# aatotankiki myaamiaki (2023)

> Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more.

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Amiami_oklahoma%3A1c8ca52c8c44225c

## Record

- **Collection:** Tribal code
- **Document type:** Tribal code

## Text

M I A M I

N A T I

N

N E W S

aatotankiki myaamiaki
Myaamia Publications – Vol. 17, No. 3, Win ter 2023-24 – Section A – News – Noošonke Siipionki Myaamionki

Annual
Winter
Gathering
Recap 4A
Annual
National
Gathering
Schedule 7A

Myaamia History
on Lake Michigan’s
Southern Shores 1B

MYAAMIAKI NEWS
Chief Report 3A

HISTORY & CULTURE

COMMUNITY

Minohsayaki
‘Painted Letter to citizens of the
Robes’ Exhibit 2B
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma
from Diane Hunter 1C
National Gathering Week
Event Schedule 7A
ahsenaamišipoohkiitaawi
‘let’s collect sap!’ 6B
Introducing ‘nahi meehtohseeniwinki’ 3C

MYAAMIA CENTER

EEMAMWICIKI

Tribal Leadership visits 2023
Eemamwiciki
MU during “Tribe and Summer Program Recap
University Week” 1D
and Outcomes 1E
Miami Redhawks Softball Upcoming Events 8E
Team Visits MTO 7D

This year’s Annual National Gathering will be on June 29th, 2024

2A

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - News, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

aatotankiki myaamiaki
MIAMI NATION NEWS is published by the Sovereign Miami Tribe of Okla-

homa for our enrolled citizens. This publication is printed in Stigler, Oklahoma by
Stigler Printing. Publication design and layout is done in-house by the Miami Nation Cultural Resources Office staff.
Aatotankiki Myaamiaki is distributed by mail and made available for download
from the Miami Nation’s website. A single copy is mailed free of charge to each
tribal household. College students living away from home may request a copy be
mailed to their campus, or off-campus, address.
Special articles or publication of community information, including births, deaths,
marriages, family news, anniversaries, etc., are welcomed and encouraged.
MYAAMIA PUBLICATIONS
Miami Nation Cultural Resources Office
P.O. Box 1326
Miami, OK 74355
918-541-1300
mtocro@gmail.com | MTONewspaper@miamination.com

Section A: News
The Chief Report

3A

27th Annual Winter Gathering

4A

MNE hires new CEO

6A

Redesign of Powwow Grounds

6A

Prairie Sun Casino to be Event...

6A

National Gathering Event Sched... 7A
Section B: History & Culture
Myaamia History on Lake Mich... 1B
Minohsayaki ‘Painted Robes.’..

2B

Myaamia National and Comm...

3B

wiintanto wiintaakani ‘You read...’ 4B

Editorial Staff:
Julie Olds, Madalyn Richardson, Diane Hunter, Joshua Sutterfield,
Karen Baldwin, Doug Peconge, & Meghan Dorey.

ahsenaamišipoohkiitaawi ‘let’s...’ 6B

Submission Requirements:
Photos:Photos submitted electronically should be saved at a resolution of 300 dpi,
sized at standard 4x6 or larger, and saved in jpg, tif, or pdf formats.

Myaamionki Noošonke Siipionki... 7B

Obituaries, Birth Announcements and other time sensitive submissions will be
amended to show past tense text unless the family submitting the information expressly requests the text remain unaltered.

Section C: Community

Advertisements: Enrolled citizens of the Miami Nation who are business owners,
artists or crafts persons, etc. are eligible to receive free ad space once per year.
Allotted ad size is 5” x 5” and should be sized at 300 dpi and saved as a jpg, tif or
pdf file. Ad layouts, or links to download such from your Dropbox or other cloud
storage site, should be emailed to mtocro@gmail.com or MTONewspaper@miamination.com.

Letter to citizens of the Miami... 1C

MIAMI NATION ELECTED
OFFICIALS
Chief: Douglas Lankford
Second Chief: Dustin Olds
Secretary Treasurer: Donya Williams
1st Councilperson: Tera Hatley
2nd Councilperson: Scott Willard

MYAAMIA CITIZENS STAY
CONNECTED VIA INTERNET
Miami Nation Website,
www.miamination.com

Facebook:
“MYAAMIAKI Miami Tribe
MIAMI NATION HEADQUARTERS of Oklahoma”
Physical/Shipping Address:
3410 P Street NW
Miami, OK 74354
918-541-1300
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 1326
Miami, OK 74355

Sweet Times at Peehkahkionki
Myaamia Resources

6B
8B

Honoring Diane Hunter, Recent... 1C
Intro. nahi meehtohseeniwinki... 2C
Components of the Living Well... 3C
...New Year in kiihkayonki

4C

peenaalinta ‘One who is born’

4C

wiiyaakiteeheelo weehki-kihkatwe 5C
Myaamia Education Office Info... 8C
Section D: Myaamia Center
Tribal Leadership Visits MU...

1D

“Aatotankiki Myaamiaki”

Meet the Apprentices: Citlali...

2D

Public Page, listed as “Miami Nation
Events”

A Letter from the Exectuive Dir... 2D

MHMA Page, Listed as
“Myaamia Heritage Museum &
Archive”

TRIBAL CITIZEN IDENTIFICATION
AND ENROLLMENT CARDS
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Tribal Citizen/Member
Identification and Enrollment Card card allows for the
inclusion of a photograph of the Enrolled Citizen/Member
and also allows the inclusion of a Myaamia name.
Tribal citizens who wish to obtain the new card should
contact Tera Hatley, Member Services Manager, at
thatley@miamination.com or by phone at 918-541-1300.
TRIBAL MEMBER ADDRESS UPDATES:
Please ensure your mailing address is up-to-date by contacting
Tera Hatley at thatley@miamination.com or 918-541-1300.

Wrapping up the Fall Semester... 3D
Myaamia Center Makes Annual... 4D
Now Hiring! Myaamia Center... 6D
Miami Redhawks Softball Team... 7D
Myaamia and Miami University... 8D
Section E: Eemamwiciki
2023 Eemamwiciki Summer...

1E

New Coordinator takes Maker... 2E
aalimiihtooko ‘You Cook It!’

3E

taaniši kiišikahki: ‘What is the wea...3E
Where are we in the myaamia...

4E

paahpiko: ‘You Play!’

5E

kihkeelintamani-nko ‘did you know?’ 5E
wilaalaansamooko ‘You Color It!’ 6E
natawaapantamooko ‘You Look For...’6E
mihkanto ‘You Find It!’

7E

myaamiaataweelo ‘You Speak Mi...’ 7E
eememwiciki Events 2024

8E

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - News, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

3A

aacimwita akima:
The Chief’s Report

Akima Eecipoonkwia
Chief Douglas Lankford

Aya, Aya! Greetings to all my relatives from
your Tribal headquarters in noošonke siipionki
myaamionki – our lands along the Neosho River
- in the city of Miami, named after our Nation,
within the Miami-Peoria Reservation, in Ottawa
County, Oklahoma. (To learn the history behind
these locations, see the article on page 7B.) Nipwaahkaako – I wish you well, and hope this message finds you safe and in a good way.
In late January, we enjoyed our annual Winter
Gathering event with the largest crowd we have
ever had. Our Council House was packed for the
dances on Saturday, with many Tribal citizens in
the crowd. We were honored to have guests from
Miami University, including several Tribal students. We also enjoyed having guests from the Eiteljorg Museum, Indiana State Museum, Illinois
State Museum, The Nature Conservancy, and several universities and other working partners from
the homeland region. Despite rain on Saturday
morning, January 27, we held the ribbon cutting
event for our new Myaamia National Archives.
The 2,092 square foot building, located directly
behind our Tribal headquarters building in Miami,
includes a 929 square-foot storm and fire-safe archive designed to keep our cultural and governmental collections secure. The project was made
possible with funding through an Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG.)
The transition time of meeloohkamiki
‘spring’ is very near. As we prepare this newspaper edition, the katakakookaki ‘Leopard Frogs,’
(the first to wake in spring in our area), have already started singing, and soon ciinkwia akookaki ‘spring peepers’ will sing. With our warm temperatures, I expect ciinkwia ‘thunder’ to arrive
very soon, and then it is time for my favorite
thing – to get out our game sticks! I hope those
of you within driving distance will mark your
calendars to join us for the first game of the season here in Oklahoma on April 20. The first game
up in our northern homeland is set for June 1 at
peehkahkionki (our Indiana land located on Fritz
Road in Fort Wayne.) Be sure to check the Tribal
website, www.miamination.com, and our Facebook community page at MYAAMIAKI Miami
Tribe of Oklahoma (you must be a page/group
member to access this page) for details and updates on these events.
The arrival of meeloohkamiki also triggers
planning for the 2024 National Gathering Week
events, set to begin on Tuesday, June 25 (see the
draft schedule of events on page 7A) The annual
General Council meeting of the Miami Tribe of
Oklahoma is set for Saturday, June 29 beginning
at 9 a.m. in our Nations Council House in Miami,
OK. We work to plan the National Gathering
Week events to provide all Myaamia citizens the
opportunity to enjoy time together as a family,
playing our games, dancing, learning more about
our arts, culture, and history, and of course, attending the General Council meeting.
The transition of the Prairie Sun Casino
building, located across the street from Tribal headquarters to the new Prairie Sun Events
Center will be complete in early April 2024. The
7,200 square foot space includes a full-service
kitchen and will be used for Tribal events, conferences, and public events such as weddings,
and reunions (see on page 6A).
Work is underway renovating our dance are-

