Hownikan Podcast: April 2022

This episode visits the CPN professional basketball team’s first home game, discusses Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a victim’s advocate and talks with an apparel designer and CPN employee about Native fashion.

CHC cultural classes teach art skills, build community

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.

Smith family history

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.

Family tradition helps Oklahoma wrestler find success

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.

Potawatomi tradition influences Montana artist

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.

Ancestors portal receives Oklahoma Historical Society award

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.

Veterans report April 2022

This month’s veterans report discusses current events and the upcoming CPN Veterans Organization meeting.

CPN veteran shares Vietnam War stories in new novel

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.

Slavin family history

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.