Whitecotton incorporates Potawatomi heritage and passions into career

Toupin family descendant Karen Whitecotton previously served as the director of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center. She now runs her own consulting business, Heritage Museum Services LLC, and recently accepted the position of OKPOP director of collections.

Tribal chieftess’ legacy continues today

One Tribal member rose above Western European ideologies of women and leadership. Massaw, daughter of Potawatomi Chief Wassato and wife of a French-Canadian fur trader, held standings as a Tribal headman and prominent business owner.

Vietnam Veterans Day commemorated March 29

More than 250 Citizen Potawatomi served during the Vietnam War. To date, it was the largest enlistment of the Citizen Potawatomi for any conflict involving the U.S.

Building roots in Indian Territory

After decades of turmoil in Kansas, Citizen Potawatomi leaders began planning for the Tribe to start anew. Although the Treaty of 1861 provided Tribal members U.S. citizenship and land allotments in Kansas, the federal government did not honor the treaty’s terms. As a result, many Citizen Potawatomi lost everything. The CPN Cultural Heritage Center’s gallery Read More »

Dream Warriors give hope to troubled Natives through music

A group of five musicians from Dream Warriors Management stopped at Citizen Potawatomi Nation this September. During their national “Heal It” tour, they performed for thousands of Indigenous youth at schools across the U.S. “I just love making music already, and it is definitely a motivational and inspirational tool. And it’s a tool for building Read More »

Cultural Heritage Center remembers Tribal member’s service

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center regularly honors and recognizes Tribal servicemen and women. It recently revealed this year’s honored veteran case, highlighting CPN tribal member and First Lieutenant Richard “Dick” Johnson’s commitment to tradition, duty and history. “The Tribe has a large veterans’ base, which stems from a strong warrior tradition for Potawatomi Read More »

Gallery remembers the Potawatomi Trail of Death

Amidst an era of increased expansion by non-Native settlers into the United States’ western frontiers, a single piece of legislation codified federal policy on the topic of removing tribal people from their lands. On May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law. This legislation authorized the federal government to forcibly Read More »