na at our Pow Wow Grounds in Miami, OK. The
area surrounding the grass arena is covered in
white compaction rock to support vehicle access
to the lacrosse field located just west of the arena.
The project includes the removal of the rock and
the cement circle around the dance arena, restoration, and hydro-seeding of topsoil throughout,
new lighting, and improved parking on the north
side of the game field. Cars will no longer be
allowed to park in the grassed area to keep everyone safe. Work should be complete in time for
the 23rd annual Miami Nation Pow Wow set for
June 28 & 29, 2024.
Turning to our governmental work, we continue our important post-McGirt work policing
and protecting our community and reservation
lands. The Tribe’s District Court holds a criminal docket twice a month, hearing an average
of 30 cases each court day for criminal conduct
that has arisen on the Tribe’s reservation lands.
We are so pleased with our court staff, who work
to provide a fair due process forum for those in
the criminal system. The Tribe enacted its new
Juvenile Code and is working through its Court
to respond to and address the delinquent conduct
of Native minors occurring on the Tribe’s reservation. As with adult criminal conduct, the goal
is to restore harmony in the community and the
lives of both victims and those involved in criminal conduct through its court processes.
While I speak of our Court, I’d like to report
that the Tribe’s project to remodel existing space
in our headquarters building into a new state-ofthe-art courtroom continues. This grant-funded
project through the Department of Justice includes the construction of a new courtroom, jury
deliberation room, judges chamber, and file storage space. In addition to a beautiful remodel inside, we will construct a new concrete parking lot
for court attendees. This new parking area will
benefit the elderly, or anyone injured or handicapped who requires access to the Court. We are
working with GreenLight Native, an outstanding
architectural firm in Tulsa that offers some really
nice construction and design options to help us
achieve the professional yet warm look important to the Tribe in this court space. We hope to
begin construction work in late spring or early
summer and hope to make significant progress
toward the completion of this project by the end
of this year.
The Tribe continues its important work in
Washington, D.C., meeting with Congressional
Representatives and staff members to maintain
strong relationships fostered over a decade and
to promote legislative work to achieve the goals
of the Tribe.
Senator Markwayne Mullin has been a great
advocate for the Miami Tribe, authoring and introducing our Illinois land bill in both the House
and Senate and our recent Senate bill S. 2796.
I traveled to Washington, D.C., on February 7
to give testimony on S. 2796 before the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs. S. 2796 is a bipartisan bill to resolve the Tribe’s Treaty-based land
claim to lands in east-central Illinois. This legislation would provide the Tribe congressional authorization to bring its land claim to the Federal
Court in Washington, D.C. We’ve been working
with Senator Mullin and other congressional supporters for seven years with this legislation, and

we will continue to work to get our day in Court.
For some years now, the Miami Tribe and
other Ottawa County Tribes have worked to protect tribal interests during the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing of
the Pensacola Dam operated by the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) which has caused
chronic flooding in and around Miami on both
fee land and Tribal trust land. Finally, we have
achieved a win.
In 2018, the City of Miami filed a complaint
alleging the GRDA is non-compliant with its current license because it is flooding land to which it
does not hold easements or title. Following hearings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and an appeal to the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., the D.C. Circuit
ordered FERC to address, among other things,
the City’s argument related to flooding and damage to land. On January 18, 2024, FERC issued
an astounding order, a massive win for the City
and the Tribes. Among other things, the FERC
Order found that the GRDA operation of the Pensacola Dam caused increased flooding around
the City of Miami and that GRDA must identify the land to which it must acquire easements
and acquire them. For city property owners and
Tribes who have suffered decades of destructive
GRDA flooding and damage without compensation, this is a long-awaited result. The Tribe will
continue its work to ensure that any impacts on
tribal lands and natural and cultural resources are
recognized and addressed.
I am excited to welcome Tribal citizen Lance
Theobald to his new position as CEO of Miami
Nation Enterprises. Lance is a 2010 graduate of
Miami University with a B.S. in Accounting.
Lance served on the MNE Board of Directors for
seven years, and, prior to coming to the MNE
Board, served in the U.S. Navy and held various
leadership roles in the transportation and technology industries. (Read about Lance on page
7A.) Lance was appointed as CEO following the
retirement of Peter Murphy, who had previously
served as MNE’s CEO for eight years. As CEO,
Peter brought 24 years of expertise in project
management and his tremendous military service
record to lead and develop Miami Nation Enterprises into a strong, successful Tribal business
entity. Peter remains working with MNE, having
accepted the Board of Directors position previously held by Lance.
To advance opportunities throughout the
homelands, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma has created a new Tribal 501c3 known as the Myaamia
Heritage Foundation. The foundation has a
five-person board of directors, and work is underway creating the foundation’s structure, focus
works, and coming web and media presence. The
foundation projects a formal launch in early 2025.
On a personal note, December 25 marked the
first anniversary of the passing of my sweetheart,
Gena Lankford. I am so thankful for all who have
reached out and encouraged me through this
time. I was brought out of the mourning time and
returned to Gourd Dancing at our winter dance. I
am doing well and so thankful to be healthy and
able to continue to serve and participate in our
Tribal community.
Nipwaahkaako -wishing you all well,
Akima Eecipoonkwia – Chief Douglas Lankford

4A

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - News, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

27TH ANNUAL MYAAMIA

WINTER GATHERING

tor at Seneca Art & Culture Center, presented on the exhibit
otgoä “Wampum.” Within the Haudenosaunee culCultural Resources Office
ture, wampum – or shell beads – are an active
The 27th Annual Myaamia Winter Gathering in noošonke siipionki agent within the ceremonial calendar and
‘Miami, OK,’ now stands as the most well-attended Winter Gathering to used to represent many different things.
date. We enjoyed the presence of many tribal members, community vis- Some of these include agreements,
itors, and nearly 100 special guests. The weekend provided an excellent war, restoring or confirming
opportunity to learn, experience, and share in myaamia heritage and cul- peace, and confirming titles or
position of leadership in the
ture.
The events of Friday, January community. “Wampum has
26, were enjoyed by Myaamia Cit- such a varied diversity of
izens, their families, and invited meanings; we couldn’t
guests. The day began with every- call the exhibit anything
one chatting over a light breakfast. but otgoä [Wampum].”
Michael is working
This was followed by the gifting of
t-shirts to everyone in attendance. to revitalize the pracBefore lunch, many attendies played tice and presence of
traditional Myaamia games, such wampum in the Senas seenseewinki ‘bowl game’ and eca homelands and
mahkisina meehkintiinki ‘moccasin include the Myaamia
game,’ and participated makerspace and Peewalia among
activities, including bead brace- many other commulets, event button pins, and ribbon- nities. His presentation highlighted the
work-inspired bookmarks.
After lunch, presentations be- experience of collabogan with an introduction of the then rating with a delegation
soon-to-be-published
Myaamia of Haudenosaunee and the
Myaamia Makerspace button Killhsooki: Myaamia Moons, Sea- Musée du quai Branly in
designs. Photo by Karen Baldwin, sons, & Years , headed by the ARPA Paris to host an exhibit in New
Noošonke team and highlighting york state featuring wampum
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (MTO).
the work of Nate Poyfair as project from the French collections. These
manager and Madalyn Richardson as collections in France are made up of
diplomatic Indigenous items brought to
book designer.
This was followed by “Weaving in the Landscape” by Myaamia fiber Europe from the Great Lakes region during
artist Jared Nally, who displayed his work, the importance of reclaim- the 17th and 18th centuries. During the visit to
ing that heritage, and the connection of weaving to ecology. His work Paris, mutual respect between the museum, which rein engaging with Myaamia textiles is a part of contemporary revitaliza- spected the descendants of those who gifted the wampum as knowledge
tion while also providing greater insight into historical records of what holders, and the descendants, who were respectful of the entity that had
protected these pieces for centuries, was very valuable.
Myaamia people have created.
Through this exhibit, Michael Galban and Jamie Jacobs, curator at the
While anthropological records provide little information about maRochester
(NY) Museum and Science Center and artist from the Tonawaterials and woven textiles, experiencing the process shows how it was
valuable to Myaamia people. Jared states, “The revitalization process… is nda Seneca Nation, helped the Miami Tribe on our journey to understand
engaging with the threads of our grandmothers.” He has shared his knowl- the iconography of Myaamia painted hides. Michael and Jamie traveled
edge with the community through workshops and presentations. “This with George Ironstrack to the Musée du qui Branly in Paris, France to
practice is a contemporary part of revitalization work, part of ecology, and view the painted hides. Due to the growing relationship between Glaban
and the Miami Tribe, Michael presented a gift of Seneca wampum beads
part of a family of textiles.”
Following Jared, Michael Galban (Washoe and Mono Lake Paiute), that are over 300 years old to Akima ‘Chief’ Lankford and the Miami NaHistoric Site Manager of Ganondagan State Historic Site (NY) and Cura- tion. “[The Wampum] comes with no particular message or intent, other
than strengthening our relationship.”
As the next speaker, Jamie Jacobs shared his experience in becoming proficient at quillwork and what he has learned about its history and
impact. Material culture is something shared throughout the Great Lakes
communities including Seneca and Myaamia communities. Quillwork is
the process of using dyed, cut, and shaped porcupine quills as an embellishment. It is an artform that holds significant meaning and often
displays great love and compassion from those who make it to those that
receive it. Jamie says, “It’s more than just an art form. It represents matrilineal-ism, it represents female strength and female expression.”
During the “reservation era,” many Indigenous people began transitioning from quillwork to beadwork as it was more cost effective. Prior to
trade and selling pieces to tourists, quillwork pieces were always gifted
with the upmost love and compassion.
The transition is seen through pieces exclusively using quillwork, to
a mix of quillwork and beadwork, to beadwork. Despite this transition,
many of the techniques and practices remained the same through the 18th
and 19th centuries. However, during the 18th century, quillwork went
Guests participte in creating ribbonwork inspired bookmarks with through a renaissance period and Great Lakes tribes began to create it
the Myaamia Makerspace during Winter Gathering. Photo by Karen again.
“I didn’t realize how hard quillwork was. Learning that process gave
Baldwin, MTO.
me a lot of respect. Respect for
the ancestors, respect for the quillwork, not only the role it played as
a piece of artwork but as respect
and compassion,” Jamie says. He
shared images of his work and how
revitalizing the process and sharing
that knowledge with his community has been healing. He hopes that
by bringing the process back to the
community, he can leave it, and the
practice, “better than we found it,”
quoting his wife’s grandfather.
Near the end of his presentation,
Jamie gifted a quill knife sheath
to Akima ‘Chief’ Lankford. “As I
mentioned, quillwork means family. I created a quill knife sheath beSite tours through Tribal head- Ribbon cutting at the new Myaamia National Archives. L to R: Akima cause men used to wear thm around
quarters. Photo by Karen Baldwin, ‘Chief Douglas’ Lankford, Tera Hatley, Meghan Dorey, Dustin Olds, Don- their necks, because one of the most
important parts of the body is the
ya Williams, Scott Willard. Photo by Jonathan Fox, Myaamia Center (MC).
MTO.

