Citizen Potawatomi Nation is a

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

Potawatomi people The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...

located in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. The Potawatomi are traditionally an Algonquian-speaking Eastern Woodlands tribe. They have 29,155 enrolled tribal members, of whom 10,312 live in the state of Oklahoma.

Government

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation is headquartered in

Shawnee, Oklahoma Shawnee () is a city in and the county seat of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 29,857 in 2010, a 4.9 percent increase from the figure of 28,692 in 2000. The city is part of the Oklah ...

. 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

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and Pottawatomie Counties, Oklahoma. Of the 37,264 enrolled members, 10,312 live within the state of Oklahoma. They have their housing authority and issue tribal vehicle tags. Enrollment in the tribe is based on lineal descent; that is to say, the tribe has no minimum

blood quantum Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws that define Native Americans in the United States status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the Federal government of the United States, federal government and S ...

Current administration

Executive Branch: *Chairman: John A. Barrett *Vice Chairman: Linda Capps *Secretary/Treasurer: D. Wayne Trousdale Legislative Branch: *District #1: Alan Melot, Joplin, MO *District #2: Eva Marie Carney,

Arlington, VA Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

*District #3: Robert Whistler,

Bedford, TX Bedford is a city located in northeastern Tarrant County, Texas, United States, in the "Mid-Cities" area between Dallas and Fort Worth. It is a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. The population was 49,928 at the 2020 census. Bedford is part of the ...

*District #4: Jon Boursaw,

Topeka, KS Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cens ...

*District #5: Gene Lambert,

Mesa, AZ Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 504,258 at the 2020 census. It is the third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix and Tucson, the 37th-most populous city in the U.S., and the most populo ...

*District #6: Rande Payne,

Visalia, CA Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

*District #7: Mark Johnson,

Fresno, CA Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

*District #8: Dave Carney,

Olympia, WA Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city f ...

*District #9: Paul Wesselhoft,

Moore, OK Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 62,793 at the 2020 census, making Moore the seventh-largest city in the state of Oklahoma. Located between Okl ...

*District #10: David Barrett,

Shawnee, OK Shawnee () is a city in and the county seat of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 29,857 in 2010, a 4.9 percent increase from the figure of 28,692 in 2000. The city is part of the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Sta ...

*District #11: Andy Walters,

*District #12: Paul Schmidlkofer,

Tecumseh, OK Tecumseh () is a city in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. The population was 6,302 by the 2020 United States census. It was named for the noted Shawnee chief, Tecumseh. The locale was designated as the county seat at Oklahoma's statehood, but a c ...

*District #13: Bobbie Bowden,

Choctaw, OK Choctaw is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, with a population of 12,182 at the 2020 census, a 9.3% increase from 2010. It is the oldest chartered town in Oklahoma Territory. The city is located approximately 10 miles (16.1&n ...

Economic development

They operate a truck stop, two gas stations, two smoke shops, a bingo hall, two tribal casinos, FireLake Discount Foods in Shawnee, FireLake Golf Course, and First National Bank and Trust, with two locations in Shawnee, one in Holdenville, two in Lawton, and three in communities surrounding Lawton. Their estimated annual economic impact in 2011 was $422.4 million. In March 2023 the nation was preparing the launch of tribal-owned Sovereign Pipe Technologies, LLC., an HDPE pipe manufacturer, being the first business located at the tribe's 700-acre industrial park called Iron Horse. The industrial park, located about 35 minutes west of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

near Shawnee, is less than 10 miles from

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

and has a connection to the national rail network through the Arkansas-Oklahoma Railroad (AOK).

Culture

In January 2006, the tribe opened its extensive Citizen Potawatomi Nation Museum and Cultural Heritage Center in

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

. The building houses the nation's research library, archives, genealogy research center, veteran's Wall of Honor, exhibit and meeting space, and a museum store. The tribe's annual intertribal

powwow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native Americans in the United States, Native American and First Nations in Canada, First Nations communities. Inaugurated in 1923, powwows today are an opportunity fo ...

is no longer held. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation's Family Reunion Festival is held on the final Saturday of June each year. It attracts about 5,000 CPN members and their family members for a variety of cultural and other activities over a three-day period.

History

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation is the successor apparent to the Mission Band of Potawatomi Indians, located originally in the

Wabash River The Wabash River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana, and a significant part of Illinois, in the United ...

valley of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. With the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 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, ...

after the

1833 Treaty of Chicago The 1833 Treaty of Chicago was an agreement between the United States government and the Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes. It required them to cede to the United States government their of land (including reservations) in Illinois, ...

