The Ponca people are generally considered a Great Plains tribe, currently with nations in Oklahoma and Nebraska.
Historically, it is believed that they were part of a large nation in the Ohio River Valley that comprised the current Ponca, Omaha, Kaw, Osage, and Quapaw people. They migrated west, probably due to the Beaver Wars, a series of conflicts during the 17th century that involved French fur traders, as well as several indigenous tribes, particularly the Iroquois, who expanded their territory in New England and the Ohio River Valley.
By the end of the 18th century, the Ponca people had settled at the mouth of the Niobrara River in northern Nebraska. When a French trading post was established in 1789, there were about eight hundred Ponca in that area. However, a smallpox epidemic devastated the Ponca population. When the Lewis and Clark Expedition visited in 1804, there were only about two hundred Ponca remaining.
Unlike most Great Plains tribes, the Ponca grew corn and kept vegetable gardens.
In 1824, a group of Lakotas attacked a delegation of about thirty Ponca leaders as they were returning from a friendly visit to an Oglala Lakota camp. Only twelve Ponca leaders survived the attack.
Treaties signed with the United States government in 1817, 1825, and 1858 were focused on protection from hostile tribes. Although the Ponca population had revived to about seven hundred people, they were one of the smaller tribes in the region. Under the terms of the 1858 treaty, the Ponca gave up parts of their land in return for protection and a permanent reservation on the Niobrara.
However, in an 1868 treaty with the Sioux, the U.S. government included all of the Ponca lands in the Great Sioux Reservation, removing the Ponca from what was supposed to have been a permanent reservation promised only ten years earlier.
After viewing the lands that the government offered them for a new reservation and finding them unsuitable for agriculture, the Ponca decided against a move to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. In 1877, the Ponca were moved by force to Indian Territory, where one in four Ponca members died within the first year of malaria, food shortages, and a hot climate.
Chief Standing Bear was a Ponca leader who had strongly protested the tribe's removal. When his son, Bear Shield, was on his deathbed, Standing Bear resolved to bury him on the tribe's ancestral lands. With a small group of Ponca, he left the reservation in Oklahoma and traveled back toward the Ponca homelands. En route, he was arrested and confined at Fort Omaha. Two prominent attorneys agreed to take up his case pro bono, filing a habeas corpus suit challenging his arrest. In Standing Bear v. Crook (1879), the U.S. District Court ruled in his favor, establishing that Native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law," and that they have certain rights, including the right to travel.
In 1881, the government returned 26,236 acres of land in Knox County, Nebraska to the Ponca, and about half the tribe moved back from Indian Territory. In 1966, the federal government terminated the tribe, then known as the Northern Ponca, distributing its land by allotment to members and selling the remainder. Over the years, many Ponca members sold their separate allotments.
In the 1970s, the tribe reorganized, and federal recognition as a tribe was restored in 1990, where they are now known as the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. However, they are. the only federally recognized tribe in Nebraska without a reservation.
Those who remained in Indian Territory moved west to their own lands along the Arkansas and Salt Fork Rivers, which was more suitable for habitation. A group of full-bloods formed a tipi village, while the mixed-bloods settled along the Chikaskia River. Through the Curtis Act, the federal government began dismantling its tribal government, allotting reservation lands to individual members in 1891 and 1892, with the remaining land available for sale to non-natives.
In 1918, three Ponca men (Frank Eagle, Louis McDonald, and McKinley Eagle) helped co-found the Native American Church, which is now the most widespread Indigenous religion among American Indians in North America.
In 1950, the Ponca reorganized as a tribe under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act and was given federal recognition as the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.
Websites representing the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, tribal businesses, enterprises, services, programs, or events are appropriate topics for this portion of our guide, along with any other websites associated with Ponca tribes, organizations, or individuals.
Recommended Resources
The goal of the Chief Standing Bear Project is to designate and develop a national Chief Standing Bear Trail leading from the Pona homeland in Nebraska through Kansas and into Oklahoma. This trail is intended to enhance the general public's knowledge and awareness of the chief's story, including his journey to Oklahoma, his return to Nebraska, and his subsequent arrest, which led to the historic court case in Omaha. A trail map, photographs, videos, and historical records are presented.
https://chiefstandingbear.org/
It features a 10,000-square-foot gaming floor with more than 290 electronic games, along with food, cold beverages, and promotions. Games include penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, dollar, two-dollar, three-dollar, five-dollar, ten-dollar, and twenty-five-dollar games, which are listed on the site. The site also offers promotional offers, its Players Club membership program, dining options, career opportunities, directions, a map, hours of operation, and contacts.
https://fancydancecasino.net/
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
The federally recognized tribe's government offices are headquartered in White Eagle, near Ponca City, Oklahoma, and its jurisdictional area includes parts of Kay and Noble counties. Its constitution, election board, district court, tax commission, historic preservation office, and enterprise gaming board are identified, along with tribal programs, member assistance services, healthcare services, tribal enrollment policies, annual celebration, and a calendar of other events.
https://www.ponca-nsn.gov/
Headquartered in Niobrara, Nebraska, the federally recognized tribe is made up of descendants of Ponca Indians who returned to Nebraska from the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) reservation after the tribe was relocated there. Since 1990, the tribe has reacquired 413 acres of reservation land that had been taken from them in the 1950s. The tribal site acknowledges the tribal council, boards, committees, and tribal districts, and includes tribal programs and services, council agendas, and contacts.
https://www.poncatribe-ne.org/
The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Niobrara, Nebraska. While the tribe does not have a reservation, the Ponca Restoration Act established its 15-county service delivery area across Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota, offering services through five office sites. The history of the tribe, a collection of six Ponca stories passed down through the generations, photo and video galleries and audio examples of the Ponca language are featured here.
https://poncatribe-ne.tv/