Madalyn Richardson

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - News, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

5A

chest… It’s where your heart rests. It’s where your blood starts and ends.
You want it to be seen, but you want it to be protected,” he finished.
Presentations concluded with “Myaamia Heritage Preservation: Past,
Present, Future” by Diane Hunter, the immediate past Tribal Historic
Preservation Officer (THPO).
In the 1960’s the National Historic Preservation Act was passed to
protect places of American history and Section 106 established State and
Tribal Historic Preservation Officers. In 1990, a grant was
offered to tribes to make historic preservation possible for tribes, and in 2008 the Miami Tribe
applied. We were approved in 2010 and
George Strack was hired as the first
THPO and served for 5 years.
Diane succeeded him in 2015,
and she served as the THPO for
eight and 1/2 years.During
her time as THPO, she consulted with federal gov- This year’s Winter Storytellers. L to R: Brad Kasberg, Jarrid Baldernment agencies about win, Kara Strass, George Ironstrack, Haley Shea, Scott Shoemaker,
projects on our reser- George Strack, Doug Peconge. Photo by Karen Baldwin, Miami Tribe of
vation or in our home- Oklahoma.
lands that had the potential to disturb places and its necessity and importance in protecting historical and present-day
of historical and cul- archives. Meghan followed with a beautiful dedication of the archive and
tural significance to a reflection on how far the tribe has come since she arrived in 2007. Julie
Olds also shared her appreciation for the significant improvement the new
the Miami Tribe.
To ensure buri- building provides, considering the archival challenges they have faced in
als are not disturbed, previous decades.
After touring the new archive, many attendees made their way to the
we now use specially
trained ‘search and res- tribal headquarters for a guided tour of the building, which highlighted
cue’ dogs, named Master the Tribe’s history, culture, and sovereignty.
In the afternoon, Gourd Dance began with George Alexander as MC,
Pickpocket or “Pocket”
Henry Ellick (Quapaw, Shawand Wicked Smart Boy, or
nee, Miami) as head gourd danc“Wick.”
er, Damian Blackfox (Cherokee,
The job of THPO is not
Shawnee, Peoria) as head singto stop projects but to continue
er, and Wyatt Chuckluck of the
in a way that preserves places of
Cherokee, Mvskoke, and Choctribal significance. “It’s about our
taw tribes as arena director. Maancestors, their places and the objects
riah Tyner and her crew served
they left behind. It’s about showing rechili and stew for all attendees.
spect for our ancestors, our tribal beliefs and
This was followed by stomp and
practices. It’s the places where we were, the places
social dances, which continued
where our ancestors are even now,” Diane says.
throughout the evening.
Education is an important part of preserving culture as a THPO. “The
The 27th Annual Myaamia
work of the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer is about our identity as
Winter Gathering was a great
Myaamiaki, our way of life, our unique perspectives. It’s tied to our lansuccess and an invaluable expeguage, our history, our culture, our stories, and as we learn more and more
rience for all who could attend.
about our history, our culture and who we are as Myaamiaki, it’s about
We are grateful to have hosted
leaving that for the next generations.”
such a well-attended event that
As she has now retired from a public position with the tribe, she is sucprovided opportunities for receeded by current THPO Logan York. York says, “I have been fortunate to
lationships and communities to
work so closely with her for even the short time I’ve been with her, I have
some very large shoes to fill. I will continue to look to her as the highest Jared Nally sharing his weavings af- grow and flourish. We look forexample of what a THPO could and should be.”
ter presentations. Photo by Doug Pe- ward to seeing you all again in
the coming year!
Cultural Resources Officer, Julie Olds honored Diane by saying, “As conge, MTO.
a strong Myaamiihkwia, she readily stood firm to argue the rights of
her nation and her people. Many a
door was opened by this woman,
throughout our homelands, doors
that had previously been closed
to allowing our participation and
rightful inclusion in the presentation, interpretation, and teaching of
the history and culture of Myaamiaki.”
Diane was honored with the
highest honor given by the Miami
Tribe and presented with a blanket from Miami tribal leaders for
her outstanding work, contribution
to the tribe, and community impact. Akima ‘Chief’ Lankford says,
“This is the highest honor our na- Michael Galban presenting wam- Jamie Jacobs with his wife and Diane Hunter receiving her medtion can give, we’ve only given out pum to Akima ‘Chief’ Douglas daughter present a gift to Akima al and honor from Akima ‘Chief.’
18 of these since 2008, and I can Lankford. Photo by Karen Baldwin., ‘Chief.’ Photo by Karen Baldwin, Photo by Karen Baldwin, MTO.
think of no one more deserving.” MTO
MTO.
Secretary Treasurer Donya Williams expressed her thanks, saying, “I will love you forever and always
be so appreciative for everything you have done.” And Second Council
Person and NAGPRA Director for the Miami Tribe Scott Willard says,
“She’s a great defender of the Tribe, great protector of the Tribe, and an
excellent educator for the Tribe, and we’re going to miss her a lot.” Diane
concluded saying, “It has been an absolute delight to work for my Tribe,
to work for my people.”
Following this, George Ironstrack gave guests an exclusive guide on
how to participate in the storytelling, Gourd Dance, and Stomp Dance
portions of Winter Gathering. This is a valuable part of cultural education,
revitalization, and participation by tribal members, invited guests, and the
community.
Saturday, January 27, began with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the
Myaamia National Archives. This momentous occasion was shared by
many, all standing close together indoors, sheltered from the rain outside.
Chief Douglas Lankford began by welcoming all who were there and introducing Secretary-Treasurer Donya Williams and Tribal Archivist and
MHMA Manager Meghan Dorey.
Young women participating in a dance during the night of stomp
Donya highlighted the work of those who helped complete the building dance hosted during Winter Gathering. Photo by Karen Baldwin, MTO.

6A

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - News, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

Tribal Citizen Lance Theobald Is New CEO of Miami
Nation Enterprises
Staff Article

aatotankiki myaamiaki
Miami Tribe citizen Lance Theobald is the new Chief Executive Officer of the Tribe’s business division, Miami Nation Enterprises (MNE).
Lance steps into the office following the retirement of Peter Murphy,
who served as CEO for the past eight years.
Lance graduated in 2010 from Miami University in Oxford, OH, with
a B.S. in Accounting. Following graduation, he was commissioned as an
officer in the U.S. Navy and transitioned to the Reserves. He became an
employee of the Miami Tribe in 2011 when he began working for MNE’s
federal contracting company, Miami Business Services. Lance was appointed to the MNE Board of Directors in 2016 and left the Board upon
taking the helm at MNE.
Lance joined the transportation equipment leasing company DCLI in
2013 and held various operations and sales leadership roles. He moved
on from DCLI in 2017 to start SecurSpace, Inc., the “AirBnB of Industrial Real Estate.” After scaling SecurSpace, he then merged with Envase Technologies in 2020. He led Envase’s operational and commercial
teams as Chief Operations Officer. Envase was acquired for $230 million
by WiseTech Global in January 2023.
Lance was hired as President of MNE’s federal contracting group
(FCG) in August of 2023 and moved to CEO of MNE in January of this
year.
Lance married his college sweetheart, Kelly, in 2011 (those from Miami University call this a “Miami Merger”), and the couple have five children. The family resides on a small farm in Charlotte, NC. When asked
about his new position as CEO, Lance said, “Working for MNE feels a bit
like coming home. My career began at Miami University under the mentorship of many great teachers, including Daryl Baldwin, George Ironstrack, and Joseph Leonard. When Chief Lankford asked me to join the

Lance Theobald and his family. Photo courtesy of Lance Theobald.
MNE Board of Directors in 2016, I was thrilled to serve the Tribe in a
capacity utilizing my professional strengths.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to continue this service and lead
MNE as CEO. I want to thank the Business Committee and the MNE
Board for the responsibility they’ve entrusted to me. I also want to thank
Peter Murphy for his mentorship, encouragement, and friendship; under
Peter’s leadership, MNE has flourished and made great strides toward
securing economic independence for the Miami Tribe for generations to
come.”
Lance continued by saying, “Today, MNE has a vibrant portfolio of
successful businesses with over 1500 hardworking and talented employees across the United States. Looking ahead, MNE will continue to grow,
invest, and innovate to meet the needs of our growing Tribe and secure a
prosperous future for tribal members and all MNE employees.”

