Resource Guide

February 12 & 13, 2017www.ClintonFoundation.org/Fusion

The Quapaw Tribe in Arkansas

The Quapaw people lived in four large villages made up of smaller communities at the confluence of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers; each village had a tribal chief and represented a band of the tribe. The tribe annually planted and harvested crops, as well as hunted buffalo according to the seasons. The Quapaw traded pottery, painted hides, and other goods through an extensive trade route based along the rivers. The Quapaw people were particularly known for pottery which was often painted; swirls being a distinctive pattern of the tribe. In the late 1600s, as French explorers set foot in what is now Arkansas, they encountered the Quapaw, whom they called the “Akansea,” or Arkansas, and subsequently named the river and region after them. The Quapaw quickly made allies with the explorers and settlers that would follow. The Arkansas Post, near modern day Gillett, was a particularly important site for this alliance. Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States entered into its first treaty with the Quapaw in 1818. One of the major provisions of this treaty was the ceding of the majority of Quapaw territory, which included thirty million acres south of the Arkansas River and to the west. One million acres between the Arkansas and Ouachita rivers was reserved in this treaty for the Quapaw. Not long after signing this treaty, under pressure from settlers, the United States pushed for another treaty in 1824 which ceded this reservation and moved the Quapaw to the Red River in northwestern Louisiana alongside the Caddo.

The Quapaw Tribe in Arkansas

Upon arrival, the Quapaw were met with terrible conditions and starvation killed many in the tribe. Eventually, they returned to their land in Arkansas, but they were then considered squatters in their own homeland and were unable to establish a land base for their people. This dire situation resulted in yet another treaty in 1833, wherein they agreed to a new reservation in Indian Territory, in what would become the northeastern corner of Oklahoma. After removal, many factors influenced bands of the tribe to settle in different areas. This resulted in separation of the tribe. The American Civil War temporarily displaced the tribe, but also served to reunite many of the tribal bands. The Quapaw fought on the Union side with a company in the 2nd Regiment of the Indian Home Guard. Following the Civil War, the tribe began to rebuild. However, various government initiatives, such as the allotment of tribal land in the 1890s and Indian boarding schools designed to “civilize” Native Americans, disrupted tribal life. After allotment, lead and zinc deposits were found and subsequently mined. The mines generated wealth for a segment of tribal members, yet also created many adverse effects, such as the Tar Creek Superfund Site. Prior to the Quapaw’s current form of government, the tribe was governed by decisions made in council meetings and by tribal chiefs, and did not have an expressly written form of government. In 1956, the General Council of the Quapaw Tribe passed a resolution known as the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma Governing Resolution. This resolution established and delegated authority to an administrative body that would represent, speak, and act for the individual members of the Quapaw Tribe on matters affecting the properties and general business of the tribe. This body would be known as the Quapaw Tribal Business Committee, and it is still the governing body of the Quapaw Tribe today. The Business Committee operates a variety of public services and manages many different business ventures, which improve the lives of tribal members and the community and support the continuation of tribal traditions.

Native pottery was made by hand. Potters dug clay from local deposits and then mixed it with a temper that consisted of small particles of sand, shell, animal bone, pulverized stone, ground potsherds, or some combination of these materials.

With the start of the Mississippi Period about 1,000 years ago, pottery-making became more complex. The sophistication of some containers indicates that some individuals and families may have been ceramic specialists who produced very special items only for an elite clientele.

Mississippi Period pottery was an important element in several social settings. Some pottery was used in daily life to make, store, and serve food. Containers were also used during rituals, as gifts for the deceased, and in political events.

- Ann M. EarlyEncyclopedia of Arkansas

Kneeling female effigy bottleMississippi PlainYell County, Arkansasc. 1350 - 1600Courtesy of the University of Arkansas Museum Collections

Migration and First Encounter with the FrenchAccording to oral traditions, the Quapaw and their Dhegiha Sioux kinsmen lived in the Ohio Valley and, sometime after 1600, slowly migrated westward toward the Mississippi River. When they reached the Mississippi, a fog separated the group and the Quapaw Tribe traveled in a southerly, downstream direction. The first Frenchmen in the area, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, arrived at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Arkansas Rivers, where they were greeted by the Quapaws. An Illinois Indian identified the Quapaws for Father Marquette as the “Akansea,” an Algonquin word. Marquette and Jolliet called the Quapaws the “Akansea” and later named the river and the land, now the State of Arkansas, after the Quapaw’s Algonquian name.

Quapaw village drawing.

Alliances were made with the French by means of the calumet ceremony. The

calumet, or “peace pipe,” ceremony was a very elaborate affair, involving feasting, dancing, gift exchanges, and passing the calumet for all the participants to smoke.

1600 – 1673

BowlMississippi PlainPulaski County, Arkansasc. 1700 – 1750Courtesy of the Arkansas Archeological Survey

‘Teapot’ bottleOld Town RedYell County, Arkansasc. 1350 – 1600 Courtesy of the University of Arkansas Museum Collections

1818Treaty of 1818The Quapaws are forced to cede thirty million acres south of the Arkansas River and to the west. One million acres between the Arkansas and Ouachita rivers was reserved in this treaty.

