Umoho Nation (Omaha Nation) Public Schools ( UNSPS ), also known as Omaha Nation Public Schools , is a school district headquartered in Macy, Nebraska . The district covers Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12.
89-507: Macy is the center of tribal government for the Omaha . The district is in Thurston County , including sections of Blackbird Township and Anderson Township . In the years prior to 2023 the school engaged in a community garden project that focused on health and post-school career prospects. It is a part of a Nebraska Jobs for America's Graduates (JAG) program. By 2024 the school began using
178-570: A Recollect father who accompanied the LaSalle expedition, planted a cross and attempted to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. La Salle negotiated a peace with the tribe and formally "claimed" the territory for France . The Quapaw were recorded as uniformly kind and friendly toward the French. While villages relocated in the area, four Quapaw villages were generally reported by Europeans along
267-789: A Siouan language of the Dhegihan branch, which is very similar to that spoken by the Ponca . The latter were part of the Omaha before splitting off into a separate tribe in the mid-18th century. They were also related to the Siouan-speaking Osage , Quapaw , and Kansa peoples, who also migrated west under pressure from the Iroquois in the Ohio Valley. After pushing out other tribes, the Iroquois kept control of
356-509: A USDA certified meat processing plant located on tribal territory, owned and operated by a tribal nation. In the 20th century, the Quapaw leased some of their lands to European Americans, who developed them for industrial purposes. Before passage of environmental laws, toxic waste was deposited that has created long-term hazards. For instance, the Tar Creek Superfund site has been listed by
445-472: A chief, the Omaha did not. They used him as an interpreter; he was of mixed-race with a white father, so was considered white, as he had not been adopted by a man of the tribe. Today the Omaha host an annual pow wow . At the celebration, a committee elects the Omaha Pow Wow Princess. She serves as a representative in the community and a role model for younger children. In the rite of passage of
534-470: A ditch. Archaeological remains and local conditions bear out the description. If the migration from the Ohio Valley preceded the entrada , these people may have been the proto-Quapaw. It is notable that the only chronicler of Indigenous heritage described this people as the Capaha. It is notable that this chronicler was often more accurate when recording tribal information. Regardless, Dr. Rankin hypothesized that
623-467: A federally recognized Midwestern Native American tribe who reside on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa , United States. There were 5,427 enrolled members as of 2012. The Omaha Reservation lies primarily in the southern part of Thurston County and northeastern Cuming County , Nebraska, but small parts extend into the northeast corner of Burt County and across
712-655: A hereditary chief, through the male lines, as the tribe had a patrilineal kinship system of descent and inheritance. Children were considered to be born to their father's clan. Individuals married persons from another gens , not within their own. The hereditary chiefs and clan structures still existed at the time the elders and chiefs negotiated with the United States to cede most of their land in Nebraska in exchange for protection and cash annuities. Only men born into hereditary lines through their fathers, or formally adopted by
801-454: A historical group of Dhegiha speaking people who lived in the lower Ohio River valley area. The modern descendants of this language group include the Omaha , Ponca , Osage and Kaw , all independent nations. The Quapaw and the other Dhegiha speaking tribes are believed to have migrated west and south from the Ohio River valley after 1200 CE . Scholars are divided as to whether they think
890-456: A land sale. The Omaha elders refused to delegate the negotiations to their gens chiefs, but came to an agreement to sell most of their remaining lands west of the Missouri to the United States. Competing interests may be shown by the draft treaty containing provisions for payment of tribal debts to the traders Fontenelle, Peter Sarpy , and Louis Saunsouci. The chiefs at council agreed to move from
979-502: A large circle in the order of the five clans or gentes of each moitie , to keep the balance between the Sky and Earth parts of the tribe. Eventually, disease and Sioux aggression from the north forced the tribe to move south. Between 1819 and 1856, they established villages near what is now Bellevue, Nebraska and along Papillion Creek . By the Fourth Treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1831,
