The Ponca Tribe

Native Americans are the indigenous people of the United States, they have an extensive rich history, and stories of sorrow and bravery. Within the lower 48 states are the Great Plains American tribes, these tribes live in a region where there are few trees with valleys and rolling hills. This is where the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma as well as many other tribes resides in. With quite a dearth tribe, their highest population being 3,522 present day, but although they weren’t large they are known for their abounding cultural tradition and past. The Ponca tribe of Oklahoma had a mixed culture of the Middle Mississippi and Plains people. They were Siouan speakers, or the Dhegiha, which also included the Ohama, Osage, Quapaw, and Kansa tribes. The

They did spread out into many groups once arriving in North America. Once the nomads who had crossed from one continent to another had spread out all over the new land it was then that the Native Americans came to be. Originally from the Ohio River Valley, the Ponca tribe travelled from the valley into the Great Plains. Dhegiha speakers were from the southeast, and it was from there that they entered through the Ohio River Valley into the Great Plains. Travelling with the Kaw, Omaha, and Osage the Poncas went with them to the Great Plains. In the mid 1500s the Poncas arrived at the Mississippi River with the other tribes. Travelling upriver with the Omaha to Minnesota and Iowa, there the groups settled by the Big Sioux River an area around the Pipestone Quarries. Threats from other tribes around the area forced the Ponca who were with the Omaha at the time to Lake Andes in South Dakota, but it was there that they separated from the Omaha. That occurred in the mid 1600s, and from there they west to the Black Hills and then back east again before joining with the Omaha tribe again. The Omaha then went down south to the Missouri River in Nebraska with the Ponca in tow. Then in 1763 the Ponca settled by the Niobrara River and separated from the Omaha for the last time, they stayed there for a

Yet they strove past their limits of painful memories and death to honor and protect their past and future for their people by celebrating what little they had left. The Ponca tribe was one of the few tribes removed not because of white settlers, but because their land was going to be given to another tribe. Not only that, but the journey to the Indian Territory was a poorly thought out plan from the United States government. The Poncas had no good facilities to stay in when they arrived and they had to wait a full year before going to their new territory causing many to die from disease or hunger. They were treated unfairly by the United States; they had a treaty concerning their territory in Nebraska but the United States gave it to the Sioux tribe. The Ponca tribe has gone through so much, and suffered many losses, but they also gained many new things. Today the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma continues to pursue many new things for its people in education, history, business, and government, expanding their sights and setting new goals for themselves. There have been a lot of controversial issues over sovereignty to the United States government and many problems within the their own government, and continuous conflict, but the nation has not fallen. The