because of all the relocations they had done.[7]
The basis of Kenekuk's leadership began in the religious revivals of the 1820s and 1830s, with a blend of Protestantism and Catholicism. Kenekuk taught his tribesmen and white audiences to obey God's commands, for sinners were damned to the pits of hell.[7] Once the Kickapoo people got relocated to Kansas they resisted the ideas of Protestantism and Catholicism and started focusing more on farming, so they could provide food for the rest of the tribe. After this had happened they remained together and claimed some of the original land that they had before it was taken by Americans.
The Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Kansas is located at39°40′51″N95°36′41″W / 39.68083°N 95.61139°W /39.68083; -95.61139 in the northeastern part of the state in parts of three counties:Brown,Jackson, andAtchison. It has a land area of 612.203 square kilometres (236.373 sq mi) and a resident population of 4,419 as of the2000 census. The largest community on the reservation is the city ofHorton. The other communities are:
The Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Texas is located at28°36′37″N100°26′19″W / 28.61028°N 100.43861°W /28.61028; -100.43861 on theRio Grande on theU.S.-Mexico border in westernMaverick County, just south of the city of Eagle Pass Texas, as part of the community ofRosita South. It has a land area of 0.4799 square kilometres (118.6 acres) and a 2000 census population of 420 persons. The Texas Indian Commission officially recognized the tribe in 1977.[8]
Other Kickapoo in Maverick County, Texas, constitute the "South Texas Subgroup of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma". That tribe formerly owned 917.79 acres (3.7142 km2) of non-reservation land in Maverick County, primarily to the north of Eagle Pass, but has sold most of it to a developer. It has an office in that city.[9]
After being expelled from theRepublic of Texas, many Kickapoo moved south toMexico, but the population of two villages settled inIndian Territory. One village settled within theChickasaw Nation and the other within theMuscogee Creek Nation. These Kickapoo were granted their own reservation in 1883 and became recognized as the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma.
The reservation was short-lived. In 1893 under the Dawes Act, their communal tribal lands were broken up[10] and assigned to separate member households by allotments. The tribe's government was dismantled by theCurtis Act of 1898, which encouraged assimilation by Native Americans to the majority culture. Tribal members struggled under these conditions.
In the 1930s the federal and state governments encouraged tribes to reorganize their governments. This one formed the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma in 1936, under theOklahoma Indian Welfare Act.[11]
Today the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma is headquartered inMcLoud, Oklahoma. Their tribal jurisdictional area is inOklahoma,Pottawatomie, andLincoln counties. They have 2,719 enrolled tribal members.[12]