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#17328585582901068-487: A male into the tribe, as Joseph LaFlesche (Iron Eye) was by the chief Big Elk in the 1840s, could become chiefs. Big Elk designated LaFlesche as his son and successor chief of the Weszinste . LaFlesche, a man of mixed race , was the last recognized head chief selected by the traditional ways, and he was the only chief with any European ancestry. He served for decades from 1853. Although whites considered Logan Fontenelle
1157-622: A person. It was kept in a Sacred Tent in the center of the village, which only men who were members of the Holy Society could enter. An annual renewal ceremony was related to the Sacred Pole. In 1888 Francis La Flesche , a young Omaha anthropologist, helped arrange for his colleague Alice Fletcher to have the Sacred Pole taken to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University , for preservation of it and its stories, at
1246-766: A protector of his people. Quapaw The Quapaw ( / ˈ k w ɔː p ɔː / KWAW -paw , Quapaw : Ogáxpa ) or Arkansas , officially the Quapaw Nation , is a U.S. federally recognized tribe comprising about 6,000 citizens. Also known as the Ogáxpa or “Downstream” people, their ancestral homelands are traced from what is now the Ohio River , west to the Mississippi River to present-day St. Louis , south across present-day Arkansas and eastern and southern Oklahoma . The government forcibly removed them from Arkansas Territory in 1834. The tribal capital
1335-401: A timber frame and a thick sod covering. At the center of the lodge was a fireplace that recalled their creation myth. The earthlodge entrance was built to face east, to catch the rising sun and remind the people of their origin and migration upriver from the east. The Huthuga , the circular layout of tribal villages, reflected the tribe's beliefs. Sky people lived in the northern half-circle of
1424-499: A time when the tribe's continuity seemed threatened by pressure for assimilation. The tribe was considering burying the Pole with its last keeper after his death. The last renewal ceremony for the pole was held in 1875, and the last buffalo hunt in 1876. La Flesche and Fletcher gathered and preserved stories about the Sacred Pole by its last keeper, Yellow Smoke, a holy man of the Hong'a gens. In
1513-474: A two-year term. The governing body of the tribe is outlined in the governing resolutions of the tribe, which were voted upon and approved in 1956 to create a written form of government. (Prior to 1956 the Quapaw Tribe operated on a chief system). The Chairman is Wena Supernaw. The Fourth of July weekend is also when the tribe convenes the annual general council meeting, during which important decisions regarding
1602-576: Is Quapaw , Oklahoma. Algonquian -speaking people originally referred to the Quapaw as Akansa , an Illini word for “People of the South Wind”. French voyageurs learned this term from Algonquians and adapted it as Arcansas . The French named the river and trading post for them. The Quapaw broke from the other Dhegiha tribes and migrated down the Mississippi River into present-day Arkansas many generations before European contact. After that,
1691-499: Is also notable that there are carbon dated sites which are strongly correlated to the Dhegiha which demonstrate they were split and moved to the respective regions by 1500. The Quapaw reached their historical territory, the area of the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers, at least by the mid-17th century. The timing of the Quapaw migration into their ancestral territory in
1780-515: Is buried adjoining St. Joseph's Church, Pine Bluff. A a memorial window in the church preserves his name. Fr. John M. Odin was the pioneer Lazarist missionary among the Quapaw; he later served as the Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans. In 1834, under another treaty and the federal policy of Indian Removal , the Quapaw were removed from the Mississippi valley areas to their present location in
1869-525: Is part of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan language family . Quapaw was well documented in fieldnotes and publications from many individuals, including George Izard in 1827, Lewis F. Hadley in 1882, 19th-century linguist James Owen Dorsey , Frank T. Siebert in 1940, and linguist Robert Rankin in the 1970s. In the 21st century, there are few remaining native speakers. In the early 20th century, an account noted that
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#17328585582901958-589: The Arkansas Post . This began European occupation of the Quapaw country. Tonti arranged for a resident Jesuit missionary to be assigned there, but apparently without result. About 1697, a smallpox epidemic killed the greater part of the women and children of two villages. In 1727, the Jesuits, from their house in New Orleans , again took up the missionary work. In 1729, the Quapaw allied with French colonists against