Redesign of the Pow-Wow Grounds Behind the Miami
Nation Council House
Staff Article

aatotankiki myaamiaki
The Miami Tribe’s powwow grounds located behind the Miami Nation Council House are getting an update. The space previously featured a round sidewalk area. Grass grew in the center and outside of
that space there was graveled area. During events, the gravel could
make for dusty and muddy messes. Due to this, and the limited grass
space in the center, it was decided to redesign the grounds.
After removing the sidewalk area, construction crews are working
to relevel the area, install new lighting, plant trees, and resurface the
entire area with grass. Progress continues, and they are on track to have
the project completed in early summer.
To see the fully renovated space, make plans to visit during this
year’s Annual Gathering on June 29th, 2024.

Removal of the sidewalk. Photo by Madalyn Richardson, Miami Tribe of

Removal of sidewalk progress. Photo by Madalyn Richardson, MTO.

Bleachers placed on concrete slab. Photo by Madalyn Richardson, MTO.

Oklahoma (MTO).

Previous Prairie Sun Casino Soon to
be An Event Center
Staff Article

aatotankiki myaamiaki
The recently closed Prairie Sun
Casino owned by the Miami Tribe of
Oklahoma has been undergoing interior
remodeling, converting the space into
an event center. The remodeling includes a stage, a large projector system, space and seating for up to 300 people, an announcer’s booth, a remodeled and refitted kitchen, and administrative offices. The Child Care
Development Fund (CCDF) department will also have a resource and
referral room to provide resources and training for childcare providers.
The space will be incredibly useful for both tribal and community
events. More information will be coming in future editions of the news- Interior of the remodeling in the former Prairie Sun Casino soon to
paper and online at www.miamination.com.
reopen as Prairie Sun Event Center. Photo by Madalyn Richardson, MTO.

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - News, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

7A

weecinaakiiyankwi weecikaayankwi

MIAMI TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA
NATIONAL GATHERING WEEK EVENTS 2024
EVENT SCHEDULE

The 2024 Miami Tribe of Oklahoma National Gathering Week events are scheduled for June 26-29,
in Miami, OK. Changes to this schedule will be posted on the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Facebook
page at MYAAMIAKI Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (private members only page), and website at www.
miamination.com.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26 RIBBONWORK WORKSHOP

9:00 a.m. - 5 p.m. - Prairie Sun Event Center - 3415 P. Street NW, Miami, OK
Lead by Myaamia citizen and artist Scott Shoemaker. Participants will learn about peepankišaapiikahkia eehkwaatamenki, and
make ribbonwork hat bands. RSVP
1300. Ages 16 and up. Watch the Miami Tribe Facebook page and website for updates. Lunch provided for attendees.

THURSDAY, JUNE 27 MYAAMIA FAMILY DAY (Games & Dancing)

Location:
Drake House - 3700 S. 505 Road, Miami, OK
Events:
ARCHERY - LACROSSE - TOMAHAWK THROW
Events begin at 10:30 a.m. and last all day and into the evening. There are events scheduled for adults and children. Lunch and
dinner will be provided. Bring lawn chairs, hats, sunscreen, and bug spray.
10:30 a.m. - Beginner Archery Training:
ers. Youth Fun Shoot: Open to children. Non-competitive shoot for fun and to instill proper form and safety skills.

-

LUNCH PROVIDED
1:30 p.m. - ARCHERY COMPETITIONS BEGIN
Novice Challenge: Open to inexperienced shooters. Participants will use equipment provided by the Cultural Resourcscoring round with shoot offs for ties.
Recurve Challenge: Experienced archers challenge each other’s skills with personally owned recurve bows from a
greater distance. ONLY RECURVE BOWS welcome for this event. Awards will be given. One practice round followed by a
scoring round with shoot off for ties. (Shooters without bows can participate but will use equipment provided by the Cultural
Maamišaahkwaaheetaawi - Lacrosse Shootout: Occurs after Archery Challenge is completed. Awards given for
Tomahawk Throw: Non-competition - test your throwing skills. Instruction will be provided. Open to 18 and over for
safety reasons. Throwing open all afternoon in a safe area but only when supervising personnel are present.
6 p.m. - Dinner
Archery and Games Contact:
General Contacts:

Scott Willard 417-317-3465 swillard@miamination.com

FRIDAY, JUNE 28 CULTURAL EDUCATION DAY

Events: COMMUNITY BREAKFAST - LACROSSE GAME - LUNCH - PRESENTATIONS
Resources Center. If you have your own pakitahaakani/Myaamia lacrosse stick please bring it, if not we will have sticks on hand
(only traditional sticks will be used for the game.) Lunch will be served after the game in the cool of the new Prairie Sun Event Center located across from Tribal Headquarters at 3411 P. Street. After lunch we will have cultural presentations,
and hand out t-shirts to those present.
8:30 a.m.
Breakfast at Myaamia Community Center/Dining Hall - 54535 East 65 Road, Miami, OK.
10:30 a.m.
Community Lacrosse Game on the Myaamia game - 54505 East 65 Road, Miami, OK.
Pakitahaakani/traditional lacrosse sticks provided, or bring your own.
NOON
Lunch at Prairie Sun Event Center - 3411 P. Street NW, Miami, OK.
1:30 p.m.
Presentation: Myaamia Ribbonwork Grant, by Meghan Dorey.
Presentation: “Tales of the Myaamia THPO”, by Logan York.

MORE DETAILS ON PAGE 8A

8A

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - News, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7A

MIAMI TRIBE OF OKLAHOMA

2024 NATIONAL GATHERING WEEK EVENTS
FRIDAY, JUNE 28 23rd ANNUAL MIAMI NATION POW WOW - June 28th & 29th

Location:

Miami Nation Dance Grounds - 54515 East 65 Road, Miami, OK.
(Located behind the Myaamia Council House)
Contacts:
Julie Olds 918-541-3131, jolds@miamination.com
Tera Hatley 918-919-1444, thatley@miamination.com
*In case of rain, alternate location for pow wow - NEO College Student Activity Center 200 I Street NE, Miami, OK 74354

SATURDAY, JUNE 29 ANNUAL MYAAMIA GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING
Location:
7:00 a.m.
9: 00 a.m.

Myaamia Council House - 54515 East 65 Road, Miami, OK
Breakfast will be served at the Myaamia Community Center/Dining Hall
Annual Meeting of the General Council begins promptly at 9 a.m. in the Council House.
Miami citizens enter through the doors on the east side of the building for registration.

Lunch:

Prairie Sun Events Center following close of the meeting - 3411 P. Street NW, Miami, OK.

*Annual Meeting Contacts:
Donya Williams 918-541-7274, dwilliams@miamination.com and Tera Hatley 918-919-1444, thatley@miamination.com

Final evening - 20th ANNUAL MIAMI NATION POW WOW (See Pow Wow Flier on Back)
IN THE EVENT OF INCLEMENT/THREATENING WEATHER THE CONTACT FOR TRIBAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
IS MIKE BROWN - Cell: 918-919-1979 Email: mbrown@mn-e.com

HOTEL INFORMATION FOR MIAMI, OK
*BUFFALO RUN HOTEL - 8414 S. 580 Road, Miami, OK - Phone: 918-542-2900
(Buffalo Run Hotel offers a discounted Tribal room rate. When you phone to book a room,
tell them you are an enrolled citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma booking a room for our
National Gathering Week in June. To get the discounted rate - one discounted room per person - you
will need to present your Tribal enrollment card at check in.)
Other Area Hotels:
DAYS INN - 2120 East Steve Owens Blvd., Miami, OK - Phone: 888-942-6215
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS - 509 Hendley Avenue, Miami, OK - Phone: 918-542-7424
HAMPTON INN - 115 S. Deacon Turner Road, Miami, OK - Phone: 918-541-1500
MICRO-TEL - 2015 E. Steve Owen’s Blvd., Miami, OK - Phone: 918-540-3333
To book a cabin in the Tribe’s Four Wings Park, contact Tera Hatley at 918-541-1300, or
by email at thatley@miamination.com
First come, first booked! Note: No repeat guests from last year - if you stayed in a cabin
last year you are not eligible to book again this year.
We want to make sure others have an opportunity to stay.
BOOK YOUR STAY

FOR THIS SUMMER!

