Closed Captions

Dan Jack (Kanza Nation) discusses the history and cultural identity of the Kanza people, from their ancestral lands in Kansas through removal to Oklahoma. He explains the impact of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, loss of traditional hunting grounds, and the language suppression policies imposed on Native peoples. Jack emphasizes educational achievement and highlights notable Kanza and Native American figures who have contributed to American society.

Transcript

0:04 Yeah
0:06 Welcome to the 10 of Many Voices. How are your kids doing today? Good. And what school do you kids come from? Where did you come from today?
0:18 Saint Joseph's School. Now what grades do we have here? Are y'all? Just the 4th grade. Excellent. Is it good to be in the 4th grade?
0:29 Kinda, uh oh, that doesn't sound reassuring. Is it the teachers? Oh, OK, that's good. That's good. Well, welcome. We are a traveling exhibit traveling along the Lewis and Clark Trail. My name is park ranger Aaron, and we have been on the road since the year 2003, and we've seen a lot of school kids. We've been around this country
0:52 and seen a lot of different school kids and bringing them the story, and a lot of the stories involved Native Americans because Lewis and Clark met a lot of Native Americans that were living out west before. Lewis and Clark made it out there, OK? And today we have a special presentation for you given by Dan Jack who is a member of the Kaw Indian tribe
1:17 and he lives here in Washington in Ellensburg, Washington, which is near the middle of Washington Washington. Have you been there before?
1:25 You have it's, it's snowing there, isn't it, Dan? Can you believe it? It's snowing out there. Well, Dan's gonna be talking about the Indian tribe and language, and he works for the Central Washington University. So let's give him a warm welcome here in the tent. He was saying that, I hand it over to you.
1:44 I, uh, I wanna say that I really appreciate what the National Park Service has done for the last few years, and that is to bring the exhibition on tour, so I'm very appreciative of, of their presence here today and things that uh that they've done for us and so uh while I'm talking to you there's going to be a
2:06 slide show going on behind me and the slide show. Uh, consists of 33 pictures of the Indian tribe, and, uh, they'll be on for about 20 seconds or so and, and then they're going to change. I would like for you to use your imagination just a little bit. Uh, this afternoon as I talk to you because I wanna talk to you about
2:31 our nation, where they're from, where they're located, and a little bit about what's happened to them over the period of time that we're talking about. But before I do that, I want to say to you, hoyashibi chi we win azaniwaho yimbe. And what I've just said to you is greetings. I'm grateful that all of you have come here, and I welcome all as family.
2:57 So I'm very appreciative that you have taken the time to come and visit and listen to what I have to say to you and hopefully learn a little bit about my people and my ancestors. It's a very interesting story to me, and I want to share it with you. To each of you who maybe have thought about talking to Native America,
3:21 to the American Indian, uh, this is a wonderful opportunity for you to see some of the exhibits that the park service has available for you to look at. So hopefully, uh, you'll be able to do that, uh, this afternoon. How many of you have ever heard of the carnation? Has anyone heard of the colonation? Great. OK, so we have several people.
3:44 Do you have any idea where they're located? Any idea if you would use your imagination and let's pretend that I'm not an artist. But if we were to take a look.
4:01 The United States.
4:04 And if we were to draw a map. This would represent. The state of Kansas.
4:14 Now the state of Kansas over here on this map would be located in this general area right here. And therefore, we're known as the Plains Indian tribe. Plains Indian tribe of Siouan descent and today there's a lot of talk about uh where our tribe came from.
4:38 A lot of people believe that we started in Ohio and others believe that we started on the Atlantic coast and that we were a part of what they call the Woodlands tribes. And the Woodlands tribes consist of many others uapaws, the Pawnees, the Otos, the Osage, and they also think
5:03 that the calls were a part of that. Now when I say to you, the cow Indian. I'm going to be referring to our tribe in other terms as well. The concept Which would be We have the car.
5:25 We have the con.
5:30 And we have another.
5:33 Or another way to spell it. K
5:37 The reason for that is there are actually over 100 different ways to write and pronounce the name of our tribe. But in 1868,
5:51 The tribe was referred to in the government records. As the cop, because that's the way that it sounded to the Frenchmen who were in the area. That's what it sounded like to them, cop. In actuality, it was Kanza. So I prefer the Kanza spelling.
6:15 There are others in the tribe who prefer the call tribe. But either one that's used or when it's used is referring to our tribe, a tribe that consists of today, approximately 2700 members, 2700 members. Now, when we were first discovered.
6:41 By a Frenchman from Canada, the Bourseman. In the 1700s, our tribe was located in the state of Kansas and in Colorado adjoining Kansas and our lands consisted of our main tribal headquarters being right here.