2047-766: The Arkansas River , as well as portions of Louisiana , Mississippi , and Oklahoma from the Red River to beyond the Arkansas and east of the Mississippi. The treaty required the Quapaws to cede almost 31 million acres (13 million ha) of this area to the U.S. government, giving the Quapaw title to 1.5 million acres (0.61 million ha) between the Arkansas and the Saline in Southeast Arkansas . In exchange for
2136-695: The Caddo of Louisiana , but were refused permission by the United States. Successive floods in the Caddo country near the Red River pushed many of the tribe toward starvation, and they wandered back to their old homes. Sarrasin (alternate spelling Saracen), their last chief before the removal, was a Roman Catholic and friend of the Lazarist missionaries (Congregation of the Missions), who had arrived in 1818. He died about 1830 and
2225-525: The Dhegiha language , a branch of Siouan including the "dialects" of the Omaha, Ponca, Osage, Kansa, and Quapaw, has received more extended study. Rev. J.O. Dorsey published material about it under the auspices of the Bureau of American Ethnology , now part of the Smithsonian Institution . Other efforts at language preservation and revitalization are being undertaken. In 2011 the Quapaw participated in
2314-764: The Environmental Protection Agency as requiring clean-up of environmental hazards. The Quapaw Nation took over cleanup of this superfund site in October of 2023, when it would become the first tribal nation in the united states to lead remedial operations at a property on a superfund site. Of the 3,240 enrolled tribal members, 892 live in the state of Oklahoma. Membership in the tribe is based on lineal descent. The Quapaw people maintain traditions and culture which are present in all stages of life. The Quapaw people, culture, language, and land are all primarily centered today in Quapaw, OK. Native American people such as
2403-622: The Illinois and other Algonquian tribes, they were known as 'Akansea', whence their French names of Akensas and Akansas . According to concurrent tradition of the cognate tribes, the Quapaw and their kinsmen originally lived far east, possibly beyond the Alleghenies , and, pushing gradually westward, descended the Ohio River – hence called by the Illinois the "river of the Akansea" – to its junction with
2492-571: The Missouri River into Monona County, Iowa . Its total land area is 307.03 sq mi (795.2 km ) and the reservation population, including non-Native residents, was 4,526 in the 2020 census . Its largest community is Pender . The Omaha people migrated to the upper Missouri area and the Plains by the late 17th century from earlier locations in the Ohio River Valley. The Omaha speak
2581-660: The Natchez , resulting in the practical extermination of the Natchez tribe. The French relocated the Arkansas Post upriver, trying to avoid flooding. After France was defeated by the British in the Seven Years' War , it ceded its North American territories to Britain. This nation exchanged some territory with Spain, which took over "control" of Arkansas and other former French territory west of
2670-401: The $ 20,000/year which was part of the treaty. Instead, he supplied goods: harrows, wagons, harnesses and various kinds of plows and implements to support the agricultural work. He told the tribe that Washington, DC officials had disapproved the annuity. The people had no recourse, and struggled to raise more produce, increasing the harvest to 20,000 bushels. The Omaha never took up arms against
2759-531: The Bellevue Agency further north, finally choosing the Blackbird Hills, essentially the current reservation in Thurston County, Nebraska . The 60 men designated seven chiefs to go to Washington, DC for final negotiations along with Gatewood, with Fontenelle to serve as their interpreter. The chief Iron Eye ( Joseph LaFlesche ) was among the seven who went to Washington and is considered the last chief of
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2848-445: The Capaha may have been Tunica based on limited evidence of a single name found in a later Portuguese account, for which the original cursive is not recorded. Archeological sites around 1300 in the region have produced pipes, hides, and other items which are strongly associated with an influx of Dhegiha people that would be the Quapaw. The first certain encounters with Quapaw by Europeans occurred more than 130 years later. In 1673,
2937-712: The Eagle Creek Golf Course and resort, located in Loma Linda, Missouri . Their primary economic drivers have been their gaming casinos, established under federal and state law. The first two are both located in Quapaw: the Quapaw Casino and the Downstream Casino Resort. These have generated most of the revenue for the tribe, which they have used to support welfare, health and education of their members. In 2012
3026-551: The Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette accompanied the French commander Louis Jolliet in traveling down the Mississippi by canoe. He reportedly went to the villages of the Akansea , who gave him warm welcome and listened with attention to his sermons, while he stayed with them a few days. In 1682, La Salle passed by their villages, then five in number, including one on the east bank of the Mississippi. Zenobius Membré ,
