This past summer marked the fourteenth year of the Eewansaapita Summer Youth Educational Experience. Eewansaapita means ‘sunrise’ and is a metaphoric expression for community rebirth, renewal, and empowerment. It is the flagship youth education program of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma for tribal citizens ages ten to sixteen. The focus of the program is to…
Category: History
Meehkweelintamankwi Aanchsahaaciki ‘Remembering Our Forced Removal’
By Joshua Sutterfield and Meghan Dorey aya eeweemilaankiki ‘Hello our relatives,’ 174 years ago this week, the United States government began the forced removal of Myaamia people from our historic homelands in the Wabash River Valley. On October 6, 1846, Myaamia people boarded canal boats near Iihkipihsinonki ‘the Straight Place’ (Peru, Indiana). All told, in…
Thoughts on COVID Neehseehpineenki ‘COVID-19’ and Past Epidemics
Epidemic contagion is a cornerstone of how we think about the period of Native American encounters with European and African newcomers, roughly 1500-1850. As we live through a global pandemic, we are once again faced with life-changing, or life-taking, circumstances. The request for the new word neehseehpineenki ‘COVID-19’ begs the question: How important was disease…
Mihšihkinaahkwa – A Brief Biography of ‘Little Turtle’
Akima Mihšihkinaahkwa ‘Chief Little Turtle’ (~1747-1812) was a prominent Myaamia leader from 1780 until 1809. Not much is known about his childhood. Little is known about his parents, but he did share one parent in common with the Myaamia leaders Pakaana and Tahkamwa. It is likely that he grew up in the area between the…
waapankiaakamionki eehpyaaciki ‘They Arrived in Kansas’
On November 4, 1846, the first grouping of Myaamia people arrived on their new reservation in the Unorganized Indian Territory. They were unloaded at Kanza landing, in what is today Kansas City, Missouri, and then traveled the final 50-60 miles south via horse and wagon. By November 5, after nearly a month of travel, the…
