Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center offers cultural and art classes several times a month as a service to the greater surrounding Indigenous community. Participants typically learn how to bead a piece of jewelry or create a piece of regalia led by Cultural Activities Coordinator and artist Leslie Deer.
To highlight some of the CHC’s archive’s holdings, the Hownikan is featuring photographs and family history of every founding Citizen Potawatomi family. This article traces the Smith family from an 1823 voter list from Michilimakinac County, Michigan, to the 1887 Oklahoma allotment roll.
High school sophomore and Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal member Lane Gourley took his 33-8 season record to the Oklahoma state wrestling tournament on February 26, representing Little Axe High School in the 3A division. Lane took fourth place in his 220 lb. weight class.
Tribal member and artist Riley Wolery will host his second art show in Billings, Montana in May 2022. Wolery works in a number of styles, and draws inspiration from Potawatomi tradition, other artists, nature and music.
Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center and Information Technology Department won the Oklahoma Historical Society’s 2021 Bruce T. Fisher Award for Outstanding Oklahoma History Project for their online platform, Ancestors, a new family history research tool accessible to Tribal members through portal.potawatomi.org.
This month’s veterans report discusses current events and the upcoming CPN Veterans Organization meeting.
Dennis Hoy, a Citizen Potawatomi veteran, spent the last year and a half working on his new book, Letters from Vietnam, which outlines the year he spent trudging through the jungle and valleys of Southeast Asia in 1967 and 1968.
From their humble roots in Ireland, the Slavin family forebears were among the many Irish immigrants who sought independence and stability in the United States. Together, with their Potawatomi relatives, they withstood numerous challenges to help establish a firm foundation for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma.
With almost two decades of experience, Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal member and Smith family descendant, Kortni Torralba was named one of 12 finalists for 2022 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She brings a unique skill set and outlook to her position as a therapeutic educator at Moore Alternative School and Treatment.
Once neighbors in the Great Lakes region prior to colonial contact, the Potawatomi and Kickapoo people have a great deal in common. These connections have been seen in food, housing and other customs, extending even to ancestors.