3115-407: The Mississippi River for white development. In 1846 Big Elk made an illegal treaty allowing a large group of Mormons to settle on Omaha land for a period; he hoped to gain some protection from competing natives by their guns, but the new settlers cut deeply into the game and wood resources of the area during the two years they were there. For nearly 15 years in the 19th century, Logan Fontenelle
3204-464: The Mississippi River in this early period. They corresponded in name and population to four sub-tribes still existing, listed as Ugahpahti , Uzutiuhi , Tiwadimañ , and Tañwañzhita . The French transliterations were: Kappa, Ossoteoue, Touriman, and Tonginga. In 1686, the French commander Henri de Tonti built a post near the mouth of the Arkansas River, which was later known as
3293-442: The Mississippi River. The Spanish built new forts to protect its valued trading post with the Quapaw. During the early years of colonial rule, many of the ethnic French fur traders and voyageurs had an amicable relationship with the Quapaw, as they did with many other trading tribes. Many Quapaw women and French men cohabitated. Pine Bluff, Arkansas , was founded by Joseph Bonne, a man of Quapaw-French ancestry. Shortly after
3382-636: The Mississippi, and claiming the whole of the Arkansas River region up to the border of the territory held by the Osage in the north-western part of the state. They are of Siouan linguistic stock, speaking the same language, spoken also with dialectic variants, by the Osage and Kansa ( Kaw ) in the south and by the Omaha and Ponca in Nebraska . Their name properly is Ogaxpa , which signifies "down-stream people", as distinguished from Umahan or Omaha, "up-stream people". To
3471-517: The Mississippi, whence the Quapaw, then including the Osage and Kansa , descended to the mouth of the Arkansas, while the Omaha , with the Ponca , went up the Missouri . The Town of Quapaw , Oklahoma serves as the tribal capital of the Quapaw Nation, which has a 13,000-acre (53 km ) tribal jurisdictional area . The Quapaw people elect a tribal council and the tribal chairman, who serves
3560-551: The Omaha Nation Chiefs, compete in Nebraska School Activities Association size classification D, used for the smallest schools in the state. Teams are fielded in basketball, football, track, volleyball, and weightlifting. This Nebraska school-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Omaha (tribe) The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska ( Omaha-Ponca : Umoⁿhoⁿ ) are
3649-544: The Omaha boys enter the wilderness alone they fast and pray and should they dream of a woman's burden- strap (a tool used to help carry things), they feel compelled to dress and live in every way live as women. Such men are known as mixugo. As the tribe migrated westward from the Ohio River region in the 17th century, they adapted to the Plains environment. They replaced the Woodland custom of bark lodges with tipis (borrowed from
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3738-554: The Omaha ceded their lands in Iowa to the United States, east of the Missouri River, with the understanding that they still had hunting rights there. In 1836 a treaty with the US took their remaining hunting lands in northwestern Missouri. During the 1840s, the Omaha continued to suffer from Sioux aggression. European-American settlers pressed the US government to make more land available west of
3827-400: The Omaha developed a new village, probably located near present-day Homer, Nebraska . Ton won tonga (or Tonwantonga , also called the "Big Village"), was the village of Chief Blackbird . At this time, the Omaha controlled the fur trade on the Missouri River. About 1795, the village had around 1,100 people. Around 1800, a smallpox epidemic, resulting from contact with Europeans, swept
3916-534: The Omaha had to rely increasingly for survival upon their cash annuities and supplies from the United States Government and adaptation to subsistence agriculture. Jacob Vore was a Quaker appointed as US Indian agent to the Omaha Reservation under President Ulysses S. Grant . He started in September 1876, succeeding T.S. Gillingham, also a Quaker. Vore distributed a reduced annuity that year, just before
4005-402: The Omaha left on their annual buffalo hunt; according to his later account, he intended to "encourage" the Omaha to work at more agriculture. They suffered a poor hunting season and severe winter, so that some were starving before late spring. Vore gained a supplement to the annuities which he had distributed, but for the remaining years of his tenure through 1879, distributed no cash annuities of