7:07 And that today is Donovan County, Kansas.
7:13 Located next to Donovan or in Donovan County, Kansas, we had Leavenworth, Acheson. Kansas City.
7:25 All over here in the Colorado. To Denver. And our land, We're very inclusive of these areas. Because they went all the way across.
7:43 And across the top. Roughly 2/3 of the state of Kansas and 20 million acres.
7:56 And that was at the turn of the century in 1800. Does anyone know when Lewis and Clark came through? When they started 183, 184, 186, that was the time frame when they were coming through the different lands.
8:17 So this is where they met. With Lewis and Clark. And that's at the confluence of the, the Missouri River and the Kansas River. Located within this land, you had the Republican River. You had
8:39 All of the sacred streams and the sacred waters of the land. And it was in this land. That we refer to the tribe in their history as consisting of a land of plenty. A land Or a time of conflict. In the future
9:05 If we take a look at this area that we've outlined. Then we would know as we looked at it and we thought about it, we would know that that is where the blue stem grass grew. The timber lined the riverbanks, and all of these things were very important for our tribe and that our wealth
9:29 was dependent upon the land that we occupied. It's very interesting to note one thing. And that was we never said we owned this land. We occupied the land.
9:45 Because Native America did not believe that you could own the land at the time. Which leads us to the problems that we faced with Lewis and Clark coming through. Yes, we were part of the Louisiana Purchase. Yes, we had occupied the lands for years.
10:09 But what's interesting is that To look at this land. And to work the land. Our Indian tribe had 16 clans. The 16 clans that we had, each clan had a job. We had one plan.
10:32 That was that consisted of family members. It's, if each of you in here today, if we were to divide you into 16 groups, we would have 16 clans that we could refer to. And each clan would have a job. We had one clan who was in charge of the hunting grounds.
10:55 We had another clan who was in charge of harvesting. We had another clan who was in charge of something else.
11:07 This is where our problems occur. Because when Lewis and Clark came through.
11:15 We begin to Learn That it was not uh what a lot of people think of it to today, but it was a cultural conflict. It brought about cultural conflicts.
11:34 Now let me explain what I'm talking about.
11:40 My ancestors were told that they were not civilized. Do you know what that means?
11:53 Not behaving. But what else?
12:04 Uh
12:07 Not willing to make peace or something. Well, um.
12:14 My people were told they didn't have truth. They were not civilized. They, they, they lived a life that was not a life of choosing by others because we could not speak the English language.
12:34 My ancestors could speak 6 languages, but they did not know nor understand anything about English. And for that reason, they were not considered to be people.
12:53 My grandmother, when I went to her. And I asked her to teach me the language. She said no. The reason she said no is because in 1873 when our people were removed from their lands, they also were told that they were to give up
13:17 the Native American lifestyle. They were not to speak the languages or practice the traditions any longer. And she went to high school institute in the state of Kansas, an Indian school, and she was told to forget those things and to begin to pick up the traditions
13:42 of the settlers and so my grandmother would not teach me the language. Instead, what she told me was you need to go to school. You need to learn English and you then need to return and to come back
14:07 and to talk to the youth just like I'm talking to you today. And that you need to tell them what is right. You need to do some teaching, Dan Jack.
14:22 And I said, oh,
14:25 You need As much education as you can come up with and get and every opportunity that you have to go to school, you need to go to school and you need to learn because you do not want to be called uncivilized as I have been.
14:49 I didn't understand this.
14:52 I didn't understand what she was telling me.
14:57 Because I liked her I thought she was civilized.
15:03 But she was right. I needed to learn and get an education. And come back and teach the youth. And so that's a vow that I made to the tribe. So what is this thing that we call culture and a cultural conflict with Lewis and Clark? The language is one thing.
15:28 Learning the customs is another. And that's what we have tried to do as we have followed this journey, making its trek across the western portion of the United States.
15:43 We understand much better. Now than we did then of what's happened to Native America and the culture. That we've learned since the time of our land of plenty.
16:02 So what did, what happened with this? What happened with it was our hunting grounds consisted of the lands in this portion.
16:17 And as the settlers were coming through.
16:21 They would cross the Missouri and they would come into our hunting area. And they might say, we've traveled far enough. Retired. This is beautiful land. Why don't we just settle right here? And so they would set up and maybe they would stop here and they would say, well,