To book your cabin contact Tera Hatley at thatley@miamination.com or 918-541-1300

M I A M I

N A T I

N

N E W S

iiši-mihtohseeniwiyankwi
aatotamankwi
Myaamia Publications – Vol. 17, No. 3, Winter 2023-24– Section B – History & Culture – Noošonke Siipionki Myaamionki

Myaamionki Maayaahkweeciši Kihcikamionkonci
‘Miami place south of Lake Michigan’: Myaamia History

on Lake Michigan’s Southern Shores
Nate Poyfair

inantly occupied by Myaamiaki.
This site, along with records and
Myaamionki, ‘The Miami Homelands,’ is the a dictionary written by Pinet, has
place, or places, that Myaamiaki ‘Miami peo- aided in understanding Myaamiaple’ have called home. The core of Myaamionki ki history and the revitalization of
has been the Waapaahšiki Siipiiwi ‘The Wabash Myaamiaataweenki ‘The Miami
River’ and the valley around it. Historically, this Language.’ Linguistic records such
valley has had the most significant influence as these show traditional names for
and the most substantial population centers of this region and confirm our estabMyaamiaki. Our homelands stretched from what lished relationships to these places.
Records of Myaamiaki living
are now the states of Michigan and Indiana, west
to Illinois and Wisconsin, and east into Ohio. near and around the Kankakee, IlDepending on the period, Myaamiaki moved to linois, Chicago, Des Plaines, Caludifferent areas based on warfare, quality of the met, Little Calumet, and St. Joseph
land, forced removals, and other reasons. In a Rivers, all near the southern shore This map shows Miami villages scattered west, south, and
post-contact world of heightened competition, of Lake Michigan, signify the reg- east of Ft. Chicago throughout the last decades of the Beathe predominant reason for relocation was vio- ular presence of Myaamiaki there. ver Wars. Miami villages are signified by a green triangle
lence. Over this post-contact period, Myaamia- Continuous relocations took place at with “MI” next to them. Tanner, Atlas of Great Lakes Indian
ki actively moved from region to region within times just a few years apart. As a sig- History, pages 32 and 33.
the lower Great Lakes. One of the important re- nificant Myaamiaki population lived
gions of Myaamionki has been along the south- around Chicago and the Illinois River valley in the to label or title shared spaces. Since neighboring
ern shores of Kihcikami ‘Lake Michigan’ and in 1690s and early 1700s, other groups of Myaamia- villages shared this area at the St. Joseph, and
the general region around Kinwikami ‘Calumet ki were moving to the Kankakee, Calumet, and St. our elder siblings were there, we recognized the
Joseph’s Rivers in a reversal of migrations, back to layered connections while passing the title to the
River’ and Šikaakonki ‘Chicago.’
When researching the early history of our the east. Analyzing the placement of villages on the Waahoonahaki.
Like our relationship with our relatives the
people, we are forced to use limited sources that Kankakee, Des Plaines, St. Joseph’s, and Wabash
often have low levels of reliability. French Jesuits Rivers, the core of Myaamionki in the early 1700s Waahoonahaki, shared spaces were common
often had trouble differentiating various groups was the northeast of the state of Illinois, south- and, in many areas, the norm. This was to protect
of Native peoples, and struggled to understand ern Michigan, and northern Indiana. The Calumet from invasion or increase security and kinship
the languages, cultures, and societal practices of Region, stretching from Chicago, east to Indiana networks. Myaamiaki used kinship networks for
the people they encountered. Historians writing Dunes and northeast to the St. Joseph River was a social, political, and security advantages to create alliances and networks that protected many
about this period (1640-1700) are forced to rely key part of Myaamionki in the early 18th century.
on limited fragments of a seventeenth-century
Myaamiaki were not the only ones impact- Great Lakes tribes from violence seen during the
world ravaged by disease, famines, warfare, and ed by war, disease, instability, and displacement. Beaver Wars and, eventually, American military
massive human displacement. Each of these in- Myaamia relationships with neighboring people invasions. These networks created an intricate
fluenced Myaamia life near southern Kihcikami. created complex networks and living arrangements. system of shared communities and spaces that
Myaamiaki concepts do not match our current American understandBritish guns enof territory and home- ing of land ownership. Myaamiaki may have been
abled Haudenosaunee
lands conflict with the primary stewards of the Wabash River Valley
invasions into the
how colonist maps for most of post-contact history before removal,
western Great Lakes
were being drawn but this does not mean other people did not conand
Myaamionki.
with firm borders and sider this area their extended homelands. This is
These
incursions
defined ownership. how one can explain such overlapping homelands
west forced MyaamiMyaamionki
‘the within Myaamionki and neighboring communiaki to seek refuge
Miami
homelands’ ties. Boundaries were placed during treaty-making
among related tribes
were not exclusive to to take land and destroy these kinship networks.
on the edges of their
Conflicts, plagues, alliances, and natural migraMyaamiaki.
far western homeRather than ex- tions of people have impacted where we Myaamialands. French coloclusive
ownership ki have lived. Moving west during the Beaver Wars
nists first encountered
Myaamiaki along the 1754 British map showing Myaamionki. McCorkle, of territory with of the 17th century and back east until our forced refirm borders, kinship moval in 1846, the shores of Kihcikami remained a
Fox River in today’s B.B. New England in Early Printed Maps
networks–based on place for villages and travel for hundreds of years.
Wisconsin, where we
were living with relatives such as the Mascoutens. marriage, cultural and linguistic ties, and, more Citing the recent recognition given to the Miami
Familiarity with this region west of Kihcikami was simply, proximity–shaped Myaamionki. The In- Tribe of Oklahoma at Indiana Dunes National Park
aided by Myaamia relationships with our siblings, ohka ‘Illinois’ were younger siblings, and the on the Indigenous Cultures Trail, our connection
the Inohka. As the French influence began to stretch Waahoonahaki ‘Potawatomi’ and Šaawanooki to our homelands remains strong. Hundreds of
further into Illinois and Indiana, later interactions ‘Shawnee’ were, and still are, seen as elder sib- Myaamiaki still call the southern shores of Kihcikabetween Myaamiaki and Jesuit missionaries and lings. Understanding these relationships aids in mi and the states of Illinois and Michigan home.
the interpretation of texts that explain our his- This connection to the region, shared with numerFrench people would continue.
French explorers, traders and missionaries tory. For example,
ous other federally
and
documented almost continuous movements of Myaamiaki
recognized tribes,
people throughout the Great Lakes. The constant Waahoonahaki had
means it remains
turmoil and ever-changing political landscape of neighboring villagand will forever be
the time resulted in a great deal of Myaamia set- es near South Bend,
a shared place.
tlement near Kihcikami. For example, Father Al- Indiana, along the
Strengthening
louez recounted that in the 1670s, a large popula- St. Joseph River
our connections to
tion of Myaamiaki moved near the Kankakee-St. where our “ComMyaamionki is a
Joseph portage in southwestern Michigan. Then ing Out Place,” or
never-ending effort
in the early 1680s, Sieur de La Salle convinced place of origin is.
for the Miami Tribe
the
hundreds of Myaamia families to move to his Recognizing
of Oklahoma. We
post called Fort St. Louis in north-central Illinois layered ownership
work to continualalong the Illinois River. Around this time, another of various places,
ly increase culturMyaamia village was formed at the junction of the Myaamiaki viewed Miamis on the St. Joseph. Eliot, 1783. LC Maps of North al knowledge and
Kankakee and Des Plaines Rivers following dis- many places as America, 1750-1789, 749; McCorkle, B. New England in Ear- social outreach to
persals from a larger Myaamia contingent that col- co-inhabitable. As ly Printed Maps
maintain and grow
clarified in a doculectively began to move eastward and northward.
our understanding
Šikaakonki ‘Chicago’ is another example of mented conversation between Pinšiwa (Myaamia) of our history. For further information regarding
Myaamia settlement near southern Kihcikami. and Five Medals (Waahoonahaki), the point of Myaamia history and culture, please reference
In 1696, Father François Pinet established the view that the Waahoonahaki were the elder sib- our community blog at Aacimotaatiiyankwi.org.
Guardian Angel mission near a village predom- lings, resulted in Myaamia conceptions of how

Cultural Resources Office

2B Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - History & Culture, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

Minohsayaki ‘Painted Robes’ Exhibition at Miami
University gives voice to Peewaalia and Myaamia peoples
a discussion with George Ironstrack, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and assistant director of the Myaamia Center, and Elizabeth Ellis, Peoria Tribe
of Indians of Oklahoma and associate professor of History at Princeton
University.