4094-537: The Omaha reclaimed more than 100 ancestral skeletons from Ton-wo-tonga , which had been held by museums. They had been excavated during archaeological work of the 1930s and 1940s, from grave sites with burials before and after 1800. Before having ceremonial reburial of the remains on Omaha lands, the tribe's representatives arranged for research at the University of Nebraska to see what could be learned from their ancestors. Researchers found considerable differences in
4183-507: The Omaha tribe was made by Pierre-Charles Le Sueur in 1700. Informed by reports, he described an Omaha village with 400 dwellings and a population of about 4,000 people. It was located on the Big Sioux River near its confluence with the Missouri, near present-day Sioux City, Iowa . The French then called it "The River of the Mahas." In 1718, the French cartographer Guillaume Delisle mapped
4272-411: The Omaha under their traditional system. Logan Fontenelle served as their interpreter, and whites mistakenly believed he was a chief. Because his father was white, the Omaha never accepted him as a member of the tribe, but considered him white. Although the draft treaty authorized the seven chiefs to make only "slight alterations," the government officials forced major changes when they met. It took out
4361-613: The Quapaw Nation Culture Division in partnership with the Arkansas State Archives was able to feature a display of the 1824 Quapaw Treaty with the United States, on the 200th anniversary of the signing of this treaty. In addition to the treaty viewing, the event also featured a speeches, Quapaw Jeopardy, a Quapaw Nation Art Competition, a 5k and fun run, and a traditional Quapaw foot race, hand game, food, and dice game. The Quapaw host cultural events throughout
4450-426: The Quapaw Tribe's annual economic impact in the region was measured at more than $ 225,000,000. In 2020 they completed a third casino, Saracen Casino Resort , located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas . It was the first purpose-built casino in the state. Constructed at a cost of $ 350 million, it will employ over 1,100 full-time staff. The Quapaw Nation was also the first tribal nation in the United States to open and operate
4539-405: The Quapaw and other related groups left before or after the Beaver Wars of the 17th century, in which the Five Nations of the Iroquois (based south of the Great Lakes and to the east of this area), drove other tribes out of the Ohio Valley and retained the area for hunting grounds. The oral history of the Quapaw people describes that the Quapaw separated from the Omaha, Ponca, Osage, and Kaw, near
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#17328585582904628-571: The Quapaw for some years. The Quapaw, together with other nearby tribes, the Miami , Seneca , Wyandot and Ottawa , were served from the Mission of "Saint Mary of the Quapaws", at Quapaw, Oklahoma . Historians estimated their number at European encounter as 5000. The Catholic Encyclopedia noted the people had suffered from high fatalities due to epidemics, wars, removals, and social disruption. It documented their numbers as 3200 in 1687, 1600 in 1750, 476 in 1843, and 307 in 1910, including people of mixed-race . The following passages are taken from
4717-416: The Quapaw often view all four of these items as being interconnected and non-separable. Many Quapaw families carry on traditions which connect them to the countless generations of Quapaw who came before. In order to maintain and promote their way of life, some of these traditions take place in community events, and there are community classes and services which are offered by community members and by branches of
4806-460: The Sioux) for the buffalo hunting and summer season, and built earth lodges (borrowed from the Arikara , called Sand Pawnee, ) for the winter. Tipis were used primarily during buffalo hunts and when they relocated from one village area to another. They used earth lodges as dwellings during the winter. Omaha beliefs were symbolized in their dwelling structures. During most of the year, the Omaha lived in earth or sod lodges, ingenious structures with
4895-470: The U.S. Several members of the tribe fought for the Union during the American Civil War, as well as each subsequent war through today. Beginning in the 1960s, the Omaha began to reclaim lands east of the Missouri River, in an area called Blackbird Bend . After lengthy court battles and several standoffs, much of the area has been recognized as part Omaha tribal lands. The Omaha established their Blackbird Bend Casino on this reclaimed territory. In 1989,
4984-449: The United States acquired the territory in 1803 by the Louisiana Purchase , it recorded the Quapaw as living in three villages on the south side of the Arkansas River about 12 miles (19 km) above Arkansas Post. In 1818. as part of a treaty negotiation, the U.S. government acknowledged the Quapaw as rightful owners of approximately 32 million acres (13 million ha), which included all of present-day Arkansas south and west of