, the Mission Band was forced to march to a new reserve in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. Of the 850 Potawatomi people forced to move, more than 40 died along the way. The event is known in Potawatomi history as the

Potawatomi Trail of Death The Potawatomi Trail of Death was the forced Indian Removal, removal by militia in 1838 of about 859 members of the Potawatomi nation from Indiana to reservation lands in what is now eastern Kansas. The march began at Twin Lakes, Indiana (Myers ...

. In Kansas, the Mission Band of Potawatomi lived on a small reserve with the

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (, formerly the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Indians) is a federally recognized tribe of Neshnabé (Potawatomi people), headquartered near Mayetta, Kansas. History The ''Mshkodésik'' ("People of the Small Prairie ...

. The Prairie Band had adapted to the Plains culture but the Mission Band remained steadfast to the

Woodlands culture In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some arch ...

. The two groups exhibited very different ceremonial and subsistence strategies, yet were forced to share the land. Seeking a better opportunity for their people, the Mission Band leaders chose to take small farms rather than live together with the Prairie Band. Shortly thereafter, with the Potawatomi not fully understanding the tax system, most of the new individual allotments of land passed out of Mission Band ownership and into the hands of white settlers and traders. In 1867, Mission Potawatomi members signed a treaty selling their Kansas lands in order to purchase lands in

Indian Territory 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 States, ...

with the proceeds. To reinforce the new land purchase and learning from their Kansas experience, tribal members took U.S. citizenship. From that time on, they became known as the Citizen Potawatomi. By the early 1870s, most of the Citizen Potawatomi had resettled in Indian Territory, present-day

, forming several communities near present-day

. In 1890, the Citizen Potawatomi participated, unwillingly, in the allotment process implemented through 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 P ...

of 1887. Under this Act, the Citizen Potawatomi people were forced to accept individual allotments again. In the

Land Run A land run or land rush was an event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened to homestead on a first-arrival basis. Lands were opened and sold first-come or by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other than a run. The ...

of 1891, the remainder of the Potawatomi reservation in Oklahoma was opened up to non-Indian settlement, with the result that about of the reservation was given away by the government to settlers.

Notable tribal members

Woody Crumbo Woodrow Wilson Crumbo (1912—1989) was a Native American artist and educator from Oklahoma. He was a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Traveling and performing extensively, he danced and played Native American flute. Crumbo was also an i ...

(1912–1989), artist, flautist, dancer *

Mary Killman Mary Killman (born April 9, 1991) is an American synchronized swimmer. After switching to synchronized swimming from race swimming, Killman was a member of the teams that won silver medals in the duet and team competitions at the 2011 Pan Americ ...

(born 1991), Olympic synchronized swimmer *

Robin Wall Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer (born September 13, 1953) is a Potawatomi botanist, author, and the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). ...

(born 1953), environmental scientist, educator, author *

Tyler Bray Tyler Ian Bray (born December 27, 1991) is an American former professional football quarterback. After playing his college football at the University of Tennessee, he declared himself eligible for the 2013 NFL draft, in which he went undrafted. ...

(born 1991), an American football quarterback * Ron Baker (born 1993), retired basketball player *

Kellie Coffey Kellie Ann Coffey (born April 22, 1971) is an American country music artist. She made her debut in 2002 with the release of her single "When You Lie Next to Me", a Top 10 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Song ...

(born 1971), singer, songwriter, winner of Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female in 2003 * Creed Humphrey (born 1999), All-Pro center for the Kansas City Chiefs * Veronica Cortez (born 2004), Miss Alaska for America in 2023 *

Kyle Powys Whyte Kyle Powys Whyte is an Indigenous philosopher and climate/environmental justice scholar. He is a Professor of Environment and Sustainability and George Willis Pack Professor at the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability ...

, Philosopher and environmental justice scholar *

Angela R. Riley Angela R. Riley is an American and Potawatomi jurist serving as the chief justice of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Supreme Court since 2010. She is a professor of law at UCLA School of Law. She is an appellate justice at both Rincon Band of Luis ...

, chief justice of Citizen Potawatomi Nation (2010–present)

Notes

External links

Citizen Potawatomi Nation's official websiteCitizen Potawatomi Nation's Gaming Commission official websiteCitizen Potawatomi Nation's official election websiteCitizen Potawatomi Nation's official employment website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Citizen Potawatomi Nation Great Lakes tribes Anishinaabe tribes Federally recognized tribes in the United States Native American tribes in Oklahoma