Oral Histories

To understand the context of these treaties, we’ve reached out to scholars and community members to share their stories and perspectives on what these treaties mean and how their influence still has impact today. Here are some of the quotes and resources that helped us understand these documents in their historical context:

Ronald D. Parks, former assistant director of the Historic Sites division of the Kansas State Historical Society, former administrator of the Kaw (Kanza) Mission State Historic Site, and author of The Darkest Period: The Kanza Indians and Their Last Homeland, 1846-1873, speaks about the introduction of male-dominated agricultural practices and how it was extremely difficult for the Kanza.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

The audio clips below are from the interdisciplinary panel called Kansas without the Kanza: Understanding how the Kanza Homeland became K-State. This project was created to discuss the findings of the Kansas Land Treaties research project. During the discussion, the public learned about the treaties which cumulatively dispossessed the Kanza, the present-day Kaw Nation, of 18,233,620 acres of land. This land loss paved the way for the rapid settlement of the region by non-Native settlers and helped fund institutions of higher learning, including K-State.

C. Huffman, Kaw Nation citizen, talks about importance of the Treaty Project to Kaw in diaspora—mentions different Kaw perspectives on this history

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

C. Huffman, Kaw Nation citizen, discusses the general public’s lack of knowledge about Kansas being named for the Kaw and also shares her the importance of recognizing present-day Kaw existence and land-based identity.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

In this clip, C. Huffman, Kaw Nation citizen, talks about Kaw connection to land and what It means to return home.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

C. Huffman, Kaw Nation citizen, discusses land acknowledgement actions and responsibilities for land grant universities.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

Here, C. Huffman, Kaw Nation citizen, argues that treaties should be taught in Kansas schools and also addresses the contemporary appropriation of Native images and identities.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

The audio clips below are from "Occupying Indigenous Land: Kansa(s) Perspectives about Land Acknowledgements", a discussion with David Mackay, Associate Director of Theatre, about Indigenous perspectives on land acknowledgments and the #landback movement . This conversation is with James Pepper Henry, Vice-Chair of the Kaw Nation, C. Huffman, independent scholar and Kaw Nation citizen, and Chester Hubbard, Vice President of the Native American Student Body.

James Pepper Henry, vice-chair of the Kaw Nation, discusses coming home to Kansas and the challenges and pain therein.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

James Pepper Henry, vice-chair of the Kaw Nation, talks about the extreme population loss experienced by the Kaw Nation due to settler incursion and removal. And also discusses how Kanza people are invisible even to long-time Kansas senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

James Pepper Henry, vice-chair of the Kaw Nation, discusses how the Kaw Nation came to own land in Kansas again, Allegawaho Park. He further comments on the parallels between historical and present-day racism within the surrounding Council Grove community toward Kaw people and the idea of land ownership.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

Chester Hubbard, Prairie Band Potowatomi Nation citizen, talks about his family’s love for the land and his conflicted feelings about his nation’s land within historic Kaw land.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

James Pepper Henry, vice-chair of the Kaw Nation, talks about Kaw language. He discusses fluent speakers in his family, the harm of boarding school, the work of scholars to record the language and programs in the nation today.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

James Pepper Henry, in his capacity as Executive Director of the First Americans Museum, discusses the choice to use the term “First Americans.”

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

James Pepper Henry, vice-chair of the Kaw Nation, discusses why land acknowledgements should be people acknowledgements.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

C. Huffman, Kaw Nation citizen, discusses understandings of time and tense in Kaw language and how this relates to land acknowledgements.

_{^{Read the full transcription for this audio clip here.}}

^{Partial funding for this program is provided by Humanities Kansas, a nonprofit cultural organization connecting communities with history, traditions, and ideas to strengthen civic life, as well as the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University and the Kansas Studies Institute at the Johnson County Community College.
The findings, conclusions, etc., are not necessarily those of HK or the National Endowment for the Humanities.} HK Logo ARTSCi KSI