Miami Nation of Indiana facts for kids
Miami Nation of Indiana flag
|
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 United States  Indiana |
|
| Languages | |
| English, historically Miami-Illinois and French | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Traditional tribal religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Peoria, Illinois, Shawnee and other Algonquian peoples |
The Miami Nation of Indiana is a group of people who identify as Miami. They are organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Their main office is in Peru, Indiana.
The Indiana Miami, also called the Eastern Miami, signed a treaty with the United States in 1854. However, the U.S. government stopped recognizing them as a tribe in 1897. The United States Congress has not yet agreed to recognize the Indiana Miami as a separate tribe from the Western Miami, who are known as the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.
How the Miami Nation of Indiana is Organized
In 1846, some Miami people living in Indiana were forced to move to lands west of the Mississippi River. This event, called Indian removal, caused the tribe to split into two groups. The group that stayed in Indiana became the Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana. The group that moved west became the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.
The U.S. government has recognized the western group's tribal government since 1846. The Indiana Miami were recognized by the federal government in a treaty in 1854. But this recognition ended in 1897. The two groups remain separate today.
On September 30, 1937, the Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group in Indiana. The Indiana Miami's government is based in Peru, Indiana. It is separate from the western tribe. However, it is not recognized by the federal government as a separate tribe.
The eastern group has an elected government. It is led by an executive committee. Brian J. Buchanan is the Chief of the Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana. To become a member, you must be related by lineal descent to a current tribal member. You can also be related to someone on the tribal lists from 1854, 1889, or 1895.
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe. Their main office is in Miami, Oklahoma. They have about 4,800 members. Around 500 of these members live in Indiana. In 2015, the Oklahoma tribe opened an office in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This office helps their members in Indiana with cultural programs and historic preservation.
History of the Indiana Miami
Between 1818 and 1840, the Miami signed treaties that gave their lands in Indiana to the U.S. government. However, these agreements allowed some Miami families to stay in the state. After many Miami moved to reservations in the Kansas Territory in 1846, the Indiana Miami began working to be recognized as a separate tribe. They achieved this in a treaty in 1854. But their federal recognition was ended by legal decisions in 1897. Since then, the Indiana Miami have continued trying to get their federal recognition back.
The Treaty of St. Mary's in 1818 was one of several agreements with the Miami and other tribes. It gave Native American land in central Indiana and Ohio to the U.S. government. But a piece of land in northern Indiana was saved for the tribe. This treaty also gave parts of the Miami reservation lands in Indiana to individual tribal members. This helped many of them avoid being removed in 1846.
In 1826, the Miami tribe signed the Treaty of Mississinewas. They agreed to give most of their reservation lands in Indiana to the United States. As part of this treaty, twenty land grants were given to the families of Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville and other Miami families. The rest of the tribe could hunt on open land that became U.S. property. However, much of this land was soon given to settlers.
Treaties between 1828 and 1840 gave away the Miami's tribal reservation land in Indiana. They also prepared for the tribe's removal. Under these treaties, individuals and families who received land in Indiana were allowed to stay. The rest of the tribe was removed to reservations west of the Mississippi River. They first went to Kansas Territory in 1846. Then, in 1871, they moved to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. In total, less than half of the Miami tribe moved. More than half either returned to Indiana or were allowed to stay under the treaties.
The original members of the Indiana Miami date back to October 6, 1846. This is when the main removal of the Miami began in Peru, Indiana. Individual land grants from federal treaties allowed 126 Miami to stay. This included 43 members of Jean Baptiste Richardville's family and 28 members of Francis Godfroy's family. The remaining 55 individuals were family members of Metocinyah. In 1845, Congress passed a rule that allowed 22 descendants of Frances Slocum and her husband, Shapoconah, to stay in Indiana. These 148 individuals became the core of the present-day Miami Nation of Indiana.
More names were added to the Indiana Miami's tribal lists in the 1840s and 1850s. In 1847, 17 members of the Eel River band of the Miami were added to the eastern Miami list. They were allowed to stay in Indiana. In 1850, 101 more names were added. By the mid-1800s, about 250 Miami lived on an estimated 5,000 acres of Indiana reservation lands. Most of this land was in Miami, Wabash, Grant, and Allen counties. In 1852, Congress added 68 names to the tribe's payment lists. These included more of Chief Richardville's relatives and followers of Papakeechi, another Miami leader. However, these groups had not lived with the Indiana Miami or been part of their community.
After the Miami removal in 1846, the federal government saw the Miami tribal government in Kansas as the only official one. They closed the Miami offices in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Soon after, the Miami leaders in Indiana began working to show their group was a separate tribe. As a federally recognized tribe, the Miami were protected from being removed from their lands. Their treaty lands could not be sold without the U.S. president's permission. Also, their lands were not taxed. Tribal members were not considered U.S. citizens. They could not become citizens without Congress's approval.