An in-person public lecture entitled “Requickening and
The exhibition, which runs from Jan. 30 through June 8, will feature Awakening the Dormant” will take place at the museum at 3 p.m. Satura number of recent examples of painted deer hides and document the day, March 16, with Michael Galban (Washoe and Mono Lake Paiute),
process of revitalization of this tradition after its decline from the 1700s. historic site manager of Ganondagan State Historic Site and the curator
of the Seneca Art & Culture
The Richard and Carole
Center, who has contributed
Cocks Art Museum (RCCAM)
to the efforts to revitalize the
at Miami University is honored
painted hide tradition.
to partner with the Myaamia
Preparation for this exhiCenter at Miami University
bition has involved travel by
and the Miami Tribe of Oklamembers of the Myaamia and
homa. With this exhibition,
Peoria Tribe to the Musée du
Minohsayaki ‘Painted Robes,’
Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
the art museum is collaboratin Paris, France, where several
ing for the first time with the
painted robes and other paintPeoria Tribe of Oklahoma.
ed deer-skin objects acquired
Maintaining a community-cuduring the 1600s and 1700s
rated approach, this exhibition
during the peak of French colis created in the voices of Peeonization of North America are
waaliaki ‘Peoria Indian’ and
currently stored and displayed.
Myaamiaki ‘Miami Indian’
A particular object (not shown
people.
in this exhibition), will be rep“More than an exhibition
resented in a photo-mural, and
about the beautiful minohlikely depicts an image of the
sayaki, this exhibition delves
into the emotional and educa- From left to right, Scott Shoemaker (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) and Elizabeth Thunderer or Thunder Being,
tional journey of reclamation Ellis (Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma) visit with a ciinkwia minohsaya and was probably made by a
and passing down heritage to ‘Thunder Being Robe’ at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris, member of the Illinois Confederacy, and may have been simnew generations of Peewaa- France in April 2023. Photo by George Ironstrack, Myaamia Center.
ilar to those made and used by
lia and Myaamia,” said Jason
Miami and Peoria Tribes in the
Shaiman, curator of exhibiMidwest. These incredibly imtions at the art museum.
portant and rare objects, which
Minohsayaki ‘painted hide
are seldom preserved in North
robes’ are an art form that was
America itself, do not typically
practiced by both the Peewaatravel.
liaki and Myaamiaki prior to
The visits provided the
contact with Europeans. Miopportunity to look closely at
nohsaya artists produced many
the centuries-old painted hides
beautiful examples of this art
and gain new insights and unform in the late 1600s into the
derstanding, which could inearly 1700s. In the mid-1700s,
form the revitalization of the
the artistic practice of producpainted hide tradition. Working minohsayaki declined.
shops taking place in Miami,
The exhibition, which
Oklahoma in 2022 and 2023,
opened on Jan. 30, will feature
attended by Miami Tribe, Peoa number of recent examples
ria Tribe members and staff of
of painted deer hides and docRCCAM, enabled communiument the process of revitalty members to come together
ization of this tradition after
its decline from the 1700s. The A participant paints a hide using egg yolk and mineral pigments at the Re- to try preparing and painting
story of revitalization is an im- claiming Stories Learning Lab in the summer of 2022. Photo by Doug Peconge, hides.
“It is tremendously exportant one, alongside the re- Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.
citing to witness and support
vitalization of language and
the revival of our ancestral
other cultural traditions.
art and storytelling practices,”
Ironstrack said, “After desaid Elizabeth Ellis, who also
cades of our community lookserves as tribal history liaison
ing at these beautiful minohfor the Peoria Tribe of Indisayaki from afar, it was quite
ans of Oklahoma. “Our history
emotional to be in the same
and the beautiful painted robes
room as these ancestral objects
continue to have deep impor— to touch where their hands
tance for our communities and
created such lasting beauty,
to convey teachings to our
and to speak our language and
people.”
tell our stories in their presThe Miami University exence.”
hibition will be open through
The exhibition and relatJune 8. To find out more about
ed programs are supported by
the exhibition and the proja grant from the Andrew W.
ect, visit the RCCAM and
Mellon Foundation through
Myaamia Center websites, as
the Humanities Without Walls
well as the Reclaiming Stories
Consortium, which is adminproject page.
istered by the University of
Robert Morrisey, associate
Illinois. and is part of the Re- Miami Tribe of Oklahoma Cultural Resources Officer Julie Olds scraping the
claiming Stories project.
hair from a White tailed deer hide at the Reclaiming Stories second learning professor of history at University of Illinois and member of
Free and public programs lab in the summer of 2023. Photo by Doug Peconge, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.
the Reclaiming Stories project:
in connection with the exhibi“The creative work in this project is not just recovering meaning or untion include:

A webinar at noon Thursday, Feb. 22, in partnership with derstanding history but bringing to life these important painting practicthe Alumni Association of Miami University. The webinar will include es. It’s really about revitalization.”

Miami University News, 01/23/24
miamioh.edu/news/2024/01/minohsayaki-painted-robes-exhibitionat-miami-university-gives-voice-to-peewaalia-and-myaamiapeoples.html

This newspaper is available as a PDF at
www.miamination.com
Choose “News & Events” from the menu bar.

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - History & Culture, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24 3B

Myaamia National and Community Symbols
Staff Article

Cultural Resources Office
Many people have asked about the symbolism included in the National and community icons of the Miami Nation. There are three
icons that have been designed to represent us
in our Sovereign status, and culturally, as a distinct people.
The National seal of the Miami Tribe of
Oklahoma was adopted in 2008 at the request of
our late Chief Floyd Leonard. The icon is made
up of a number of symbolic myaamia images
and colors.
Chief Leonard specifically requested the six
eagle feathers to hang from the bottom of the
circle to honor the six bands of the Miami as
mentioned in Bert Anson’s book The Miami Indians.
The colors of our directions make up the
outer circle. Awansaapiciši (eastward) is represented as yellow and is the color for our babies
and very small children. It is the color of the
rising sun, of the new day, emergence, birth,
and newness.
Maayaahkweeciši (southward) is represented by blue/green and represents our youth. It
is the color of growth, learning, and seeking
knowledge.
Pankihšinkiši (westward) is represented by
red and is the color of the adult age of responsibility. It is the color of our warriors, of blood
shed, knowledge gained, the responsibility to
live and share that knowledge, and maturity/
setting sun.
Pipoonahkionkiši (northward) is represented as black and honors our Elders.Black represents earned respect, wisdom, closing of day/
time/winter and preparation for the journey.
The inner ring of the circle is white, representing peace and harmony. The center is yellow and is indicative of our emergence from
years of cultural silence.
The crane in flight is symbolic of our movement as a people, both historically and in the
contemporary sense of growth of community,
knowledge, and sovereignty.
The turtle is representative of our lands and

our place. Complete, this logo is the National
symbol, or seal, representing the federally-recognized Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. Of note, in
regard to what appears to be an interchangeable
use of the references “Miami Nation,” or “Miami Tribe of Oklahoma,” the difference lies in
legality. According to our Constitution, we are
the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. The use of the
word Miami Nation, which reflects our Sovereign Status, is a reference term, but it not currently used on legal documents due to our legal
name of Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.
The second icon is referred to as our “community logo” and it has three key elements representing the Myaamiaki.
The turtle image is the foundation, again
representing place. However in this image it
evokes our place, or homeland, as the turtle’s
back as conveyed in Great Lakes creation stories.
The crane image represents the myaamia
people, as does the symbol of the human face.
Both of these symbols are taken from historic record.
The image of the ribbonwork pattern is a new
piece being introduced and is representative of
the Myaamiaki due to the use of significant
geometric shapes and patterns frequently used,
and reused by Myaamia people for hundreds of
years. The colors chosen for this representative
pattern were selected due to the constant recurrence of these in Myaamia ribbonwork pieces in
many museums.
Many Tribal members have chosen to use
these icons for various personal identification needs. Some have had tattoos created using these images. Some have them painted on
mailboxes, embossed on jewelry or saddles, or
carved into furniture. Tribal members are encouraged to use them respectfully and to refrain
from using them in any business or professional
purposes or uses that bring monetary gain.
To be certain of appropriate use, Tribal members should direct requests for use to
Tribal Secretary-Treasurer Donya Williams at
dwilliams@miamination.com.

Miami Nation Tribal Seal. Copyright by the Mi-

ami Tribe of Oklahoma. No reproduction is permitted without written consent.

Miami Nation Community Symbol. This symbol is permitted to be used by community members.

Ribbonwork pattern used to signify Myaamiaki. Design based on historical Myaamia ribbonwork found in many museums.

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4B Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - History & Culture, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

wiintanto wiintaakani
‘You read a book!’
Nate Poyfair

Project Manager & Special Projects
Researcher, Cultural Resources Office

Replanting
Cultures

Community-Engaged
Scholarship in Indian
Country
Chief
Benjamin
J.
Barnes and Stephen
Warren
Chief Ben Barnes
(Shawnee) and Stephen
Warren, Professor of
American Studies at the
University of Iowa, co-authored and edited this
book with other members of scholarship and
Indigenous communities from North America.
Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors reflect
and assess the time and effort that goes into collaborative work to advance Native communities.
Barnes and Warren lead the primary narrative of
this book, which is combating modified history
to benefit the settler-colonial state and to recreate history and knowledge based on Native-led
scholarship.
George Ironstrack, Cameron Shriver, and Haley Shea of the Myaamia Center at Miami University (Oxford) reflect on their individual pathways
and current work in building our community
from a scholarship perspective. Other vital members of the success of the Myaamia Center, such
as Susan Mosley-Howard and Bobbe Burke, contribute valuable insight into the growth of an educational movement promoted by the Miami Tribe
of Oklahoma and Miami University.
This book educates the reader on the complexities and tireless work that goes into community-engaged scholarship, like the work done
in our community. Numerous authors from universities and members of the Miami, Shawnee,
and Stó:lō, one of the First Nations in the Fraser
River Valley in British Columbia, Canada, communities write about their work in research and
development to better our countries’ Indigenous
communities. Miami Tribe citizens, among others interested in Native-led scholarship, should
consider this book to learn more about our nation’s unique opportunity through community-engaged scholarship.
Author Stephen Warren describes his chapter,
saying, “This essay concerns itself with the geographic, temporal, and methodological frameworks we use when defining research related to
Native peoples. For this scholar, community-engaged methodologies offer an important corrective to scholarship that limits the geographic and
temporal scope of Native peoples. For example,
histories of the Shawnee, and their most famous
warrior, Tecumseh, are legion. Scholars and their
non-Native audiences have used Tecumseh’s life,
and death, to carry American national parables
ranging from the impossibility of interracial love
to what historian James Joseph Buss describes as
the Midwestern trope of ‘Native dispossession
and victimless settlement.’ ...the broad history
of the Shawnee in the Ohio Valley has become
a ‘form of Knowing’ that largely serves the settler-colonial state,” (page 85).