16:45 this looks like a pretty place. Let's put our fences up. Let's, let's farm right here. Let's, let's settle right here. Well, then the clan that was in charge of our hunting grounds would go out and secure the areas and get ready for the hunting season, and they would say, oh.
17:08 Where did these people come from? And as they try to encounter these individuals, they could not communicate with each other because we did not speak English and they did not speak the French or any of the languages that we knew, so we had a communications problem.
17:36 That resulted in many other problems, the result of conflicts, friction. And the result was for us is that we eventually lost this land. And we eventually lost all of this land. So we went from
18:00 having 20 million acres that we would oversee and 20 million acres where Our people would go out and hunt. And go out and try and protect. We lost from that down to. An area that consisted of
18:24 2000 acres. In a place called Council Grove, Kansas, and that was in 1870. In Council Grove, Kansas, we had several rock buildings that were erected for us and in Council Grove, Kansas, that's where we began to establish uh
18:49 ourselves.
18:52 And then the government told us that we were going to lose that because there were some people who wanted to buy that land.
19:02 Well, when that occurred, we learned that we were going to move from Council Grove, Kansas. Down here To another place. And this place is where our people are today. And this place is Oklahoma.
19:28 Indian territory. In 1873, 700 of our tribal members moved from the state of Kansas into Oklahoma where we reside today.
19:43 We own today. 1500 acres.
19:49 And so we've gone from 20 million To 1500 acres. In what is today present day Oklahoma. We went from a land of plenty where we had 20 million acres. Down to a land of conflict.
20:11 In today, the future. The timber, the tall grass all remain at issue today. In different meetings that we have with the people in Washington DC.
20:29 The result of this. The result of
20:35 Losing the rivers and the sacred streams brought about change for our tribe. Our kinds of men saw themselves who saw themselves primarily as hunters, hunters of buffalo. Those who captured the small wildlife and the large animals on these lands in Kansas, they, uh.
20:59 They continued to do so until the lands diminished. And then as they diminished, they turned to something that they were not used to and that was farming. So it was hard for them to make the changes.
21:17 Indeed, we went through these stages and the changes occurred time and time again.
21:27 The pressures of conflict were brought about not only by the settlers coming in. As a result of Lewis and Clark, but also because of our own issues with the different tribes. Now what's interesting to me. I
21:49 If you take all of the tribes that occupied Kansas at one time or another, which were many. The government said we're going to put you in this area.
22:05 Down here In Oklahoma called Indian Territory.
22:11 And so as a result, with our tribe. We went from this large area like this. Or we could spread out into a smaller area down here.
22:27 The Osage was our greatest enemy.
22:33 At one point And then over a period of time, they became our greatest friend. The Pawnee Had always been an enemy of ours but became the greatest enemy of all.
22:51 And Our tribe was located here. And the party was located here. How can you expect to put two tribes together that had always been in a warring situation and expect them to get along? And after a while,
23:14 when after this had been done, the government came back to us and said, why are you squabbling? Why are you continually battling each other? It was easy for us to try and explain, but it was hard for the government to understand. And this seemed to be the trend that was occurring and going on in The Oklahoma territory.
23:40 It came from the state of Kansas down.
23:44 There have been many different stories told among our tribal elders. Is any, do you know what a tribal elder is? What's a tribal elder?
24:06 A chief or something, you're close. Yeah, you're close. Who, who, who has another idea.
24:17 Ah, really old in the tribe, OK.
24:21 The older members of the tribe, that's correct. The older members of the tribe, there's Pai Singh. Pai Sing was an elder. Pai Singh was an elder in the tribe. Today you can identify them being probably 63, 65 years old or older. And uh that would be a tribal elder and they hold some kind of
24:46 uh a level of honor within the tribe as well uh in addition to being one of the older tribal members. I was granted in the year 2, 1999, actually, my Indian name which is Shinkakahiki. Shinkakahiki means great leader of all men.
25:12 The youth, the young ones, the young ones in here today. You would earn your status in the tribe by doing something great. During the time of battle. The young warriors, the young tribal members would hold the horses as they went into battle. And you would gain respect for things such as that.
25:37 So everyone had a role. Everyone played a part.
25:44 For the chiefs we know that.
25:47 Everyone was worried about losing the lands. We had 3 different villages and the 3 villages that we had. We had a village that was Called White Boom's Village. White Bloom was a, this is white bloom.
26:11 He was the leader of the half breeds of the cow Indian. Well there's another picture of white flu.
26:21 And then we had Fool Chiefs Village, and Fool Chiefs Village was the 2nd village, the 2nd largest village. And the third village was ruled by a person known as Pegaahashi, and Pegaahashi was his, his name easier for you to remember with Big John.
