Indigenous History
Learn about the culture and history of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation by visiting their Cultural Heritage Center website. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s headquarters is located in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The members of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation are descendants of the Potawatomi people who lived in northern Indiana prior to the forced removal in 1838. You can take a complete virtual tour of their museum, as well as viewing the various galleries. Each gallery has a short documentary illustrating the topics covered and choices made in the design of the gallery.
Members of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma are descendants of their ancestors who lived in northern Indiana prior to their forced removal in 1846. Learn about Miami history and culture by visiting this website – Aacimotaatiiyankwi. One blog on this site tells the history of General Harmar’s Defeat in 1790. This was a battle between the U.S Army and the Myaami men. Part of the battle was fought along the Trail, and Myaamia women and children used the trail as they fled to villages on the Elkhart River.
Learn about Elkhart County’s history by visiting the Elkhart County Historical Museum located in Bristol. They have exhibits on the Potawatomi and Miami people who lived in this area before the settlers came.
Trail of Death
Chief Menominee and his tribe of Potawatomi wanted to stay in their homeland in north central Indiana and live in peace with the settlers. They refused to sign a treaty giving up their land. In 1838, the tribe was forced out at gunpoint and relocated to eastern Kansas. It was a very difficult journey on foot and many died along the way. This is called the Trail of Death. Learn more about this history on the Potawatomi Trail of Death Association website.
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary offers a pilgrimage course every few years that follows the Trail of Death. This course explores the spiritual, ecological, and socio-political dimensions of decolonization as a process of inner and outer transformation. Students learn about the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism under the Doctrine of [Christian] Discovery in what is now the U.S. and will consider reparative responses in light of Jesus’ call to Jubilee justice.