Citizens of a Stolen
Land

A Ho-Chunk History of
the Nineteenth Century
United States
Stephen Kantrowitz
This book encompasses the struggle of
the Ho-Chunk people
in Wisconsin to maintain sovereignty and a
collective fight against
U.S. government imperialism and policymaking.
Kantrowitz focuses on many issues ranging from
combating squatters, allotment and citizenship,
and racialized policies that aimed to strip land
ownership and rights from the Ho-Chunk people
to enable new waves of white settlers into their

These reviews aim to inform tribal members of
culturally and socially significant literature that
may aid in our understanding of Native America
and ourselves as a tribal community.

lands.
Kantrowitz tells a long and heartbreaking story about Ho-Chunk persistence that resembles our
own Myaamia story of persistence. Alienation of
common land, citizenship becoming a “mechanism for settler-colonial elimination,” and tactics
to eliminate traditional homelands as hospitable
places all became forms of colonialist pressure.
The complexities of citizenship and identity, acquisition of land as a form of resistance, allotments as a form of resistance against squatters,
and the significance of the Indian Homestead Act
are all addressed in this book to help readers understand the methods used by Native Americans
to resist American imperialism.
This book tells heartbreaking stories of desperation, loss, and Indigenous persistence over
a colonial power. Ho-Chunk resistance exposed
that the proponents of equal citizenship did not
believe in their own words. Kantrowitz dives
deeper into the political methods used to remove
land from Ho-Chunk possession. “The blended
grounds of conquest and contract” define the ideology that Ho-Chunk people combated for decades.
For Myaamiaki, this book helps to provide
detailed information regarding the ways Great
Lakes Tribes persisted through bullying, murder,
deceit, and, in most cases, removal from their
homelands. As Kantrowitz also acknowledges
on page 44, Miamis employed many of the same
tactics to persist in Indiana in the 1840s.

The Native
Ground: Indians
and Colonialists in
the Heart of the
Continent

Kathleen DuVal
The Native Ground
focuses primarily on the
Arkansas River Valley
and the history of Native Americans in that
region. DuVal takes the
reader on a historical journey through the area
from pre-contact to the time of Spanish expeditions, through French and British colonial efforts
in the region, and ends during the period of Indian
removals in the 1820s and 1830s. Exploring the
shifting and ever changing populations, cultural
practices, language groups, and colonial influences, DuVal also explores how the Arkansas River Valley, perhaps more so than the Great Lakes
Region, was controlled by Native people even
with non-Native people consistently vying for
an economic and militaristic stake in the region.
The Arkansas River Valley is an area of diverse
ecosystems with abundant resources that allowed
Indigenous people in the region to grow in population and power. Due to location, Indigenous
people could also stay a safe distance from significant colonialist efforts to control this part of the
continent until much later than their Great Lakes
and Southeastern Indigenous counterparts.
Spending time focusing on both the Osage
and Quapaw Tribes, DuVal argues that the region’s Indigenous peoples were the real determiners of how relationships formed and how
commerce grew in the Arkansas River Valley and,
in some cases, the surrounding regions. Quapaw
rejections of French ideas of religious practices
and land use, for example, showed how colonial
efforts to gain a foothold in the region were generally on Native terms. The author also emphasizes
how, in many ways, the powerful Osage “proved
far more successful than either France or Spain at
building a mid-continental empire.” Both nations
used the geographic advantages of the Arkansas
River Valley to control the influx of European
goods and other Indians, thus giving them power through logistics to influence and control other
people, whether colonial or Native.
At one time, the Arkansas River Valley was in
the far reaches of where Illinois and Miami people
would have traveled. This book will help educate
Myaamiaki about their historical neighbors and
how they combated imperialism and established

themselves as regional powers. Today, the Quapaw Tribe reservation borders the Miami/Peoria
Reservation, and the Osage Nation Reservation is
three counties west of our reservation boundary.

Masters of Empire:
Great Lakes
Indians and the
Making of America

Michael A. McDonnell
This book focuses on
the Anishinaabeg/Odawa people, who are now
parts of federally recognized tribes in Michigan
and Oklahoma, and their
presence at the straits of
Michilimackinac. During the early colonial period, the Straits at Michilimackinac (the waterway
between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas
connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron) was
considered the most crucial gateway to trade and
diplomacy to the western and northern Indian nations. During the early colonial period, the Anishinaabeg knew their territorial advantages. Their
geographical positioning and negotiating strength
gave their people leverage with the French and
other Native nations.
The position of the Anishinaabeg/Odawa at
the straits impacted their neighbors and began an
intense rivalry with other Indigenous groups, most
notably the Haudenosaunee. Using private French
traders, called Coureurs de bois in French, the
Odawa learned how to deal with these Europeans
and came to understand their motives, needs, and
weaknesses. Using leverage and other political
strategies to maintain influence over the French
helped maintain Odawa and Anishinaabeg power
in the Great Lakes Region or Pays d’en Haut as
it was referred to by the French, especially during
early contact in the 17th century.
Another important subject in this book is Anishinaabeg relationships with their neighbors.
Two categories of people, the inawemaagen (relative) and meyaagizid (foreigner), were the only
types of people in the Anishinaabeg world. Although Algonquian, the Anishinaabeg based their
relationships with meyaagizid around conflict,
suspicion, and rivalry. Understanding this ideology helps the reader to interpret why Odawa and
other Anishinaabeg used marriage to keep themselves strategically tied to specific communities.
As Iroquoian or non-related Algonquian neighbors moved to Detroit and the northern parts of
present-day Indiana and Ohio following the Beaver Wars in the 18th century, the Anishinaabeg
were alarmed, as a new set of potential rivals and
enemies were now to their south.
One of McDonnell’s primary arguments, impacting how we view our history, is the significance
of the attack on the Myaamia village of Pickawillany (the village site is just north of present-day
Piqua, Ohio). McDonnell argues that the Ojibwe
and Odawa attack on the English-allied village at
Pickawillany and the killing of Myaamia akima
Meemeehšhkia in front of his relatives was “the
opening salvo” that began a chain of events that
would result in the Seven Years’ War and a global
war between France and England that changed the
futures of millions of people living under colonial
influence.
McDonnell helps the reader understand the
miscommunications, cultural differences, and
very different motives of the Native peoples and
colonial powers of this early period of contact.
The Native groups and colonial powers held
advantages and leverages in their relationships.
McDonnell highlights how the Odawa could
influence or force the French into decisions and
alliances to which they were perhaps not entirely
in agreement. An excellent look into the politics,
economics, and warfare within the Great Lakes
in the early colonial period, Masters of Empire
does a great job of illuminating the complexities
of Indigenous political and social networks and
framing the violence resulting from the influx of
colonial goods and provocations.

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - History & Culture, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24 5B
Killer of the Flower
Moon: The Osage
Murders and the
Birth of the FBI

David Grann
From the perspective of a white American, Killers of the Flower Moon is based on the
Osage Nation, wealth,
inheritance,
violence,
and betrayal. It became a
jaw-dropping rendition of the murders of Osage
people in the 1920s due to oil discoveries on their
lands. Focusing on the FBI investigators of these
crimes, this book clarifies how Osage people were
murdered by white people so that they could steal
their wealth and property.
During the 1920s, as oil was discovered on
Osage lands, the people of the Osage Nation
quickly became the wealthiest people per capita
in the world. As jealousy and greed grew outside
the community, powerful men began targeting
the Osage in killings to eliminate them from their
lands and take their wealth. Over twenty Osage,
perhaps many more, were killed in various ways.
Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman who loses many
family members to murder, William K. Hale, and
Ernest Burkhart become primary characters in the
web of crime and violence that Grann portrays. As
time passed and the newly formed FBI began to
investigate the case, lead investigator Tom White
took on unraveling the layers of corruption surrounding and, at times, killing the Osage in Oklahoma.
As White continues his investigation surrounding the mysterious deaths of the Osage, layers of political and economic corruption surface
on a scale still shocking today. During a time
where many Indigenous nations within the United
States were at their weakest, the Osage were afforded an opportunity at wealth that almost no one
in the world had. Yet still, white businessmen and
landowners around them circled like vultures and
began instigating and committing atrocities on the
Osage to gain their wealth.
An acutely distressing recollection of the predation of the Osage, Killers of the Flower Moon
gives Miami people an insight into the ways that
white settlers and neighbors preyed on Native people just west of our reservation. As you read this
book, reflect on the violence and corruption that
the Osage people faced and use that as a catapult
into understanding our tribal history in the corrupt
practices of the American and local governments
to wrestle away land and wealth from our people.
If this topic interests you, I encourage you to
review our Aatotantaawi “Let’s Talk About It!”
discussion from July 2020. This discussion is
available through the recording via the Myaamia

Center YouTube channel. If desired, a further
look into this period of Osage history is possible
through the novel A Pipe for February by Charles
H. Red Corn.

Expand your
vocabulary

Mankiller: A Chief and
Her People
Wilma Mankiller and Michael Wallis
As a former topic of
our Aatotantaawi! “Let’s
Talk About It!” group,
Mankiller: A Chief and
Her People, provides
readers with the story and
personal reflection on the
life of a Cherokee and female chief. Covering the broader events of Native
American modern history, such as the Indian civil rights movement of the 1960s and some much
deeper Cherokee history, Mankiller narrates how
her life path and experiences shaped her as a chief.
Experiencing a move from Oklahoma to California as a young child, Mankiller explains the
complexities of moving to a more developed part
of the United States from a rural Oklahoma home
and how this change led to her becoming involved
in the Red Power movement. Living in California, she became engaged in social activism and
was present at the occupation of Alcatraz in 1969.
Alcatraz not only made her aware of the need for
further social activism on behalf of Native Americans, but the event also forever motivated her to
work toward social and political improvements for
Native American people and tribes.
Throughout her life, Wilma Mankiller faced
significant obstacles and tragedies that built her
determination to empower women and Native
Americans both in her community and in the
broader Indigenous communities in our country.
This book provides the reader with an encompassing view of how modern-day tribal politics
have been shaped by a generation of men and
women who were a part of the Red Power movement and ushered in a new era of Native American
political, social, and economic change.
This book and other fascinating topics were
covered in the Aatotantaawi discussion in September of 2022. After reading, feel free to reflect and
review this book by viewing the recorded discussion via the Aatotantaawi! “Let’s Talk About It!”
Facebook page, or directly on YouTube. Dr. Cameron Shriver leads an exciting and thought-provoking discussion where we review the book and
discuss the lives of female leaders within our tribe.

