View source for Ponca

{{Short description|Indigenous people of North America}}
{{other uses}}
{{infobox ethnic group
| group            = Ponca
| native_name      = Páⁿka
| flag             = 
| flag_caption     = Flag of the [[Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma]]
| image            = 
| image_caption    = Flag of the [[Ponca Tribe of Nebraska]]
| pop              = 6,700<ref name=oia>Oklahoma Indian Affairs. [http://www.ok.gov/oiac/Publications/index.html Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211145522/http://www.ok.gov/oiac/Publications/index.html |date=2009-02-11 }} 2008: page 28. Retrieved 8 August 2009.</ref><ref name=ne/>
{{Historical populations
|align        = center
|state        = collapsed
|width        = 12em
|footnote     = 1983: No official figure for Northern Ponca available during termination. 1998: 2,492 Southern Ponca tribal enrollment figures.
|source       = <ref>{{cite book |last1=DeMallie |first1=Raymond |last2=Sturtevant |first2=William |title=Handbook of North American Indians. Volume 13. Plains |date=2001 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |location=Washington, D.C. |page=430 |url=https://mnpals-msumk.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay/alma990028515310104301/01MNPALS_MSUMK:MSUMK |access-date=6 November 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
|1780 |800
|1804 |200
|1820 |750/1250
|1836 |900
|1846 |2000
|1847 |1600
|1852 |800
|1862 |1054
|1876 |730
|1880 |825
|1892 |775
|1910 |875
|1939 |1237
|1950s |1350
|1960 |1258
|1983 |2221
|1989 |3277
|1998 |4387
}}
| popplace         = {{flagicon|United States}} [[United States]]<br />({{flagicon|Nebraska}} [[Nebraska]], {{flagicon|Oklahoma}} [[Oklahoma]])
| rels             = [[Native American Church]], [[Christianity]]
| langs            = [[English language|English]], [[Omaha-Ponca language|Omaha-Ponca]]
| related          = [[Dhegihan]] speaking people
([[Omaha people|Omaha]], [[Kaw people|Kaw]], [[Osage people|Osage]], and [[Quapaw people|Quapaw]])
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|person= |people= Páⁿka|language= [[Omaha-Ponca language|Páⁿka Iyé]],<br/>[[Plains Indian Sign Language|Páⁿka Gáxe]]|country=Páⁿka Mazhóⁿ}} 
The '''Ponca people'''{{Efn|The term ''Ponca'' was the name of a clan among the [[Kaw people|Kansa]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], and [[Quapaw]]. The meaning of the name is "Those Who Lead."<ref>Dando-Collins,(2004)''Standing Bear is a Person'', p. 138. Da Capo, Cambridge, MA {{ISBN|0-306-81370-X}}.</ref>}} ([[Omaha-Ponca language|Omaha-Ponca]]: ''Páⁿka'') are a nation primarily located in the [[Great Plains]] of North America that share a common Ponca culture, history, and language, identified with two Indigenous nations: the [[Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma]] or the [[Ponca Tribe of Nebraska]].

This nation comprised the modern-day Ponca, [[Omaha people|Omaha]], [[Kaw people|Kaw]], [[Osage people|Osage]], and [[Quapaw people|Quapaw]] peoples until the mid-17th century when the people sought to establish their nation west of the [[Mississippi River]] as a result of the [[Beaver Wars]]. By the end of the 18th century, the Ponca people had established themselves at the mouth of the [[Niobrara River]] near its confluence with the [[Missouri River]], remaining there until 1877 when the United States [[Indian removal|forcibly removed]] the Ponca people from the [[Ponca Reservation]] in the [[Dakota Territory]] to the [[Indian Territory]]. This event, known as the Ponca Trail of Tears, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Ponca civilians and the splintering of the nation. In 1879, two years after the removal, a small portion of the Ponca elected to return to Nebraska in 1879. This group, led by [[Standing Bear]], ultimately gave rise to the present-day Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. Two years later, the majority of the Ponca were given the opportunity to return to Nebraska but elected against doing so, having established themselves on a new reservation in the Indian Territory. This group, led by [[Chief White Eagle|White Eagle]], ultimately gave rise to the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma.

