Present Native American Traditions

Kansas was home to many Native American tribes. The Arapaho, the Kansa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Osage, Pawnee, and the Missouri, Wichita, and Otoe tribes are among the tribes that called Kansas home. The Kansa tribe was the tribe Kansas was named after. Kansa translates to “south wind people”.

Kansas also had emigrant tribes that were displaced from their homelands and forced into Kansas as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. These tribes are the Cherokee, Chippewa, Delaware, Iowa, Iroquois, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Munsee, Ottawa, Peoria, Piankashaw, Potawatomi, Quapaw, Sac and Fox, Shawnee, Stockbridge, Wea, Wyandot, Seneca, and the Illini. Kansas was a destination for many Native Americans East of the Mississippi River.

One can find reservations, celebrations, and traditions at the Kaw Mission State Historic Site in Council Grove, Kansas. The museum has many events that have Native American traditions and celebrations. The Kaw Mission is descended from the Kansa tribe. There are many other museums like the Shawnee Indian Mission, Pawnee Indian Village Museum, and the Native American Heritage Museum. There four Native American reserves, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska in White Cloud,KS, Kickapoo Tribe of Indians in Kansas in Horton, KS, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Mayetta, KS,, and Sac and Fox Nation in Reserve, KS.