1833Treaty of 1833The Quapaws sign a third treaty with the United States that grants them 150 square miles of land in Indian Territory, present day Oklahoma.

1824Treaty of 1824The Quapaws are forced to cede additional lands along the Arkansas River.

The Quapaw Treaty, 1824, Territorial Arkansas Collection, Arkansas State Archives

1686Arrival of Henri de TontiHenri de Tonti, an early explorer, established Arkansas Post, a fur trading post at the Quapaw village of Osotouy on the north side of the Arkansas River. The French and the Quapaw maintained a strong alliance and the painted hides that were given to the French illustrates the history and mutual trust between the two nations.

This painted buffalo hide depicts the colonial history

of Arkansas, featuring two feathered calumets,

four Indian villages, a French village or fort, and

representations of the sun and moon.

The four Quapaw villages located near the confluence of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers.

1836Further RelocationSurveyors determined the boundaries of a new reserve. Three years later, the government directed yet another removal, insisting the Quapaws live in scattered individual homesteads rather than in traditional villages.

Map of Indian tribal reservations in Indian Territory, present day

Oklahoma.

1890 – 1895Tribal Land AllotmentThe Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 proposed to allot Indian land of 80 acres per person, with the remainder of Indian lands to be opened to homesteaders or sold. In a move unprecedented by any other tribe, the Quapaws voted to allot their land among themselves before the government did it arbitrarily. The entire reservation was allotted after an official tribal roll was established between 1890 – 1893. Each enrolled member was allotted 240 acres. The move was ratified by Congress in 1895, and 236 fee patents to the land were issued in 1897.

Solomon Quapaw allotment signed by President Grover

Cleveland and Secretary of the Interior, Lucius Q. C. Lamar.

Meh-het-ta Clabber

Benjamin QuapawSolomon Quapaw

1894 – 1927St. Mary’s of the QuapawsFather William Ketcham established St. Mary’s of the Quapaws, a Catholic church and boarding school complex that resulted in the conversion of many Quapaws to Catholicism during the 20th century.

St. Mary’s School students.

The St. Mary’s School building.

1895Native American ChurchReligious leader John “Moonhead” Wilson introduced the Quapaws to his version of peyote religion, which had long been practiced by southern Plains tribes including Apaches, Kiowas, and Comanches. Wilson’s religion combined elements of traditional Indian beliefs with elements of Christianity, organized around the sacramental use of a “Big Moon” alter.

Benjamin Quapaw stands in front of a sweat lodge frame. Religious ceremonies would take place inside of a sweat lodge.

Quapaw men pose for a photo before a peyote meeting.

1904Lead and Zinc MiningDiscovery of lead and zinc deposits on Quapaw lands prompted the passage in 1897 of legislation enabling landowners to lease their property for mining without government approval. This brought considerable wealth but also cases of swindling elderly Quapaws. Additional legislation conferred protections by making Quapaw landowners “wards” of the U.S. Government.

Blackhawk mining operation.

Skelton mining operation.

1956Governing Resolution PassedIn 1956, the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma Governing Resolution established the Quapaw Business Council, which succeeded the traditional leadership of chiefs as the tribal government. Elected by tribal members, the seven-member council is the administrative body of the Quapaw Tribe.

Quapaw ManCharles Banks Wilson (1918 – 2013)Courtesy of the Quapaw Tribal Museum

“Through research, I discovered that no authentic pictures exist of the early Quapaw, a tribe very important in the establishment of the Arkansas Territory. Ed Quapaw, a true Quapaw, posed for this figure holding two calumets as sacred peace symbols. I added body decorations that I found represented on a Quapaw effigy pot unearthed from the Carden Bottom site, in Yell County, Arkansas. The design is often referred to as the Quapaw swirl.”

– Charles Banks Wilson

Fusion: Arts + Humanities Arkansas is a new educational program designed to enrich the teaching of our state’s heritage and culture and celebrate our human achievement through programs in history, literature, philosophy, civics, and other disciplines. To achieve these goals, the Clinton Presidential Center will convene cultural institutions, historians, and community organizations to plan and execute an annual Fusion program featuring a series of events highlighting one theme from Arkansas’s history and culture.

This year, the inaugural Fusion: Arts + Humanities Arkansas program is focused on the Quapaw Tribe – Arkansas’s namesake. The program will feature symposia, professional development workshops, performances and demonstrations, as well as an exhibition, with the goal of bringing forth new perspectives and insight into Native American history and culture.

We have developed this Fusion Resource Guide to provide an overview of the topics and historic milestones presented in the 2017 Fusion program and exhibition, which display the rich cultural history of the Quapaw Tribe in Arkansas.

Thank you to the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma for their support of Fusion: Arts + Humanities Arkansas.