5073-420: The Upper Missouri River. Omaha, Nebraska , the largest city in Nebraska, is named after them. Never known to take up arms against the U.S., the Omaha assisted the U.S. during the American Civil War . The Omaha tribe began as a larger Eastern Woodlands tribe comprising both the Omaha, Ponca and Quapaw tribes. This tribe coalesced and inhabited the area near the Ohio and Wabash rivers around year 1600. As
5162-413: The age of 30. But they also had larger roles in the tribe's economy. Researchers have found through archeological excavations that the later women's skeletons were buried with more silver artifacts as grave goods than those of the men, or of women before 1800. After the research was completed, the tribe buried these ancestral remains in 1991. When Lewis and Clark visited Ton-wa-tonga in 1804, most of
5251-412: The area as a hunting ground. About 1770, the Omaha became the first tribe on the Northern Plains to adopt equestrian culture. Developing "The Big Village" ( Ton-wa-tonga ) about 1775 in current-day Dakota County in northeast Nebraska, the Omaha developed an extensive trading network with early European explorers and French Canadian voyageurs . They controlled the fur trade and access to other tribes on
5340-455: The area, reducing the tribe's population dramatically by killing approximately one-third of its members. Chief Blackbird was among those who died that year. Blackbird had established trade with the Spanish and French, and used trade as a security measure to protect his people. Aware they traditionally lacked a large population as defense from neighboring tribes, Blackbird believed that fostering good relations with white explorers and trading were
5429-404: The body of a man. The name by which it is known, a-kon-da-bpa , is the word used to designate the leather bracer worn upon the wrist for protection from the bow string (of the weapon of bow and arrow). This name demonstrates that the pole was intended to symbolize a man, as no other creature could wear a bracer. It also indicated that the man thus symbolized was one who was both a provider for and
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#17328585582905518-483: The community before and after 1800, as revealed in their bones and artifacts. Most significantly, they discovered that the Omaha were an equestrian Plains culture and buffalo hunters by 1770, making them the "first documented equestrian culture on the Northern Plains." They also found that before 1800, the Omaha traded mostly in arms and ornaments. Men had many more roles in the patrilineal culture than did women: as "archers, warriors, gunsmiths, and merchants," including
5607-419: The confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. No correlation with gun bearing Iroquois running the Quapaw into Arkansas along with the Omaha, Ponca, Osage and Kaw is described by historic or modern Quapaw sources, and appears to be an entirely modern conjecture by scholars which is unsupported by the Quapaw. Similar and supporting oral history is well documented and supported by other Dhegiha tribes. It
5696-555: The downriver people". As French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet encountered and interacted with the Illinois before they did the Quapaw, they adopted this exonym for the more westerly people. In their language, they referred to them as Arcansas . English-speaking settlers who arrived later in the region adopted the name used by the French, adapting it to English spelling conventions. Other spellings in historical use included Akanza , Acansa , Acansea , Acansia , Accance , and Accancea . The Quapaw are descended from
5785-421: The first annual Dhegiha Gathering. The Osage language program hosted and organized the gathering, held at the Quapaw tribe's Downstream Casino. Language-learning techniques and other issues were discussed and taught in workshops at the conference among the five cognate tribes. The 2012 Annual Dhegiha Gathering was also held at Downstream Casino. To revive the language, the tribe is conducting classes in Quapaw at
5874-508: The historical period has been the subject of considerable debate by scholars of various fields. It is referred to as the "Quapaw Paradox" by academics. Many professional archaeologists have introduced numerous migration scenarios and time frames, but none has conclusive evidence. Glottochronological studies suggest the Quapaw separated from the other Dhegihan-speaking peoples in a period ranging between AD 950 to as late as AD 1513. Linguistic studies also support an earlier separation date, prior to
5963-513: The inhabitants were gone on a seasonal buffalo hunt. The expedition met with the Oto people, who were also Siouan speaking. The explorers were led to the gravesite of Chief Blackbird before continuing on their expedition west. In 1815 the Omaha made their first treaty with the United States, one called a "treaty of friendship and peace." No land was relinquished by the tribe. Semi-permanent Omaha villages lasted from 8 to 15 years. They created sod houses for winter dwellings, which were arranged in
