The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a
federally recognized tribe
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 ...
headquartered in
Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the
Caddo language.
The Caddo Confederacy was a network of
Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands
Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the nor ...
, who historically inhabited much of what is now
East Texas, west
Louisiana, southwestern
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...
, and southeastern
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 ...
. Prior to European contact, they were the
Caddoan Mississippian culture, who constructed huge earthwork mounds at several sites in this territory, flourishing about 800 to 1400 CE. In the early 19th century, Caddo people were forced to a
reservation __NOTOC__
Reservation may refer to: Places
Types of places:
* Indian reservation, in the United States
* Military base, often called reservations
* Nature reserve
Government and law
* Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty
* Reservation in India, ...
in Texas. In 1859, they were removed to
Indian Territory.
Government and civic institutions
The Caddo Nation of Oklahoma was previously known as the Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma. The tribal constitution provides for election of an eight-person council, with a chairperson.
Some 6,000 people are enrolled in the nation, with 3,044 living within the state of Oklahoma.
[2011 Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory.]
''Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission.'' 2011: 7. Retrieved 2 January 2012. Individuals are required to document at least 1/16 Caddo ancestry in order to enroll as citizens.
In July 2016, Tamara M. Francis was re-elected as the Chairman of the Caddo Nation. Chairman Tamara Francis is the daughter of the first elected female chairman, Mary Pat Francis. She was the fourth elected female leader of the Caddo Nation.
As of 2021 the tribal council consists of:
* Chairman: Bobby Gonzalez
* Vice-chairman: Kelly Howell Factor
* Secretary: Jennifer Reeder
* Treasurer: Verna Castillo
* Anadarko Representative: Phillip Martin
* Binger Representative: Travis Threlkeld
* Fort Cobb Representative: Arlene Kay O'Neal
* Oklahoma City Representative: Jennifer Wilson.
The tribe has several programs to invigorate Caddo culture. It sponsors a summer culture camp for children. The Hasinai Society and Caddo Culture Club both teach and perform Caddo songs and dances to keep the culture alive and pass it on to the next generations. The Kiwat Hasinay Foundation is dedicated to preserving and increasing use of the Caddo language.
Precontact history
Archaeology

The Caddo are thought to be an extension of
Woodland period
In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 Common Era, BCE to European con ...
peoples, the
Fourche Maline and
Mossy Grove cultures, whose members were living in the area of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas areas between 200 BCE and 800 CE.
The
Wichita and
Pawnee are also related to the Caddo, as both tribes have historically spoken
Caddoan languages
The Caddoan languages are a family of languages native to the Great Plains spoken by tribal groups of the central United States, from present-day North Dakota south to Oklahoma. All Caddoan languages are critically endangered, as the number of sp ...
.
By 800 CE, this society had begun to coalesce into the
Caddoan Mississippian culture. Some villages began to gain prominence as ritual centers. Leaders directed the construction of major earthworks known as
platform mounds, which served as temple mounds and platforms for residences of the elite. The flat-topped mounds were arranged around leveled, large, open
plazas, which were usually kept swept clean and were often used for ceremonial occasions. As complex religious and social ideas developed, some people and family lineages gained prominence over others.
[
By 1000 CE, a society that is defined by archaeologists as "Caddoan" had emerged. By 1200, the many villages, hamlets, and farmsteads established throughout the Caddo world had developed extensive maize agriculture, producing a surplus that allowed for greater density of settlement.][ In these villages, artisans and craftsmen developed specialties. The artistic skills and earthwork mound-building of the Caddoan Mississippians flourished during the 12th and 13th centuries.
The Spiro Mounds, near the ]Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United S ...
in present-day southeastern Oklahoma, were some of the most elaborate mounds in the United States. They were made by Mississippian ancestors of the historic Caddo and Wichita tribes, in what is considered the westernmost area of the Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
. The Caddo were farmers and enjoyed good growing conditions most of the time. The Piney Woods, the geographic area where they lived, was affected by the Great Drought
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
from 1276 to 1299 CE, which covered an area extending to present-day California and disrupted many Native American cultures.
