CPN’s new portal is a single access point for members to submit or update their personal information and research family connections.
Youth programs during summer 2021 provided an opportunity for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation to purchase and place trail cameras across its jurisdiction. The images help connect students to Mother Nature and open dialogue around conservation and land stewardship. The Nation now extends access to trail camera images through potawatomiheritage.com.
Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Language Department began offering Potawatomi classes to public school systems in 2017 after the curriculum met Oklahoma state standards for a world language credit. The department expanded to Shawnee Middle School in 2021. At the beginning of the academic year, it presented sixth graders the option to take Potawatomi as a 9-week elective course.
The January 2022 Language update from CPN Language Department Director Justin Neely discusses Potawatomi language courses in area schools, on-going classes by the department, children’s book efforts, and more.
The Hownikan features photographs and family history of the Hardin family as a part of a series highlighting archival holdings on founding families.
2021 brought productivity and uplifting news from CPN. Big developments ranged from new ways for Tribal members to connect digitally to an impactful agreement between local governments to improve the community’s future.
The Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center received recognition as one of the top 10 Model Museum/Cultural Centers by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums in 2020. The CHC also won numerous Oklahoma Museum Association awards in 2021.
The Frapp’s association with the Tribe began with the marriage of John B. Frapp and Josette Wilmette, the daughter of Archange Chevallier and Antoine Wilmette (Ouilmette), who were early residents of present-day Chicago.
On Nov. 15, 1861, nearly 80 Potawatomi headmen and Tribal members gathered with federal officials to sign the Treaty of 1861. The agreement created two separate Potawatomi tribes on the Kansas River Reservation, establishing the Citizen Potawatomi and Prairie Band.
In early 2021, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, Tara Sweeney, appointed Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal member Jason O’Neal as the deputy bureau director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services.