Imagine that the United States government showed up at your doorstep and told you and your family that you had to walk 500 miles to a new home in a foreign land. Imagine, along the way, that your relatives and children died on your journey to your new home. Imagine that you were told you would not be able to honor your dying child’s wish to be buried in their homelands. Imagine not being considered a human being. Sadly, this is the reality that Chief Standing Bear and my Ponca ancestors lived.

Chief Standing Bear was born on the banks of the Niobrara River in Nebraska where the Ponca people peaceably lived. In 1877, by federal treaty, the United States forcibly removed Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca Tribe from our homeland in Nebraska to Indian Territory. Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca people walked over 500 miles from Nebraska to Oklahoma, enduring hardships of travel, illness and the harsh conditions of Indian Territory. As a result, many members of our tribe perished during the tribe’s first year in Indian Territory, including Chief Standing Bear’s 16-year-old son Bear Shield. Bear Shield’s dying wish to his father was to be buried back in our homelands along the Niobrara River.

Chief Standing Bear. 1877. Illustration from The Indian Dispossessed by Seth K. Humphrey, 1906.

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