26:46 All three were chiefs of the, of the villages and the chiefs of the villages. Big John was probably the least effective.
26:59 There was another chief. That came to be and that was Chief Alegawahu and Chief Alegawahu was the great orator of our tribe, and Chief Alegawahu was 6' 6 inches tall, which was large during that time in the early 1800s, and Chief Alegawahu
27:22 was the one who negotiated some of our. Our treaties
27:28 But our treaties.
27:32 We broken on many occasions. And those treaties we read today. And we talked to the governor about them. One that we have right now is dated from 1825 and we're still trying to resolve some of the issues that that treaty brought about.
27:56 Now, our tribe went through all of these different things. They went through. Smallpox. Infestations on two occasions.
28:10 They went through the many wars that they had with the other Indian tribes. So we went through. A time of plenty. A time of conflict and today we're going through. The future
28:29 Now there have been several attempts. That have been made by Hollywood and maybe some of you have seen these attempts to bring to light the plight of Native Americans, but most have failed.
28:46 Does anyone know who Jim Thorpe is? Has anyone heard of Jim Thorpe? What do you, have you heard of Jim Thorpe?
28:58 OK? Well Jim Thorpe was a very good athlete.
29:05 He, he's one example of many attempts to try and And bring out the good in Native America. There was a movie made called Jim Thorpe Pa America. And it was one example of the many attempts of trying to bring out the good, but it was a failure.
29:28 It was a failure because the information that was presented was not totally correct. Jim Thorpe was pinned up most of the time while he was in school.
29:41 In 1991. There was a movie that was released called Dances with Wolves, and many of you may have heard of that movie. And Dances with Wolves was one that was hailed by Native America to be Hollywood's best attempt at telling the story. Of the Native American.
30:03 And that best attempt was because it was told in the Native Americans own language. It was told in their own tongue. And I would have to agree that that was a very good attempt at telling the story of Native America.
30:23 Now I'm sharing a lot of this with you today and I'm shortening some of it because it goes into things that uh it goes into a lot of depth and dates and times and history, but I didn't want to bore you with that. Um, but what I do want to share with you. is that although we have gone through these things,
30:47 there's a poem that I would like to share with you.
30:52 This poem best exemplifies. What the carnation has been through. What my elders have been through and the people that I have talked to and it's entitled tomorrow.
31:06 We have wept the blood of countless ages as each of us raised high the lance of hate. Now let us dry our tears and learn to dance.
31:18 Enchant of the life cycle. For tomorrow dances behind the sun and sacred promise of things to come from children not yet born. For ours is the potential of truly lasting beauty, born of hope and shaped by deed. Now let us lay the lance of hate upon the soil.
31:44 Today
31:47 My tribe, the people that I know, and others as well. are meeting the challenges that we have been faced with.
31:58 Let's look at a few of the success stories that we are aware of.
32:04 From the Kansa Indian nation comes Charles Curtis. And Charles Curtis held the highest elected office of a public official in the United States. From 1929 to 1933, Charles Curtis, who was my cousin, served as vice president of the United States under Herbert Hoover.
32:29 Maria Tallchief, for the young ladies in the crowd, you may want to get to know about Maria Tallchief because Maria Tallchief, still living today, is an Osage Indian. Uh, who is a world renowned ballerina from Fairfax, Oklahoma. She became America's preeminent dancer, a prima ballerina,
32:52 and was named Woman of the Year by the President of the United States. She has been honored for her international achievements and her proud Native American identity, and she was named Waxy Tomba, woman of two worlds. Will Rogers. Will Rogers always said that he was first an Indian, then a cowboy,
33:17 then a national figure. Now he is a legend.
33:23 Billy Mills, who came from South Dakota Reservation to participate on the world scene in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics as a champion and an individual, Billy Mills has constantly challenged the barriers of culture.
33:43 Susan Laflachecote.
33:46 Susan is the first Indian woman to become a doctor of medicine. She devoted herself. To the welfare of her people. Baseball notables Cal McLeish, who's a Choctaw, Charles Albert, Chief Bender Ojaba. Moses J. Chief Yellow horse upon.
34:09 And the most colorful Native American baseball player. Was John Leonard Roosevelt Martin, known as Pepper Martin.
34:18 Also called Wild Horse of the Osage. I have the privilege of meeting an individual. By the name of Allie Reynolds. Who was called Super Chief, a Creek Indian who played for the New York Yankees.
34:36 There are other professionals as well. James Jarvis, an MD who is a mohawk, a pediatric rheumatologist, Evert Rhodes, another medical doctor.
34:49 An adjunct professor of medicine and a former assistant attorney general. And Sharon James Smith, Choctaw Chickasaw, an anesthesiologist, doctors, lawyers, educators, military personnel.