A treaty made on June 5, 1854, recognized the eastern Miami in Indiana as a separate tribal government. It was separate from the western Miami in Kansas. This treaty allowed the two groups to make their own agreements. It also confirmed the Indiana Miami's right to decide who could be a tribal member. The treaty also limited payments to individuals on tribal lists approved by the Miami tribal council. It replaced old payments with a new fund for Miami tribal members. Interest from this fund was used for payments until 1881. Then, the remaining money was divided equally among tribal members.
Despite these agreements, Congress added 119 more names to the Indiana Miami's tribal lists in 1858 and 1862. This made these individuals eligible for payments without the Miami tribal council's approval. On September 20, 1867, U.S. Attorney General Henry Stanbery confirmed the Indiana Miami's tribal government status. He allowed the tribe to remove some unauthorized Miami from their membership lists.
In 1872, Congress passed a law to divide the Miami reservation near Peru, Indiana, into individual farms. The 5,468 acres of land were divided among 63 eligible Miami. Each received 77 to 125 acres. This Indiana land was not taxed or mortgaged until January 7, 1881. On that date, the owners would become U.S. citizens. They could then sell the land if they chose. In 1891, Gabriel Godfroy, Francis Godfroy's son, sold his 220-acre farm in Peru to Benjamin Wallace. This farm became the winter home for several traveling circuses. Besides farming, many Miami worked in the Peru area on railroads and caring for circus animals and farms.
The late 1890s brought big changes for the eastern tribe. In 1895, the Indiana Miami settled legal claims for payments made to some unauthorized Miami from 1851 to 1867. In 1896, the Indiana Miami formed "The Tribe of Miami Indians of Indiana." This group successfully filed legal claims to collect interest on payments made to people who were not eligible. That same year, the Indiana Miami from the Peru area also started legal action. They wanted state taxes that had been charged on their Indiana lands to be returned to them. The group argued they were a federally recognized tribe, not U.S. citizens, so they should not pay state taxes.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Willis Van Devanter disagreed. On November 23, 1897, he ruled that the Indiana Miami had not been recognized as a tribe since 1881. This was when the payment fund from the 1854 treaty was fully given out. Van Devanter believed that the payments in 1881 ended the Indiana Miami's tribal connections. He thought it gave its members U.S. citizenship and control of their Indiana land. Because the Indiana Miami were no longer recognized as a tribe, they lost federal treaty benefits. The federal government would not help them with their claim against the state of Indiana. Between 1909 and 1911, the Indiana Miami continued trying to gain federal tribal recognition, but they were not successful. A bill to give them federal tribal status passed the U.S. Senate, but the U.S. House of Representatives did not pass it.
After the Indian Reorganization Act passed in 1934, the eastern Miami tried again to get federal tribal recognition. On September 30, 1937, the Indiana secretary of state approved a tribal organization called the "Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana." However, Congress refused to give federal recognition to the Indiana Miami every year from 1938 until 1942. The tribal council then stopped their efforts temporarily during World War II. The group started their activities again after the war. In 1966 and 1969, the Indiana Miami received more money for land treaties made between 1809 and 1818. This amounted to $2,500 paid to each of the 3,066 members on their tribal lists.
In 1980, the Indiana legislature recognized the eastern Miami. They voted to support federal recognition. In July 1984, the Indiana Miami officially asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs for federal recognition. However, on July 12, 1990, they were told they did not meet two of the seven requirements. These were "enough evidence of governance" and "evidence of a unique community." They provided more documents to support their request. But the Bureau of Indian Affairs confirmed its decision against federal recognition on June 9, 1992. Later legal efforts did not change this decision.
In 1991, Indiana's US Senator Richard Lugar introduced a Senate resolution to recognize the Indiana Miami at the federal level. But he stopped supporting it due to concerns from people in his state about gambling rights. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (1988), Native Americans could open casinos on their lands in states that allowed certain types of gambling. Federal recognition of the Indiana Miami would allow the tribe to open casinos in Indiana. However, the Indiana legislature discussed and rejected casino gambling in the state in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Federally recognized tribes in other states have opened gambling casinos on their sovereign lands.
On July 26, 1993, federal judge Robert Miller ruled that the federal government recognized the Indiana Miami in the 1854 treaty. He said the government did not have the power to end their status in 1897. He also ruled that the time limit to appeal their status had passed. This led to more rulings on the case. But in 1996, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma changed its rules. It allowed any descendant of people on certain historical lists to join. Since then, hundreds of Miami living in Indiana have become members of the Oklahoma tribe. Today, the Oklahoma Miami tribe has about 5,600 members. However, many other Indiana-based Miami still see themselves as a separate group. They believe they have been unfairly denied separate federal recognition. The Supreme Court of the United States refused to review the tribe's appeal in 2002.
The Miami Nation of Indiana does not have federal tribal recognition. But the state legislature introduced a bill in 2011 to formally grant state recognition to the tribe. This bill would have given the tribe the sole power to decide its tribal membership. However, the bill did not get enough votes to pass.
The Meshingomesia Cemetery and Indian School Historic District in Pleasant Township, Grant County, Indiana, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
See also
- List of unrecognized tribes in the United States
- Frances Slocum
