The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma is one of three

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

tribes. They are located in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The tribe holds an annual

powwow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...

every September at their tribal complex.

Government

The headquarters of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe are

Wyandotte, Oklahoma Wyandotte is a town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 333 at the 2010 census, a decline of 8.26 percent from the figure of 363 recorded in 2000. The town is the tribal headquarters of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahom ...

, and their

tribal jurisdictional area Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Area is a statistical entity identified and delineated by federally recognized American Indian tribes in Oklahoma as part of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 Census and ongoing American Community Survey. Many of these ...

is in

Ottawa County, Oklahoma Ottawa County is a county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,285. Its county seat is Miami. The county was named for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma.Seneca, Missouri Seneca is a city in western Newton County, Missouri, Newton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,336 at the 2010 census. Located on the southwest border of the state, the city is part of the Joplin, Missouri Joplin, Missouri Metrop ...

and a community in western Missouri. Glenna J. Wallace is the elected chief, since 2006, and is currently serving a four-year term. She is the tribe's first female chief. The Eastern Shawnee Tribe issues its own tribal vehicle tags. Membership in tribe is based on documented lineal descent to persons listed on the

Dawes Rolls The Dawes Rolls (or Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, or Dawes Commission of Final Rolls) were created by the United States Dawes Commission. The commission was authorized by United States Congress in 1893 to exec ...

. The tribe has no minimum

blood quantum Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws in the United States that define Native American status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establ ...

requirements.

Economic development

The Eastern Shawnee operate their own housing authority. A 51% ownership in the People's Bank of

Seneca, Missouri Seneca is a city in western Newton County, Missouri, Newton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,336 at the 2010 census. Located on the southwest border of the state, the city is part of the Joplin, Missouri Joplin, Missouri Metrop ...

; the Eastern Shawnee Print Shop; Four Feathers Recycling; as well as three casinos, a hotel, a bingo hall, a gas station, a truck stop, and an off-track wagering facility. Their annual economic impact is estimated by the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commissions to be $164,000,000.

History

The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma are primarily descendants of

s who lived in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

until the 1830s. The Shawnees, an Eastern Woodland tribe who were once nomadic, occupied territory throughout what became the eastern United States, living in present-day

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

Western Maryland upright=1.2, An enlargeable map of Maryland's 23 counties and one independent city Western Maryland, also known as the Maryland Panhandle, is the portion of the U.S. state of Maryland that typically consists of Washington, Allegany, and Garret ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

.Smith, Pamela A
Shawnee Tribe (Loyal Shawnee).
''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.'' (retrieved 31 Jan 09) In the late 18th century, European-American encroachment crowded Shawnee lands in the east, and one band migrated to Missouri, eventually becoming the Absentee Shawnee tribe. Three reservations were granted to the Shawnees in Ohio by the 1817

Treaty of Fort Meigs The Treaty of Fort Meigs, also called the Treaty of the Maumee Rapids, formally titled, "Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., 1817", was the most significant Indian treaty by the United States in Ohio since the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. It resulte ...

: Wapakoneta, Lewistown, and Hog Creek.The Shawnee in History.
''The Official Website of the Shawnee Tribe.'' (retrieved 6 Feb 2009) After the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...

of 1830 passed, the Lewiston band, who lived with a group of

Senecas The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west w ...

, relocated to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

in July 1831, and were known as the "Mixed Band" of Senecas and Shawnees. Another band, who would become the federally recognized

Shawnee Tribe The Shawnee Tribe is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma. Formerly known as the Loyal Shawnee, they are one of three federally recognized Shawnee tribes. The others are the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and t ...

, relocated to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

in August 1831. The US federal government carved out a reservation for the "Mixed Band" or United Nation of Senecas and Shawnees from

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

lands in Indian Territory in 1832. A treaty was negotiated between the US and the Seneca and Shawnee in 1867, which made portions of their land available to other tribes, and restored the independence of the Seneca and Shawnee tribes. They were from different language families,

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian la ...

and Algonquian, respectively. The Shawnees of the "Mixed Band" became the Eastern Shawnee Tribe.Smith, Pamela A
Shawnee, Eastern
Oklahoma Historical Society's ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.'' 2009 (retrieved 7 Feb 2009) The Eastern Shawnee organized as a federally recognized tribe under the 1936

Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936 (also known as the Thomas-Rogers Act) is a United States federal law that extended the 1934 Wheeler-Howard or Indian Reorganization Act to include those tribes within the boundaries of the state of Oklahoma. ...

. In May 2019, the Eastern Shawnee ceremonial grounds

flooded A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

with three feet of water. Thirty families were evacuated, and "local roads stayed impassable for weeks." Mold problems have been ongoing. Tribal leaders have joined the city of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

in opposition to increased water levels at

Pensacola Dam The Pensacola Dam, also known as the Grand River Dam, is a multiple- arch buttress dam on the Grand River in-between Disney and Langley in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The dam is operated by the Grand River Dam Authority and creates Grand L ...

and Grand Lake. They argue that when the water backs up downstream on the

Neosho River The Neosho River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in eastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. Its tributaries also drain portions of Missouri and Arkansas. The river is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National ...

, it can increase problems with flooding in their communities.

Flag

The tribe's flag displays their tribal seal on a red field, with the name of the tribe in black letters. The seal, resembling a warrior's shield, features a

Florida panther The Florida panther is a North American cougar (''P. c. couguar'') population in South Florida. It lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks, and mixed freshwater swamp forests. It is known under a number of common names including Costa R ...

. Beside expressing ingenuity and fierceness, the panther represents

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

, a great Shawnee leader. A spear bisects the seal and below is a

swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

, which represents peace, harmony, and beauty. The four

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

feathers represent the four directions; originally five feathers were on the flag, representing the five original Shawnee tribal divisions.Healy, Donald T and Peter J. Orenski. ''Native American Flags.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003: 73-74.

Notable Eastern Shawnee people

* J. R. Conrad (1974–),

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

player *

Moscelyne Larkin Edna Moscelyne Larkin Jasinski (January 14, 1925 – April 25, 2012) was an American ballerina and one of the " Five Moons", Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma who gained international fame in the 20th century. After dancing with t ...

(1925–2012), ballerina * Taylor M. Wright (1993–), U.S. Army Officer * Thomas Captain Chief (1850 - 1920) * Thomas A Captain Chief (1884 - 1980)

Notes

External links

Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
official website
Almost Home, Eastern Shawnee makes an Ohio Connection Native American Times 9 September 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma Algonquian peoples Native American tribes in Oklahoma Federally recognized tribes in the United States