==Early history==
[[File:Moni chaki.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Thomas Cry (Moni Chaki), Ponca, Nebraska, 1898]]
At first European contact, the Ponca lived around the mouth of the [[Niobrara River]] in northern [[Nebraska]].<ref name=ok>Karr, Steven. [http://www.ponca.com/752.html A Brief History of the Ponca Tribe.] ''The Official Website of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma.''. Retrieved 8 August 2009.</ref> According to tradition, they moved there from an area east of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] just before [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]]' arrival in the Americas. Siouan-speaking tribes such as the [[Omaha people|Omaha]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Quapaw]] and [[Kaw (tribe)|Kaw]] also have traditions of having migrated to the West from east of the Mississippi River.  The invasions of the [[Iroquois]] from their traditional base in the north pushed those tribes out of the [[Ohio River]] area.<ref name="osage">Louis F. Burns, [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OS001.html "Osage"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102050914/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OS001.html |date=2011-01-02 }} ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Retrieved 2 March 2009.</ref>  Scholars are not able to determine precisely when the [[Dhegiha Siouan]] tribes migrated west, but know the Iroquois also pushed tribes out from the Ohio and West Virginia areas in the [[Beaver Wars]]. The Iroquois maintained the lands as hunting grounds.<ref>Rollins 96-100</ref>

The Ponca appear on a 1701 map by [[Pierre-Charles Le Sueur]], who placed them along the upper [[Missouri River|Missouri]]. In 1789, fur trader [[Juan Baptiste Munier]] was given an exclusive license to trade with the Ponca at the mouth of the [[Niobrara River]].  He founded a trading post at its confluence with the Missouri, where he found about 800 Ponca residing. Shortly after that, the tribe was hit by a devastating [[smallpox]] [[epidemic]].  In 1804, when they were visited by the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]], only about 200 Ponca remained. Later in the 19th century, their number rose to about 700.<ref name=ne>[http://www.poncatribe-ne.org/History About the Ponca Tribe.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008083340/https://www.poncatribe-ne.org/History/ |date=2021-10-08 }} ''Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.''. Retrieved 6 January 2015.</ref>
[[File:The Ponca (Dhegiha) migration story according to oral tradition. (Map improved 2018).png|upright=2.2|thumb|[[Dhegihan History and Separation|Route of the Ponca Indians and other Dhegiha Siouan peoples]] (Quapaw, Osage, Kansa (Kaw) and Omaha) from the South to Nebraska according to oral traditions]]

Most of the leadership of the Ponca people was destroyed in 1824. Hostile Lakotas attacked a delegation of 30 leaders of various rank returning from a visit in a friendly Oglala Lakota camp. Only twelve survived. "Numbered among the dead were all the Ponca chiefs, including the famous Smoke-maker ...".<ref name=Howard1965>Howard, James H. (1965): ''The Ponca Tribe''. Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin 195. Washington.</ref>{{rp|27}}

Unlike most other [[Plains Indians]], the Ponca grew [[maize]] and kept vegetable gardens. Their last successful buffalo hunt was in 1855.<ref name=ok/>

==Treaties with the United States==
In 1817 the tribe signed a peace treaty with the United States.<ref name="1817 Ponca Treaty">[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0140.htm "US-Ponca Treaty of 1817"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126013719/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0140.htm |date=2011-11-26 }}. retrieved 4nov2011</ref>  By a second treaty in 1825, they  regulated trade and tried to minimize intertribal clashes on the Northern Plains.<ref name="1825 Ponca Treaty">[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0225.htm "US-Ponca Treaty of 1825"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150307063557/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0225.htm |date=2015-03-07 }}. retrieved 4nov2011</ref>  In 1858 the Ponca signed a treaty by which they gave up parts of their land to the United States in return for protection from hostile tribes and a permanent reservation home on the Niobrara.<ref name="1858 Ponca Treaty">[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0772.htm "US-Ponca Treaty of 1858"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213034753/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0772.htm |date=2015-02-13 }}. retrieved 4nov2011</ref>  The Ponca signed their last treaty with the US in 1865.<ref name="1865 Ponca Treaty">[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0875.htm "US-Ponca Treaty of 1865"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213031629/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pon0875.htm |date=2015-02-13 }}. retrieved 4nov2011</ref> In the 1868 US-Sioux [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)|Treaty of Fort Laramie]]<ref name="1868 Sioux Treaty">[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol2/treaties/sio0998.htm "US-Sioux Treaty of 1868"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126131814/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0998.htm |date=2011-11-26 }}. retrieved 4nov2011</ref> the US mistakenly included all Ponca lands in the [[Great Sioux Reservation]].  Conflict between the Ponca and the Sioux/Lakota, who now claimed the land as their own by US law, forced the US to remove the Ponca from their own ancestral lands.

