Kickapoo Tribe Research Paper

The Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma is signifigant to our states history. They had a happy life in Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan, until they got pushed out. Southwest Wisconsin was there new home for a little while. Oklahoma was then their last stop, along with Texas and Kansas. The nickname for the Kickapoo “Kiwigapawa” refers to them moving from place to place, because the word itself means “he moves from here to there”. Tribes across Oklahoma have had these same struggles of moving from many places because they were either kicked out, pushed out, needed a change, and etc. After the Kickapoo were forcibly removed, they have struggled to recover and come back like they used to be. Before contact with Europeans, the Kickapoo lived in Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan. In 1658, the Kickapoo had been forced west into Southwest Wisconsin after they had gone under attack first by the Ottawa and Iroquian-speaking Neutrals, and then the Iroquois. Then, in 1833, the Kickapoo’s were forcibly removed by the military and moved to Oklahoma and Texas.This was all known as the “Indian Removal” and Kennekuk led the Kickapoo’s. 1832 was also the year that the Missouri Kickapoo exchanged their reserve
for lands in northeast Kansas. There were even some tribe memebers in Mexico at this time. As of today though, there are tribe members only living in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The Algonquain-speaking Native American and Indigeneous Mexican tribe consisted of 4,000 members at their highest.
Historians believe that the Kickapoo once consisted of the Shawnee tribe, but do not know for a fact. In their tribe, the men would hunt and sometimes went to war to protect their families. The women were farmers and did most child care and cooking. Clothing in tribes such as the Kickapoo was very important. Men would wear breechcloth and leggings and women wore wraparound skirts. The Kickapoo lived in dome-shaped houses called wickiups, which was were all of their festivals and ceremonies would take place. In the past, the Kickapoo have been in many wars. The Kickapoo were in wars such as, The Civil War, The Spark and The War. In all of these wars, many
Indians The Kickapoo tribe today has three location spots. One is located in the northeatern part of Kansas, which is known as “Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Kansas”. Another one is located in on the Rio Grande border, which is known as “Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Texas”. The last one is located McLoud, Oklahoma and they are known as “Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Oklahoma”. Today there are about 3,000 members still in the tribe. There are many casinos in Oklahoma that our tribes own, and the Kickapoo own two of them. These casinos are located in Shawnee and Harrah. Many tribes have made casinos in Oklahoma because the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act allowed any recgonized tribe in Oklahoma to be federally incorporated, have the right to self-determination and make their own bylaws. Basically, the Indians were forced to move from one place to another and that is how they got the name Kiwigapawa. After being forced to move , Kennekuk led the Indians during thier removal from Wisconsin to Oklahoma. The Kickapoo were then spread out into three states and one country which is Mexico and the states are Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. As of today these are still the locations of where the Kickapoo tribe continues. The Kickapoo’s population has gone down throughout the years, but there are still many continuing with the tribe.