Archeological evidence has confirmed that the cultural continuity is unbroken from prehistory to the present among these peoples. The Caddoan Mississippian people were the direct ancestors of the historic Caddo people and related Caddo-language speakers, such as the Pawnee and Wichita, who encountered the first Europeans, as well as of the modern Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.
Religion
The Caddo creation story, as told in their oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
, says the tribe emerged from a cave, called ''Chahkanina'' or "the place of crying," located at the confluence of the Red River of the South
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major river in the Southern United States. It was named for its reddish water color from passing through red-bed country in its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name ...
and Mississippi River (in northern present-day Louisiana). Their leader, named Moon, instructed the people not to look back. An old Caddo man carried a drum, a pipe, and fire, all of which have continued to be important religious items to the people. His wife carried corn and pumpkin seeds. As people and accompanying animals emerged, the wolf looked back. The exit from the underground closed to the remaining people and animals.[Sturtevant, 625]
The Caddo peoples moved west along the Red River, which they called ''Bah'hatteno'' in Caddo.[Meredith, Howard]
"Caddo (Kadohadacho),"
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture,'' Oklahoma Historical Society, Accessed July 9, 2015. A Caddo woman, Zacado, instructed the tribe in hunting, fishing, building dwellings, and making clothing. Caddo religion focuses on ''Kadhi háyuh'', translating to "Lord Above" or "Lord of the Sky." In early times, the people were led by priests, including a head priest, the ''xinesi'', who could commune with spirits residing near Caddo temples.[ A cycle of ceremonies developed around important periods of seasonal corn cultivation. Tobacco was also cultivated, and was and is used ceremonially. Early priests drank a purifying sacrament drink made of wild olive leaves.
]
Territory
Centuries before extensive European contact, some of the Caddo territory was invaded by migrating Dhegihan-speaking peoples: the Osage The Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in the United States, is the source of most other terms containing the word "osage".
Osage can also refer to:
* Osage language, a Dhaegin language traditionally spoken by the Osage Nation
* Osage (Unicode b ...
, Ponca, Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...
, and Kaw. They moved west beginning about 1200 CE after years of warfare with the Haudenosaunee
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
nations in the Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
area of present-day Kentucky. The powerful Iroquois took control of hunting grounds in the area.
The Osage in particular fought the Caddo, pushed them out of some former territory, and became dominant in the region of present-day Missouri, Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...
, and eastern Kansas. These tribes had become settled in their new territory west of the Mississippi prior to mid-18th-century European contact.[Louis F. Burns]
"Osage"
''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', retrieved 2 March 2009
Most of the Caddo historically lived in the Piney Woods ecoregion of the United States, divided among the state regions of East Texas, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, and southeastern Oklahoma. This region extends up to the foothills of the Ozarks. The Piney Woods are a dense forest of deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...
and pinophyta flora covering rolling hills, steep river valleys, and intermittent wetlands called "bayou
In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...
s". Caddo people primarily settled near the Caddo River.
When they first encountered Europeans and Africans, the Caddo tribes organized themselves in three confederacies: the Natchitoches, Hasinai, and Kadohadacho. They were loosely affiliated with other neighboring tribes including the Yowani Choctaw
The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw peop ...
. The Natchitoches lived in now northern Louisiana, the Haisinai lived in East Texas, and the Kadohadacho lived near the border of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.
The Caddo people had a diet based on cultivated crops, particularly maize (corn), but also sunflower
The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...
, pumpkin
A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus ''Cucurbita'' that has culinary and cultural significance but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning. The term ''pumpkin'' is sometimes use ...
s, and squash. These foods held cultural significance, as did wild turkeys. They hunted and gathered wild plants, as well.
Culture and gender
The Caddo Native Americans had a culture that consisted of the hunting and gathering dynamic. The men hunted year round, while the young and healthy women were responsible for the gathering of fruits, seeds, and vegetables for the tribe. Elderly women planted and cultivated the seeds for the season's crop. Gathered items included corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
, sunflowers, bean
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...
s, melons, tobacco, and squash during the warm seasons. Acorns and roots were gathered and processed to provide food other than meat in the cold seasons when crops did not grow.
