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.
The Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center’s Tribal Heritage Project seeks to capture each CPN veteran and elder’s story through video interviews to safeguard the Nation and Tribal members’ history for generations to come.
The Potawatomi Crumbo family is full of stonemasons, Navy members, artists, filmmakers and more.
Citizen Potawatomi tribal member Isaac “Ike” Kahdot made his first appearance with Cleveland’s MLB team on Sept. 5, 1922, against the St. Louis Browns, and in 1993, was the oldest living Cleveland player at the age of 91 until his passing in 1999.
On Sept. 30, 1809, Potawatomi, Delaware, Miami and Eel River tribal leaders signed the Treaty of Fort Wayne, which included ceding approximately 3 million acres of land in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan for 2 cents per acre.
According to family records, “Joshua E. Clardy, also known as ‘Judge’ Clardy, was with his family one of the first settlers of Potawatomi County, Oklahoma.”