The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of two
federally recognized tribes
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 ...
for the
Iowa people
The Iowa, also known as Ioway, and the Bah-Kho-Je or Báxoje (English: grey snow; Chiwere: Báxoje ich'é) are a Native American Siouan people. Today, they are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma an ...
. The other is the
Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. Traditionally Iowas spoke the
Chiwere language
Chiwere (also called Iowa-Otoe-Missouria or Báxoje-Jíwere-Ñút'achi) is a Siouan language originally spoken by the Missouria, Otoe, and Iowa peoples, who originated in the Great Lakes region but later moved throughout the Midwest and plains ...
, part of the
Siouan language
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the entire ...
family. Their own name for their tribe is ', meaning, "grey snow," a term inspired by the tribe's traditional winter lodges covered with snow, stained grey from hearth fires.
[May, John D]
Iowa.
''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.'' 2009 (24 Feb 2009)
Since 1985, the tribe has held an annual
powwow. It takes place in mid-June south of Perkins, Oklahoma, on Highway 177.
Government
The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is headquartered in
Perkins, Oklahoma
Perkins ( iow, Pékinⁿ Chína^i) is a city in southern Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,831 at the 2010 census, an increase of 24.6 percent from the figure of 2,272 in 2000. The name is derived from Walden Perkins, ...
, and their tribal jurisdictional area is in
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
,
Logan,
Oklahoma, and
Payne counties, Oklahoma. Of the 800 enrolled tribal members, over 490 live within the state of Oklahoma.
[ Edgar Kent is the current tribal chairperson.
]
Programs and economic development
The tribe issues its own vehicle tags and operates the Bah-kho-je Housing Authority. They own a truck stop, a gas station, a smoke shop, a bingo hall, an off-track wagering facility, and a casino. The estimated annual economic impact of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma was $10,343,000 in 2011. The tribe operates the Cimarron Casino in Perkins, the Iowa Tribe Smokeshop in Coyle, and the Ioway Casino Resort in Chandler.
The ''Bah-Kho-Je Journal'' is a newspaper published by the tribe for enrolled members. The tribe also owns BKH Solutions, a SBA 8(A) certified company providing trucking, construction, environmental, archaeological, and energy services and consulting. They have their own tribal police department and Tah-Je Do-Weh Che Child Development and Head Start program
Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. The program's s ...
.
The tribe owns its own Bah-Kho-Je Gallery that represents Iowa artists, such as Jean Bales (Iowa), David Kaskaske (Iowa- Otoe-Missouri), and Daniel Murray (Iowa/Otoe), as well as artists from related tribes, such as Mars Biggoose (Ponca
The Ponca ( Páⁿka iyé: Páⁿka or Ppáⁿkka pronounced ) are a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca ...
), Gina Gray ( Osage Nation), and others. The gallery was based in Guthrie, Oklahoma, but is now located in the Iowa tribal complex in Perkins.
Language
An estimated thirty tribal members still speak the Iowa or Chiwere language
Chiwere (also called Iowa-Otoe-Missouria or Báxoje-Jíwere-Ñút'achi) is a Siouan language originally spoken by the Missouria, Otoe, and Iowa peoples, who originated in the Great Lakes region but later moved throughout the Midwest and plains ...
, a Siouan language
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the entire ...
. The tribe has offered language classes in the past and is currently providing elders with recording devices to archive language material they feel important to share with the younger generations.
History
The Iowa, or Ioway, originated in the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
region. They are thought, along with the Ho-Chunk, Otoe, and Missouria tribes, to have once been a single tribe. In the 16th century, the Iowa, Otoe, and Missouria broke away from that tribe and moved to the south and west.[May, John D]
Otoe-Missouria.
''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.'' 2009 (24 Feb 2009) The first recorded contact between the Iowa and Europeans was in 1676, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they lived among the Ho-Chunk people.
Traditionally, Iowa society was divided into two moieties, the Buffalo and the Bear clans, who would govern the tribe on an alternating, semiannual basis.
In face of European-American encroachment, the Iowa moved east in what is now Iowa and Missouri, but in 1839 the tribe ceded their lands and moved to the Ioway Reservation on the Kansas-Nebraska border. There factionalism broke out between the mixed blood and full blood Iowas. The mixed bloods advocated assimilation, while the full bloods wanted to follow their traditional way of life.
In the attempt to preserve their traditions, the full blood faction of the Iowa Tribe began moving into Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
in 1878. They were given lands within the Sac and Fox
The Sac and Fox Nation ( ''Mesquakie'' language: ''Othâkîwaki / Thakiwaki'' or ''Sa ki wa ki'') is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) Indian peoples. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan ...
Reservation in 1883. Their collective tribal landholdings were broken up by the Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pres ...
and, in 1890, individual land was allotted by the Cherokee Commission
The Cherokee Commission, was a three-person bi-partisan body created by President Benjamin Harrison to operate under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, as empowered by Section 14 of the Indian Appropriations Act of March 2, 1889. Se ...
to 109 tribal members.
The Curtis Act of 1898
The Curtis Act of 1898 was an amendment to the United States Dawes Act; it resulted in the break-up of tribal governments and communal lands in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory: the Choctaw, Chickasa ...
dismantled tribal government, but the tribe was able to reorganize under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, as the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma. They ratified a constitution and by-laws in 1937.
Bah Kho-Je Xla Chi: Eagle Rehabilitation Program
A unique tribal service is the Bah Kho-Je Xla Chi or Grey Snow Eagle House. This eagle aviary was built in January 2006, within the tribe's buffalo preserve. Bah Kho-Je Xla Chi serves both to rehabilitate injured eagles and to house eagles that cannot be released back in the wild.[Naff, A. J]
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma's Eagle Aviary Rehabilitates Injured Eagles and Raises Public Awareness.
(HTML version of PDF file). ''Indian Gaming.'' Jan 2008 (retrieved 24 Feb 2009) The program works with golden eagles
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds ...
and bald eagles. Located in Perkins, this is the first facility that can house injured eagles in the state of Oklahoma and meets US Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
standards.[Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Eagle Rehabilitation Program.](_blank)
''Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.'' (retrieved 24 Feb 2009)
The aviary is one of the few in the country is open to the public, and visitors have come from all over the world, including tribal elders from many different Oklahoman Indian tribes. Naturally molted eagle feathers are gathered by the tribe for legally permitted religious use. Victor Roubidoux, an Iowa tribal member, serves as the aviary manager. The tribe is currently raising funds to expand the aviary, since spaces for eagles filled up almost immediately with birds from throughout the United States. The tribe recently added a new flight cage. Says Roubidoux, "We believe that the eagle is the only animal that has seen the face of the creator and so we honor him with respect and dignity."[Wasserman, Shoshona]
"Eagle Flight Cage Dedication."
''American Indian Cultural Center and Museum.'' 20 Jan 2011 (retrieved 31 March 2011)
Notable tribal members
* Jean Bales (1946–2004), artist
External links
*
Grey Snow Eagle House (tribal eagle rehabilitation program)
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Native American tribes in Oklahoma
Federally recognized tribes in the United States