The men used handcrafted bows and arrows to hunt animals such as wild turkey, quail, rabbits, bears, and bison during winter months. Most tools and items were made by women. They made wooden mortars, as well as pots and other utensils out of clay. These wood and clay tools were carved and molded to help with daily jobs like cooking the meals for the tribe. These tools were viewed with such reverence that men and women were buried with the items that they had made.
The Caddo also decorated their bodies. Men favored body modifications and ornamentation such as the painting of skin, jewelry, ear piercing, and hair decorations, like braids, adorned with bird feathers or animal fur. While the women of the tribe wore some jewelry and styled their hair similarly to men, most used the art of tattooing to decorate their bodies. Such tattoos covered most of the body, including the face.
Post-contact history
The Caddo first encountered Europeans and Africans in 1541 when the Spanish Hernando de Soto Expedition
Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire i ...
came through their lands. De Soto's force had a violent clash with one band of Caddo Indians, the Tula people, near present-day Caddo Gap, Arkansas. This historic event has been marked by the modern town with a monument.
French explorers in the early 18th century encountered the Natchitoche in northern Louisiana. They were followed by fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
rs from French outposts along the Gulf Coast. Later Catholic missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
from France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
and Spain also traveled among the people. The Europeans carried infections such as smallpox and measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
, because these were endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
in their societies. As the Caddo peoples had no acquired immunity to such new diseases, they suffered epidemics with high fatalities that decimated the tribal populations. Influenza
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...
and malaria were additional new diseases that caused many deaths among the Caddo.[
French traders built their trading posts and associated forts near Caddo villages. These were already important hubs in the Great Plains trading network well before the 18th and 19th centuries. These stations attracted more French and other European settlers. Among such settlements are the present-day communities of Elysian Fields and Nacogdoches, Texas, and Natchitoches, Louisiana. In the latter two towns, early explorers and settlers kept the original Caddo names of the villages.
Having given way over years before the power of the former Ohio Valley tribes, the later Caddo negotiated for peace with the waves of Spanish, French, and finally Anglo-American settlers. After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, by which the United States took over the former French colonial territory west of the Mississippi River, the US government sought to ally with the Caddo peoples. During the War of 1812, American generals such as William Henry Harrison, William Clark, and ]Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame a ...
crushed pro-British uprisings among other Southeast Indians, in particular the Creek
A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet.
Creek may also refer to:
People
* Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans
...
, also known as Muscogee. Tensions within their tribe resulted in near civil war among the Creek.
Due to the Caddo's neutrality and their importance as a source of information for the Louisiana Territory government, the US forces left them alone. But following Congressional passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 under President Andrew Jackson, the federal government embarked on a program of removal of tribes from the Southeast in order to enable European-American settlement. Land-hungry migrants pressed from the east.
In 1835 the Kadohadacho, the northernmost Caddo confederacy, signed a treaty with the US to relocate to independent Mexico (which then included present-day Texas). The area for their reservation in East Texas had been lightly settled by Mexican colonists, but there was rapidly increasing immigration of European Americans here. In 1836, the Anglo-Americans declared independence from Mexico and established the Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
, an independent nation. The name "Texas" is derived from the ''Hasinai'' word ''táysha'', through the Spanish ''Tejas'', meaning "friend".
On December 29, 1845, the US admitted Texas as a state. At that time, the US federal government forced the Hasinai and the Kadohadacho, as well as remnants of allied Delaware (Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
) and Yowani to relocate onto the Brazos Reservation. White settlers increased pressure for the Brazos Reservation Indians to move north to Indian Territory. White Texans violently attacked a Caddo encampment just off the reservation on December 26, 1858. Captain Peter Garland from Erath County
Erath County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the United States Census bureau its population was 42,545 in 2020. The county seat is Stephenville. The county is named for George Bernard Erath, an early surveyor a ...
led this vigilante group. Choctaw Tom led the Caddo. Married to a Hasinai woman, Tom was killed in this fight, along with 27 Caddo. In 1859, many of the Caddo were relocated to Indian Territory north of Texas (which became as state of Oklahoma in 1907). After the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
, the Caddo were concentrated on a reservation located between the Washita and Canadian rivers in Indian Territory.