==Relocation==
When [[Congress of the United States|Congress]] decided to remove several northern tribes to [[Indian Territory]] (present-day [[Oklahoma]]) in 1876, the Ponca were on the list. After inspecting the lands the US government offered for their new reservation and finding it unsuitable for [[agriculture]], the Ponca chiefs decided against a move to the Indian Territory.  Hence, when governmental officials came in early 1877 to move the Ponca to their new land, the chiefs refused, citing their earlier treaty.  Most of the tribe refused and had to be moved by force. In their new location, the Ponca struggled with [[malaria]], a shortage of food and the hot climate.  One in four members died within the first year.{{Citation needed|reason=Nov 2009|date=November 2009}}

==Standing Bear==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Chief Standing Bear.jpg|thumb|240px|Standing Bear]] -->
Chief [[Standing Bear]] was among those who had most vehemently protested the tribe's removal.  When his eldest son, Bear Shield, lay on his deathbed, Standing Bear promised to have him buried on the tribe's ancestral lands. In order to carry out his promise, Standing Bear left the reservation in Oklahoma and traveled back toward the Ponca homelands. He was arrested for doing so without US government permission and ordered confined at Fort Omaha.  Many people took up his cause, and two prominent attorneys offered their services ''pro bono''.  Standing Bear filed a ''[[habeas corpus]]'' suit challenging his arrest. In ''Standing Bear v. Crook'' (1879), held in [[Omaha, Nebraska]], the US District Court established for the first time that Native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law" of the United States, and that they have certain rights as a result.  This was an important [[civil rights]] case.<ref name=ne/>

==Nebraska==
{{Main|Ponca Tribe of Nebraska}}
[[File:Standing Bear tomahawk displayed by Ponca at Nebraska State Capitol on March 3, 2025.jpg|thumb|Two Ponca men display Chief Standing Bear's pipe tomahawk at the Nebraska State Capitol]]
In 1881, the US returned 26,236 acres (106&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of [[Knox County, Nebraska]] to the Ponca, and about half the tribe moved back north from Indian Territory.  The tribe continued to decline.

In the 1930s, the [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln|University of Nebraska]] and the [[Smithsonian Institution]] conducted an [[archeological]] project<ref name="Dig Deep"/> 
to identify and save [[prehistoric]] [[artifact (archaeology)|artifact]]s before they were destroyed during agricultural development.  The team excavated a prehistoric Ponca village, which included large circular homes up to sixty feet in diameter, located almost two miles (3&nbsp;km) along the south bank of the Niobrara River.
<ref name="Lynch">[http://abcdunlimited.com/drlance/geocities/RABBIT.HTM Dr. Lance Martin, "Rabbit Hunt"], 1997, ABCD unlimited. Retrieved 12/5/08.</ref>
<ref name="Dig Deep">[http://doctorlance.com/anthro.html Dr. Lance Martin, "Dig Deep"], 1997, ABCD unlimited. Retrieved 06/19/17.</ref>

After World War II, the US government began a policy of terminating its relationship with tribes.  In 1966, the US federal government [[Indian termination policy|terminated]] the tribe (then called the Northern Ponca).  It distributed its land by allotment to members, and sold off what it called  surplus.<ref name=ne/> Many individuals sold off their separate allotments over the decades, sometimes being tricked by speculators.

In the 1970s, the tribe started efforts to reorganize politically.  Members wanted to revive the cultural identity of its people and improve their welfare.  First, they sought state recognition and then allied with their Congressional representatives to seek legislation for federal recognition.  On October 31, 1990, the Ponca Restoration Bill was signed into law, and they were recognized as the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. They are now trying to rebuild a land base on their ancestral lands.  They are the only federally recognized tribe in Nebraska without a reservation.<ref name=ne/>

Today the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has over 2,783 enrolled members and is headquartered in [[Niobrara, Nebraska]].<ref name=ne/>

==Oklahoma==
[[File:Ponca Indian delegation (8bba1079-03d5-4000-bcd1-583d3e49fb8c).png|thumb|The Washington Delegation of Ponca in 1877]] 
{{Main|Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma}}
After the 1877 forced relocation onto the [[Quapaw]] Reservation in Indian Territory, the tribe moved west to their own lands along the [[Arkansas River|Arkansas]] and [[Salt Fork Arkansas River|Salt Fork Rivers]]. The full-bloods formed a [[tipi]] village, while the mixed-bloods settled about [[Chikaskia River]].  During opposition by Ponca leadership, the US government began dismantling tribal government under the [[Curtis Act]].  In an attempt to encourage assimilation (and to allow Oklahoma to become a state), they allotted reservation lands to individual members under the [[Dawes Act]] in 1891 and 1892.  Any land remaining after allotment was made available for sale to non-natives.<ref name=ok/>

