Citizen
Potawatomi Nation chairman Rocky Barrett led a ceremony Thursday morning on
Burnetts Mound in southwest Topeka.
It was the
first stop for Barnett, CPN vice chair Linda Capps, and tribal legislators from
California, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arizona at they toured Topeka-area
sites important to the tribe's history.
The
Potawatomi were moved to Kansas in 1836, and had a reservation in the Topeka
area when the Citizen Band and Prairie Band separated in 1861.
Barnett
said the visit reminds tribe members the role played Topeka in their heritage.
"(Topeka)
is where, I guess, we were born as a separate federally-recognized tribal
government," he said. "It was that recognition that was able to exact
that promise from the government that we would be allowed to become citizens of
the United States. The rest of American Indians did not become citizens of the
United States and be allowed to vote until 1924."
The tribe
is now based in Oklahoma. Barnett says they've worked to build a variety of
interests including health facilities, a scholarship program, and businesses
including banks, a concrete plant, and grocery stores.
In addition
to Burnett's Mound, the group also visited Potawatomi Baptist Mission at the
Kansas History Museum, the site of old mills on Mill Creek near Maple Hill,
Uniontown Cemetery near Willard, and the Vieux Family Cemetery near St. Marys.
Local
tribal representative John Boursaw organized Thursday's tour with his brother,
Lyman, and tribe member Mike Martin.
CPN
maintains a community center and housing area in Rossville.