In the late 19th century, the Caddo adopted the Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance ( Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wilso ...
religion, which was widespread among American Indian nations in the West. John Wilson John Wilson may refer to:
Academics
* John Wilson (mathematician) (1741–1793), English mathematician and judge
* John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism
* John Wil ...
, a Caddo/Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...
medicine man who spoke only Caddo
The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language.
The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, wh ...
, was an influential Ghost Dance leader. Practitioners believed that the dance would help them return to their traditional ways and to stop European-American intrusions into their land and culture. In 1880, Wilson became a peyote
The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to gl ...
roadman. The tribe had known the Half Moon peyote ceremony, but Wilson introduced the Big Moon ceremony to them. The Caddo Nation remains very active in the Native American Church today.
Late 19th century to present
Congress passed the Dawes Act to promote assimilation of tribes in Indian Territory and to extinguish Indian land claims to enable admission of the territory as a state. It authorized the break up and distribution of tribal communal landholdings into 160-acre allotments for individual households in order for them to establish subsistence family farms along the European-American model. Any tribal lands remaining after such allotments were to be declared "surplus" and sold, including to non-Native Americans. At the same time, tribal governments were to be ended, and Native Americans were to be accepted as US citizens, subject to state and federal laws. Numerous European Americans had already settled outside the tribal territories.
The Caddo vigorously opposed allotment. Whitebread, a Caddo leader, said, "because of their peaceful lives and friendship to the white man, and through their ignorance were not consulted, and have been ignored and stuck away in a corner and allowed to exist by sufferance." Tribal governments were dismantled at this time, and Native Americans were expected to act as state and US citizens. After some period, the adverse effects of these changes were recognized. The Caddo and other Native American peoples suffered greatly from the disruption of their traditional cultures, and lost much of their lands in the decades after allotment.
20th-century reorganization
Under the federal Indian Reorganization Act
The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, or the Wheeler–Howard Act, was U.S. federal legislation that dealt with the status of American Indians in the United States. It was the centerpiece of what has been often called the "Indian ...
of 1934 and the 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. ...
of 1936, the Caddo restored their tribal government. They adopted a written constitution and a process of electing officials. They organized in 1938 as the 'Caddo Indian Tribe of Oklahoma.' They ratified their constitution on 17 January 1938.[Constitution and By-Laws of the Caddo Indian Tribe of Oklahoma.]
''National Tribal Justice Resource Center''. (retrieved 13 September 2009) In 1976, they drafted a new constitution, which continues elected representative government.
During the 20th century, Caddo leaders such as Melford Williams, Harry Guy, Hubert Halfmoon, and Vernon Hunter have helped shape the tribe. In the early 1980s Mary Pat Francis
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
was the first of four women to be elected as tribal chair. Her daughter, Tamara Michele Francis, was elected in 2015, following a time of high divisions. She was re-elected in 2016.
In a special election on June 29, 2002, the tribe adopted six amendments to the constitution. Tribal enrollment is open to individuals with a documented minimum of 1/16 degree Caddo blood quantum.
21st-century tribal issues
Sometimes, severe disagreements have developed among factions of the tribe that have not been resolved in elections. In August 2013, a group led by Philip Smith attempted to recall Brenda Shemayme Edwards, the chairman of the Tribal Council. This faction conducted a new election, but the victor stepped down, and Edwards refused to leave office. In October 2013, Smith and his supporters broke into the Caddo Nation headquarters. They chained the front doors from the inside and blocked the entrance to the administration building. The opposition called the Bureau of Indian Affairs Police
The Bureau of Indian Affairs Police, Office of Justice Services (BIA or BIA-OJS), also known as BIA Police, is the law enforcement arm of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA's official mission is to "uphold the constitutional so ...
.
Operation of the tribe was split between two factions. The Court of Indian Offenses, which had been overseeing issues for a year because of the internal conflict, in October 2014 ordered a new election for all positions.
