Brief History Of The Ponca Tribe Of Oklahoma

460 Words2 Pages

Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma The Ponca tribe of Oklahoma use to be part of a bigger tribe. They had to separate and migrate to Nebraska .Later they were split and moved by the government to a reservation in Oklahoma.They were never a big tribe, and their numbers diminished rapidly.Today their numbers are rising back and higher than they ever were.The Poncas were a small tribe of indians that had along history, were forced to move to Oklahoma, today they have a totally different way of life. The Ponca tribe was part of another tribe called omaha when it was formed in the great lakes region. They separated from the omaha in the early 1800s while they migrated to Nebraska and South Dakota. Ponca was never known as a large tribe. In 1870 when they were separated there were only 800 of them. They never warred with the United States. They even signed a peace treaty and a trade agreement. But the government took their land and gave it to the Sioux in 1868. …show more content…

Their removal was mismanaged and they arrived too late to plant crops.The government did not provide them supplies either. Close to one third of the whole tribe died in the first year.They settled on 101,000 acres of land reservation in present day Kay and Noble. In 1881 the United States gave back 26,236 acres of land back to the Poncas and about one third of them moved back. In 1906 the Poncas in Oklahoma counted 570 and the ponkas in Nebraska counted 263. Today The Ponca tribe of Oklahoma has 3,522 members. They opened two casinos in Oklahoma but they went bankrupt. Their economy was hurt real bad it dropped from 15 million to just under two million dollars in annual income. The Ponca tribe of Oklahoma hosts annual homecoming powwows since 1876. Powwows are indian social gatherings where they do tribal dances and and competitions. To be a member of the Ponca tribe your blood must be 1/8th