35:08 All have transitioned and contributed in a very positive way to today's society. So I challenge each of you.
35:19 Each of you who are here today to continue with your education. I challenge each of you that to further that education become involved for your people. There are many ways that you can do it. For those up on the front rows, go to school. Learn the languages, learn
35:44 as much as you can in school today and get a scholarship. For those who are adults, we have lifelong learning opportunities. Continue that educational process. Because there are more people dependent upon the youth of our nation today.
36:06 than ever before.
36:09 And each of you need to learn your history and your story and your background. Learn as I have, it started as a yearning to know more about my people for me and my grandmother and what she went through. Then it became almost a hobby and still is.
36:36 Today many Indian nations are experiencing the same thing that the nation has experienced. And that is the loss of the full blood tribal member. We have no longer any full bloods living.
36:54 Today, the members of our tribe have met the individuals from all walks of life, and we honor those whom we respect. On a yearly basis and we do so through the sacred rituals we remind ourselves of the history and traditions of our people. We remember our friends
37:16 and we learn about the fierce warriors who have crossed over and into the circle that became our path.
37:25 Each one of these individuals up here have done that same thing. We remind ourselves that if we ever tell their story. We will do so just like I've told this to you today. And when we do, we're reminded to say. They are our friends. We pray to our great spirit
37:49 whose name is Wakanta. And we ask for their protection as they enter what we call in term the future life.
37:59 And then we remind ourselves that now it is our turn to teach. And to meet the challenges like our elders did.
38:11 We believe That As each day goes by. Small pieces of our body go into the air. And they fall back to the earth with the rain. Meaning, in essence, we soak in our ancestors.
38:34 Those issues and those things become very important to each of us. So as I enter my study at my home and continue with my research to learn more about my people. I can become engrossed and involved so much that I lose track of time.
38:58 There's a second poem that I wish to share with you this afternoon, and it's by ad copywriter Patrick O'Leary. And it's titled Nobody Knows It But Me. And it best describes my experiences and it goes like this. There's a place I travel when I went to Rome. And nobody knows it but me.
39:23 The roads don't go there and the signs stay home and nobody knows it but me. It's far, far away and way, way a far. It's over the moon and the sea.
39:38 And wherever you're going, that's wherever you are.
39:43 And nobody knows it but me.
39:47 We have as a Kanza nation. So much to be thankful for because of our ancestors, and we want to reach out to each one of them and to thank them. We want to tell them that so much has changed and that we are on what we consider to be the right path.
40:10 History does repeat itself in substance. And there are decisions that still need to be made and issues that still need to be resolved. Both by the current generation. And by future generations.
40:30 So we say to you. And to our tribal members. Let's try and resolve these issues together. Not as individualists. Let's work together. But I must remind you that as we begin our journey and start our task, it will not be an easy task.
40:56 For we remain two cultures still divided.
41:01 How do we bring these cultures together? That is one of the issues. The challenges ahead are many. But can be overcome. The symbol of our tribe that has come up a couple of times up on the screen. Shows two riders on a horse.
41:23 And those two riders represent one going into the battle while the other has. The bag in the air, praying to the winds. The colors that are included on that symbol. are very important to the Khaza Indian nation. Because our colors are red
41:48 and yellow and green. Those are three colors that are, are very important to us.
41:57 In addition to that, They're praying to the south winds. Because we are known as the Khasa nation or the K nation and the people of the South wind. We believed an awful lot in the winds that blow the spirits into our direction to give us advice before going into battle.
42:22 So I'm trying to share with you a little bit this afternoon about the Khaza nation and our tribe. I hope I've been successful. There's so much to share with you. I wish I had a whole afternoon. There's just so much wealth of information that we've uncovered and it is meaningful to me. And I know that your history would be meaningful to you.
42:48 So I want to thank the National Park Service for giving me this opportunity and thank you for coming. Thank you very much. Thanks, Dan.
43:00 It was wonderful. All right, give yourselves a round of applause. You were a great audience. You kids were great, very patient. OK, coming up next we have a presentation by Gary Lentz which is entitled Do No Harm. All right, between now and then.

Tent of Many Voices

Dan Jack on Kanza History, Culture, and Resilience

Dan Jack

Kanza

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Dan Jack on Kanza History, Culture, and Resilience

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