![Approved Pawnee Nation Seal[1085]](https://b2131152.smushcdn.com/2131152/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Approved-Pawnee-Nation-Seal1085-e1609779163393.png?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1 "Approved Pawnee Nation Seal[1085]")
Divisions - Cultural Resources
Mission Statement: " To promote and preserve our Pawnee Culture through our language, songs, ceremonies, and our oral and written history."
In 2016, the Pawnee Nation created its Cultural Resource Division (CRD). The CRD Division houses our Language Program, our Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO), our Native American Graves Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), and our Pawnee Nation Museum, located in downtown Pawnee at 657 Harrison Street, Pawnee, Oklahoma 74058. CRD has a Cultural Committee that meets monthly, and they act as advisors for CRD. We also have a Museum Board which meets quarterly.
Some of the events and activities we have include our weekly community language classes, weekly community culture classes. We sponsor the making of Pawnee clothing and craft items, singing classes, handgames, our Pawnee/Arikara Reunion, Chief Day, Full Blood Day, and assist with our annual homecoming and annual dances and ceremonies.
Please feel free to call our office to assist with any cultural questions you may have.
The Pawnee Nation has a long and proud history spanning more than 2000 years. Before European contact, perhaps as many as 300,000 Pawnees inhabited the central plains of North America from Iowa along the Missouri River to the front range of Colorado and from southern South Dakota to central Kansas. The Pawnee Nation is composed of four bands: the Čawî’ “Grand,” the Kitkahaki “Republican,” the Pîtahâwîrâta “Tappage” and the Ckîri “Wolf.”
The Pawnees are men and women of great courage and endurance. Pawnee warriors fought to preserve lives, lands and possessions, and their exploits are legendary. Pawnees have served in all United States conflicts beginning with the Pawnee Scout Battalion in 1864. Without the Pawnee Scouts, the Transcontinental Railroad would never have been completed.
William Pollock, Kitkahaki, served in the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry in Cuba. The unit is better known as Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.
While still not yet American citizens, Pawnees volunteered for service in World War I. Although most served in trench warfare in France, no Pawnee was killed in combat; an incident foretold in a dream by a Pawnee elder. Upon their return home, these men were celebrated with victory dances and the former Pawnee Scouts passed on the drum to these men.
During World War II, Pawnees served in both the Pacific and European theaters. Sgt. Alex Mathews was captured in the Philippines as a member of the New Mexico National Guard and survived Cabanatuan Prison Camp, Japanese ‘Hell Ships’, and slave labor in Japan. Staff Sergeant Frank Davis participated in the invasion of Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio before being wounded in action. Levi Horsechief jumped into Sicily, Anzio, Normandy, and Holland with the 82nd Airborne, Sergeant Grant Gover was killed in action in the Rhineland, Technician 5th Grade Henry Stoneroad fought in the New Guinea and Luzon, just to name a few. Many of the Pawnees who served also used their once-forbidden language as Code Talkers.
After years of trespass, theft, rape, and murder by white settlers, the Pawnee Nation sold their reservation to the U.S. Government in 1874 and purchased new lands from the Cherokee and Muscogee nations in what is now Oklahoma. The Pawnee Indian Agency and the Pawnee Industrial School were established on the edge of the present Pawnee, Oklahoma. These new lands were later taken through coercion and allotted to tribal citizens, with the unallotted lands being given away to non-Indian settlers in 1893.
The boarding school, affectionately known as “Gravy U”, was closed in 1958 and the land was returned to the Pawnee Nation in 1968. Many of the former Industrial School buildings now serve as Tribal offices and as a home for the Pawnee Nation College. The area is on the National Register as a Historic District.
Today, the number of Tribal enrolled members is over 3,500 and Pawnees can be found in all areas of the United States as well as foreign countries within many walks of life. Pawnees take much pride in their ancestral heritage. They are noted in history for their rich tribal religion.
The Pawnee Nation still maintains several traditional ceremonies as well as supporting many other activities such tail dances, Native American Church meetings, hand games, and sporting events. The Pawnee Indian Veterans also host a Memorial Day Dance, a Veterans Day Dance and a Christmas Day Dance. The Pawnee Indian Veterans Homecoming and Powwow occurs the weekend that falls closest to the 4th of July.