`. Did You Know ?
fact
number 079
Chief
Pokagon
and
the Potawatomi Tribe
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The
Potawatomi tribe lived in many areas. This
Northeast
Cultural tribe were living west of Lake
Michigan
by 1670. They called home, what is now
the
state of Wisconsin and all along the shores
of
Lake Huron.
Possessing
a vast knowledge of the Great Lakes
region,
the Potawatomi worked as scouts and
even
fought for the French Army until 1773; and,
against
the United States during the American
Revolution.
They fought against the English
during the War of 1812.
For their efforts, during
"removal,"
the United States relocated many of
them
to Iowa and Kansas.
The
various bands of the Potawatomi also lived
in
Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas,
Oklahoma,
and Canada.
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Chief
Pokagon was born in 1830, in an Indian
Village
in Michigan. He was one of the last
full-blooded
Potawatomi chiefs.
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* * * * * * *
He
later became a Catholic.
He
attended college at Oberlin, in the state of Ohio.
With
his keen intellect, he became active
in
the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1893, both
speaking
and consulting.
* * *
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Chief
Pokagon's efforts finally secured a $150,000
claim
against the United States Government, for
injustices
against the Potawatomi People.
* * *
* * * * * * *
He
was both an author and poet.
His
Novel, O-Gi-Maw-Kwe Mit-I-Gwa-Ki,
"Queen
of the Woods," was published in 1899.
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Potawatomi
means "people of the place of fire."
They
are also known as the "Fire Nation."
Their
true Native American name is
"Neshnabe,"
which means "People."
* * *
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The
tribe speaks the Chippewan dialect.
In
an 1829 land treaty with the Potawatomi, the
United
States government promised to pay to
the
Potawatomi Indians $16,000, annually...
forever.
The U.S. made over forty treaties with
the
Potawatomi bands between 1789 and 1867.
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One
very sad turn-of-the-century photograph
I
have viewed, was of around 84 Potawatomi
students,
taken at a school near a reservation
in
Kansas. At this school, as was the practice
of
the United States government, the children
were
forbidden to acknowledge their own heritage.
There
is something empty in each and every face.
* * *
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Simon
Pokagon died in 1899, the same
year
this photograph was taken.
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A
monument was erected in Chicago, Illinois,
to
honor the memory of Chief Pokagon.
* * *
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In
1994, after more than a sixty-year struggle
with
the United States Government, the Pokagon
band
of Potawatomis was finally granted federal
recognition
by the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Did You Know Copyright
1999-2003 by John Henry Roache
Did You Know Facts Copyright 1999-2003 by John Henry Roache
All Rights Reserved