In the January 2015 elections, all the top tribal positions were won by women: Tamara Michele Francis as chair, Carol D. Ross as vice chair, Jennifer Reeder as secretary, and Wildena G. Moffer as treasurer."Women take chair and top tribal positions in Caddo Nation results"
''Indianz.com,'' 14 January 2015, accessed 14 January 2016
In July 2016, Tamara M. Francis was re-elected as the Chairman of the Caddo Nation. The Council consists of Chairman Francis, Vice Chairman Carol D. Ross, Acting Secretary Philip Martin, Treasurer Marilyn McDonald, Oklahoma City Representative Jennifer Wilson, Binger Representative Marilyn Threlkeld, Fort Cobb Representative Maureen Owings.
Chairman Francis is the daughter of the first elected female chairman, Mary Pat Francis (who was elected in the 1980s). Tamara Francis is the fourth elected female leader of the Caddo Nation.
File:John-wilson.jpg, John Wilson (1840-1901), Caddo peyote roadman
The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The re ...
Image:CaddoLAMan.jpg, Sho-e-tat (Little Boy) or George Washington (1816-1883), Louisiana Caddo leader
File:Caddo cultrl club stirrup dance08.jpg, A stirrup dance by the Caddo Culture Club, Caddo National Complex, Binger, 2008
File:Caddo cultural club.jpg, Caddo dancers, members of the Caddo Cultural Club, Binger, Oklahoma, 2008
Notable people
* T. C. Cannon
Tommy Wayne Cannon (September 27, 1946 – May 8, 1978) (Kiowa) was an important Native American artist of the 20th century. He was popularly known as T. C. Cannon. He was an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe and also had Caddo and Frenc ...
, Kiowa/Caddo painter and printmaker
* Raven Halfmoon, sculptor and painter
* LaRue Parker, tribal chairperson
* Jeri Redcorn, Caddo/Potawatomi ceramic artist
* Louis Weller
Louis "Rabbit" Weller (March 2, 1904 – April 17, 1979) was a professional football halfback with the Boston Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) in 1933. He was a Native American member of the Caddo tribe. He attended Haskell I ...
(1904–1979), professional American football player
* John Wilson John Wilson may refer to:
Academics
* John Wilson (mathematician) (1741–1793), English mathematician and judge
* John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism
* John Wil ...
, Peyote roadman
See also
* Caddo Lake
* List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition
* Caddo Mounds State Historic Site
* Gahagan Mounds Site
The Gahagan Mounds Site ( 16RR1) is an Early Caddoan Mississippian culture archaeological site in Red River Parish, Louisiana. It is located in the Red River Valley. The site is famous for the three shaft burials and exotic grave goods excavated ...
* Spiro Mounds
Citations
General and cited references
* Bolton, Herbet E
''The Hasinais: Southern Caddoans As Seen by the Earliest Europeans.''
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. .
* Carter, Cecile Elkins
''Caddo Indians: Where We Come From''
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.
* Fford, Cressida, Jane Hubert, and Paul Turnbull
''The Dead and their Possessions: Repatriation in Principle, Policy and Practice''
New York: Routledge, 2004. .
* Stewart, Omer Call
''Peyote Religion: A History.''"> ''Peyote Religion: A History.''
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. .
* Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast''. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. .
Further reading
* Dorsey, George Amos. ''Traditions of the Caddo''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.
* LaVere, David. ''The Caddo Chiefdoms: Caddo Economics and Politics, 1700–1835''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.
* Newkumet, Vynola Beaver, and Howard L. Meredith. ''Hasinai: A Traditional History of the Caddo People''. College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1988.
* Perttula, Timothy K. ''The Caddo Nation: Archaeological and Ethnohistoric Perspectives''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.
* Smith, F. Todd. ''The Caddo Indians: Tribes at the Convergence of Empires, 1542–1854''. College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1995.
* Swanton, John R. "Source Material on the History and Ethnology of the Caddo Indians." ''Bureau of American Ethnology.'' Bulletin 132. (1942) ASIN B000NLBAPK
*
External links
Caddo Nation
official website
Caddo Nation of Oklahoma
old official website through Wayback
Caddo Heritage Museum
Binger, OK
Kiwat Hasinay Foundation – Caddo Language for Caddo People
Caddo Legacy from Caddo People
arts and humanities
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Caddo (Kadohadacho)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caddo
Caddo County, Oklahoma
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
Native American tribes in Arkansas
Native American tribes in Louisiana
Native American tribes in Oklahoma
Native American tribes in Texas