6052-424: The introduction of the horse, and after the initial introduction of corn. In 1541, when the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto led an expedition that came across the town of Pacaha (also recorded by Garcilaso as Capaha ), between the Mississippi River and a lake on the Arkansas side, apparently in present-day Phillips County . His party described the village as strongly palisaded and nearly surrounded by
6141-575: The keys to their survival. The Spanish built a fort nearby and traded regularly with the Omaha during this period. After the United States made the Louisiana Purchase and exerted pressure on the trading in this area, there was a proliferation of different kinds of goods among the Omaha: tools and clothing became prevalent, such as scissors, axes, top hats and buttons. Women took on more manufacturing of goods for trade, as well as hand farming, perhaps because of evolving technology. Those women buried after 1800 had shorter, more strenuous lives; none lived past
6230-480: The major ceremonial roles. Sacred bundles from religious ceremonies were found buried only with men. In pre-settlement times, the Omaha had an intricately developed social structure that was closely tied to the people's concept of an inseparable union between sky (male principle) and earth (female); it was part of their creation story and their view of the cosmos. This union was viewed as critical to perpetuation of all living forms and pervaded Omaha culture. The tribe
6319-407: The northeast corner of Oklahoma, then Indian Territory . In 1824, the Jesuits of Maryland , under Father Charles Van Quickenborne, took up work among the native and migrant tribes of Indian Territory (present-day Kansas and Oklahoma). In 1846, the Mission of St. Francis was established among the Osage, on Neosho River , by Fathers John Shoenmakers and John Bax. They extended their services to
6408-406: The payments to the traders. It reduced the total value of annuities from $ 1,200,000 to $ 84,000, spread over years until 1895. It reserved the right to decide on distribution between cash and goods for the annuities. The tribe finally removed to the Blackbird Hills about 1856, and they first built a village in its traditional pattern. By the 1870s, bison were quickly disappearing from the plains, and
6497-494: The policies and resolutions of the Quapaw tribe are voted upon by tribal members over the age of eighteen. The tribe operates a Tribal Police Department and a Fire Department, which handles both fire and EMS calls. They issue their own tribal vehicle tags and have their own housing authority. The tribe owns two smoke shops and motor fuel outlets, known as the Quapaw C-Store and Downstream Q-Store. They also own and operate
6586-603: The program to have a cafeteria that is focused on Native American cuisine . A main building and four outlying buildings are divided into three grade levels: K-5 (elementary), 6-7-8 (middle school) and 9-12 (high school). Omaha Nation is a school-wide Title I school and has Success for All Reading and Math in the elementary school and Expeditionary Learning in the high school as Comprehensive School Reform projects. Omaha Nation student groups and activities include band, class officers and activities, newspaper, science fair, ski club, and student council. The school's teams, known as
6675-487: The public domain Catholic Encyclopedia , written early in the 20th century. It describes the Quapaw from the non-native perspective of that time. A tribe now nearly extinct, but formerly one of the most important of the lower Mississippi region, occupying several villages about the mouth of the Arkansas , chiefly on the west ( Arkansas ) side, with one or two at various periods on the east ( Mississippi ) side of
6764-510: The territory, the U.S. pledged $ 4,000 ($ 80,000 in today's dollars) and an annual payment of $ 1,000 ($ 20,000 in today's dollars). A transcription error in Congress later removed most of Grant County, Arkansas and part of Saline County, Arkansas from the Quapaw claim. Under continued U.S. pressure, in 1824 they ceded this also, excepting 80 acres (320,000 m ) occupied by the chief Saracen below Pine Bluff . They expected to incorporate with
6853-512: The tribal government as well. The Quapaw people's primary annual event is a dance which is held during the Fourth of July weekend. This powwow was organized shortly after the American Civil War , It began as an annual gathering of local tribes with the Quapaw who had finally received rations. It continued as a traditional Quapaw dance and gathering hosted by various tribal families throughout
6942-633: The tribe as "The Maha, a wandering nation", along the northern stretch of the Missouri River. French fur trappers found the Omaha on the eastern side of the Missouri River in the mid-18th century. The Omaha were believed to have ranged from the Cheyenne River in South Dakota to the Platte River in Nebraska. Around 1734 the Omaha established their first village west of the Missouri River on Bow Creek in present-day Cedar County, Nebraska . Around 1775,