After Oklahoma achieved statehood, some remaining Ponca land was leased or sold to the [[Miller Brothers 101 Ranch|101 Ranch]], where many Ponca people found employment. The 1911 discovery of [[oil]] on Ponca lands provided revenues but had mixed results. There were environmental disasters as oil refineries dumped waste directly into the [[Arkansas River]].<ref name=ok/>

In 1918, three Ponca men, Frank Eagle, Louis McDonald, and McKinley Eagle, helped co-found the [[Native American Church]].<ref name="ponca">[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=PO007 Mark Van de Logt, "Ponca"], ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.'' 2009 (14 December 2016)</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=Omer C.|url=http://archive.org/details/peyotereligion |title=Peyote Religion: A History |date=1990 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year= |isbn=0-8061-2068-1 |edition=2nd |location=Norman, Oklahoma |pages=224–226 |language=en |quote=''The first officers of the Central Church were Frank Eagle (Ponca), president; Mack Haag (Cheyenne), vice-president; George Pipestem (Oto), secretary; and Louis McDonald (Ponca), treasurer. For the first twenty-five years about thirty people from seven or eight tribes occupied all elected offices and the five or six appointed positions. As well as the member of the original general council, they included Alfred Wilson (Cheyenne), James W. Waldo (Kiowa), Ned E. Bruce (Kiowa), Edgar McCarthy (Osage), Frank W. Cayou (Omaha), and McKinley Eagle (Ponca).'' |access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref>{{rp|224–226}} {{As of|2024}}, the Native American Church is the most widespread Indigenous religion among Native Americans in the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico, having an estimated 300,000 adherents.

In 1950, the nation organized a new government under the [[Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act]].  Ponca leaders adopted the Ponca Constitution on 20 September 1950.<ref>[http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org/ccfolder/poncaconst.htm "Constitution and By-laws of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma"]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''National Tribal Justice Resource Center.''  Retrieved 8 August 2009.</ref> Today, the Ponca Tribe is headquartered in [[White Eagle, Oklahoma]] and conducts business from [[Ponca City, Oklahoma|Ponca City]].

==Notable Ponca==
* [[Carter Camp]], AIM (American Indian Movement) leader
* [[Brett Chapman]], attorney and Native American rights advocate
* [[Tommy Morrison]], former heavyweight boxer/co-star in Rocky V movie
* [[Chief White Eagle]], chief and civil rights advocate
* [[Susette La Flesche]], civil rights activist, writer, lecturer, interpreter, artist
* [[Paladine Roye]], painter, 1946–2001
* [[Ponka-We Victors]], [[Kansas]] state legislator
* [[Clyde Warrior]], activist for Native [[self-determination]]
* [[Standing Bear]], chief and civil rights advocate

==See also==
* [[Native American tribes in Nebraska]]
* [[Ponca Fort]]
Recognized Ponca Chief Mitchell (Wash com oni) Cerrie was a signatory to the 1858 and 1865 Ponca Treaties and was the recipient of the February 8th 1878 Certification of Treaty Stipulations with the United States Government.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
;Citations
{{reflist}}

;Books
* Clark, C. Blue. ''Indian Tribes of Oklahoma: A Guide.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-4060-5}}.
* [[James Owen Dorsey|Dorsey, James Owen]]. ''Omaha and Ponka Letters.'' Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891.
* Dando-Collins, Stephen. ''Standing Bear is a Person.'' Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2004.{{ISBN|0-306-81370-X}}.
* Rollins, Willard H. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ed0gnwEACAAJ&q=The+Osage:+An+Ethnohistorical+Study+of+Hegemony+on+the+Prairie-Plains. ''The Osage: An Ethnohistorical Study of Hegemony on the Prairie-Plains''.] Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1995.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.poncatribe-ne.org/ Ponca Tribe of Nebraska]
* [http://www.ponca.com/ Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050407190445/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/frameset.html Information about the Ponca "An Indian is a person": U.S. District Court Case of ''Standing Bear vs. George Crook'', 1879]
* {{Wikisource-inline|list=
** [[s:Removal of the Ponca Indians|Removal of the Ponca Indians]]
** [[s:On the Case of Big Snake|On the Case of Big Snake]]
** {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ponca |volume=22 |page=59 |short=1}}
}}

{{Native Americans in Nebraska}}
{{Native American Tribes in Oklahoma}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Ponca| ]]
[[Category:Plains tribes]]
[[Category:Dhegiha Siouan peoples]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in Nebraska]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in Oklahoma]]