7031-536: The tribe began to refer to themselves Ogáxpa, which means the “Downstream” people." This was the name of their primary village or tribal band, and would also sometimes be used to refer to the entire tribe. The term "Quapaw" comes from the American English attempt to say Ogáxpa. The Illinois and other Algonquian -speaking peoples to the northeast referred to the tribe as the Akansea or Akansa , meaning "land of
7120-408: The tribe migrated west, it split into what became the Omaha and the Quapaw tribes. The Quapaw settled in what is now Arkansas and the Omaha, known as U-Mo'n-Ho'n ("upstream") settled near the Missouri River in what is now northwestern Iowa . Another division happened, with the Ponca becoming an independent tribe, but they tended to settle near the Omaha. The first European journal reference to
7209-408: The tribe removed to the Omaha Reservation about 1856, they initially built their village and earth lodges in the traditional patterns, with the half-tribes and clans in their traditional places in the layout. The Omaha revere an ancient Sacred Pole, from before the time of their migration to the Missouri, made of cottonwood . It is called Umoⁿ'hoⁿ'ti (meaning "The Real Omaha") and considered to be
7298-505: The twentieth century, about 100 years after the Pole had been transferred, the tribe negotiated with the Peabody Museum for its return. The tribe planned to install the Sacred Pole in a cultural center to be built. When the museum returned the Sacred Pole to the tribe in July 1989, the Omaha held an August pow-wow in celebration and as part of their revival. The Sacred Pole is said to represent
7387-411: The village, the area that symbolized the heavens. Earth people lived in the southern half, which represented the earth. The circle opened to the east. Within each half of the village, the clans or gentes were located based on their members' tribal duties and relationship to other clans. Earth lodges were as large as 60 feet (18 m) in diameter and might hold several families, even their horses. When
7476-547: The year, one of the largest events besides the annual powwow is the Quapaw Fall Gathering. This gathering began in 2020 as a way to have a social distanced annual gathering, as the July 4th event had been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Following this it has grown into an annual social event for the Quapaw people featuring historical and cultural discussions, as well as traditional games, and traditional foods. In 2024,
7565-572: The year, which are primarily held at the tribal museum. These include Indian dice games, traditional singing, and classes in traditional arts, such as finger weaving, shawl making, and flute making. In addition, Quapaw language classes are held there. The Quapaw Nation also hosts also efforts to maintain their culture. A significant manner of engaging Quapaw youth is the Camp Quapaw, an annual summer program that brings together Quapaw youth and other area community members. The traditional Quapaw language
7654-478: The years. It was eventually hosted and funded by the Devils Promenade Indian Club. Ultimately the Quapaw Nation government would fund the gathering, and it is currently ran by an individual who is elected by the Quapaw people for their ability to organize the event, which includes traditional camping, gathering, and also features a large contest powwow which attracts participants from other tribes. 2022
7743-532: Was divided into two moieties or half-tribes, the Sky People ( Insta'shunda ) and the Earth People ( Hon'gashenu ), each led by a different hereditary chief, who inherited power from his father's line. Sky people were responsible for the tribe's spiritual needs and Earth people for the tribe's physical welfare. Each moiety was composed of five clans or gente, which also had differing responsibilities. Each gens had
7832-503: Was the 150th anniversary of this dance happening annually in the same general location. Common features of this powwow include gourd dance , war dance, stomp dance , and 49s. Other activities take place such as traditional Quapaw games including Indian football, handgame , traditional Quapaw footraces, Quapaw traditional dinners, turkey dance , Indian Dice, and other dances such as Quapaw Dance, and dances from other area tribes. The Quapaw Nation also hosts additional events throughout
7921-456: Was the interpreter at the Bellevue Agency, serving different US Indian agents . The mixed-race Omaha - French man was trilingual and also worked as a trader. His mother was Omaha; his father French Canadian. In January 1854 he acted as interpreter during the agent James M. Gatewood's negotiations for land cessions with 60 Omaha leaders and elders, who sat in council at Bellevue. Gatewood had been under pressure by Washington headquarters to achieve
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