Download the
Myaamiaataweenki
‘Miami Language’
Dictionary!

You can contact Nate Poyfair at
npoyfair@miamination.com

Noticed some changes...

ILDA Dictionary

Definitions from over
2,000 entries
Audio pronunciations

Other changes to look out for:
The Newspaper is now online!
• Two biennial printed editions summer & winter

from

MTO Media

?

• Quarterly editions at miamination.com
• Increased social media presence
• Time Sensitive News online at miamination.com
For more information, keep an eye on miamination.com, the
paper, and social media.

at
the
Open 9 am - 5pm | 28 N. Main, Miami, OK 74354
(918) 544-6049 | www.myaamiagifts.square.site

6B Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - History & Culture, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

ahsenaamišipoohkiitaawi
‘let’s collect sap!’
Jordan Poyfair

Communications & Media Specialist, ARPA, CRO
Last winter, the
Cultural Resources
Office (CRO) team
members had the
opportunity to visit
the Wyandotte Tribe
Cultural Resources Office and learn
from their practice
of tapping aayoonseekaahkwa ‘Black
Walnut trees.’ The Drilling a hole into the tree for the spile. Photo by
Wyandotte
began Madalyn Richardson, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (MTO).
tapping Black Walnut trees as a source
of syrup and sugar
as they would have
done in the past with
Sugar Maple trees
because maple trees
are much less common in Oklahoma.
To further enhance our connection to our land in
Oklahoma and the Sap dripping from a tap into a bucket. Photo
ecological knowl- by Jordan Poyfair, MTO.
edge of our removal homelands, we
tapped 35 trees on
Miami Tribe land
this January. This is
the first largescale
tree tapping project
myaamiaki ‘Miami
people’ have taken
part of in noošonke
siipionki
‘Miami,
Oklahoma.’
Early
results MTO staff and Peoria visitors tapping black
have shown that walnut trees. Photo by Madalyn Richardson, MTO.
Black Walnut sap
yields about a 50:1
ratio of sap to syrup,
a bit less productive
than the average
40:1 ratio for Sugar
Maple trees. From
the 127 gallons collected so far, we
have produced just
above two gallons
of syrup. Noting
that 25 gallons of Tree tapping buckets on black walnut trees.
sap were donated Photo by Jordan Poyfair, MTO.
to Oklahoma State
University for testing and research,
this is almost exactly a 50:1 ratio.
We have found that the taste
and look of Black Walnut sap is
very similar to Sugar Maples, but
the taste of the finished syrup is
very different. Finished syrup at
about 70% sugar content has a
much more bitter, nutty, and overall powerful taste. It would be difficult to consume in large quantities like we may do with our maple
syrup on pancakes, but it is equally
as enjoyable.
As the climate and weather Sap being boiled into syrup.
conditions have been unstable in Photo by Madalyn Richardson.
our part of the country, our sap
collecting season is coming to a
close. Typically, weather that is
below freezing at night but warms
up to above freezing during the day
is ideal for sap flows. The weather
this year has lacked consistency in
temperatures and has impacted sap
flow negatively.
We hope to share our efforts in
person at upcoming events so that
community members can look at
and learn about Black Walnut syrup and its many benefits. We enjoy learning about the process and
sharing it with others.
Black walnut syrup. Photo by
Jordan Poyfair, MTO.

Sweet Times at Peehkahkionki
Dani Tippmann

Foods Program Director, ARPA, Cultural Resources Extension Office
We are tapping trees at peehkahkionki ‘Place of the Beautiful Land’ in
Fort Wayne, IN. Please consider coming out to see and participate in the process. We will tap maple and black walnut trees this year to collect sap. Making maple syrup or sugar started with identifying the trees while the leaves
clung to the branches.
This year, we will tap silver and amur maple trees on the tribal property.
The amur maples are an invasive, non-native species. By tapping these invasive, non-indigenous amur maples, we give some of the sugar and silver maples, which are Native species, time to rest this year.
Once the trees we will tap
are identified and marked,
we decide how many to
tap and where to concentrate our collection activity.
This year’s collection efforts will focus on the amur
maples along the driveway.
Utilizing trees along the
driveway makes harvesting
A spile being tapped into a tree. Photo by particularly easy!
The trees are close to
Doug Peconge, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (MTO).
each other and will be a
little less muddy near the
driveway as the temps shift
from freezing at night to
warmer temps during the
day. When the temperatures
fluctuate above and below
the freezing point, the sap
flows in the maple trees and
is easily collected.
Today,
as
modern
Myaamia people, we drill
Sap dripping from a tap into a bucket. Pho- holes, about waist high,
in the southern side of the
to by Doug Peconge, MTO.
tree, where the trees receive the most sunshine and
warmth in the spring, and
then we tap in a spile with
a bucket hanging below it
to catch the sap dripping
from the spile. Historically,
we would have slashed the
tree and caught the sap as
it flowed from the wound in
the bark.
A journal by Gerard T.
CREO staff tapping maple trees. Photo by Hopkins mentions that maple sugar was a trade item.
Doug Peconge, MTO.
He wrote, “The women
bring sugar, which is generally neatly packed in a
square bark box containing
about fifty pounds. It is made
from the sugar tree. This art
has long been known to the
Indians. They make and use
large quantities of sugar. We
have seen very white and
clear-looking sugar of their
manufacture.”
Last year, 2023, was
CREO staff tapping maple trees. Photo by
the first year we harvested
Doug Peconge, MTO.
maple sap at Peehkahkionki. This year, we increased our efforts and tapped about 50 trees. Eehsenaamišipoohkiaanki ‘We collect maple sap’ from the trees and eehtwaanki
ahkihkonki ‘put it in the pot.’
Next, weensamaanki ‘we boil’ the sap over an open fire. The heat will boil
off some of the moisture and produce maple syrup. It takes about 40 gallons
of sap to produce a single gallon of syrup! Some syrup is boiled further at a
higher temperature and stirred for about 10 minutes to make maple sugar.
We also tap black walnut trees on the property to make walnut syrup.
The black walnut sap goes through a parallel process to the maple sap. Some
people prefer the flavor of walnut syrup over maple syrup. We tapped less
than ten walnut trees this year. It gave us a “taste” of what to expect and help
us decide whether to tap more black walnut trees next year. We filtered the
processed sap through cloth filters to remove what is known as “sand” or extra mineral deposits within the syrup. We finish it by pouring it into jars and
canning it at a high temperature, making it shelf-stable.
If you want to be a part of the sugar or syrup-making next spring, please
come out to Peehkahkionki and be a part of the fun! Ahsenaamisipoohkiitaawi – ‘Let’s collect maple sap!’
Some Maple Sugar Phrases:
eehsinaamišipoohkiaani – I collect maple sap
ahsenaamišipoohkiitaawi – Let’s collect maple sap
ahtoolo ahkihkoonki – put it in the pot!
eepisamaani – I heat it (the pot)
eepisamankwi – We heat it (the pot)
ahkihkwi weenteeki – the pot is boiling

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - History & Culture, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24 7B

Myaamionki Noošonke Siipionki ‘Miami Homelands
Along the Neosho River’: The Meanings of the
Names and Places That Consist of our Tribal Seat and
Oklahoma Homelands
the Quapaw reservation to the border of the state
of Missouri.

Nate Poyfair

Project Manager & Special Projects
Researcher, Cultural Resources Office

Wea-Piankashaw connection: Historically,
the Wea and Piankashaw were bands of the Miami
Tribe. In 1854, people of Kaskaskia, Peoria,
Piankeshaw, and Wea origins formed a confederated
tribe, today known as the Peoria Tribe of Indians
of Oklahoma. Wea and Piankashaw people have
historically lived amongst both Myaamiaki and
Peewaaliaki and the descendants of these nations
are now members of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of
Oklahoma.

Various articles in this edition of the newspaper
have addressed places we as Myaamiaki call
home. Oklahoma became the permanent home of
the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma in the early 1870’s,
and following this last relocation of our tribal seat,
we have engrained ourselves in the local social
and economic networks. Sharing a reservation
with our relatives the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma,
our home here in Northeast Oklahoma is a place
of many names and identifiers. Like most places
in North America, the names of the places around
us are in many cases derivatives of Native words
or simply named after the Native Americans that
have lived here. Below are some facts about where
we live, including the origins of the names of these
significant places to Myaamiaki.
Oklahoma: The name for the state of
Oklahoma is a derivation of the Choctaw language
“Okla” and “humma,” meaning “red people.” The
state of Oklahoma was traditionally occupied by
tribes such as the Wichita, Caddo, Osage, Pawnee,
Quapaw, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and
Cheyenne peoples before becoming the removal
and reservation lands of 39 total tribes post U.S.
expansion. The state of Oklahoma was established
in 1907.
Ottawa County: The county name is said to
originate from the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma,
when Chief Thomas F. Richardville (Miami) and
hisson-in-law Chief Manford Pooler (Ottawa),
came together with investor Wyland C. Lykins
to create a town in the area that could serve as
aneconomic hub for Lykins’ cattle farming
ambition. Since this would-betown was bordered
Miami reservation lands and the acreage that
would be acquired from the Ottawa tribe, the town
was named after the Miami and the county after
the Ottawa.

Akima ‘Chief’ Thomas F. Richardville lived
from 1830 to 1911. Photo by John K. Hillers,

courtesy of the National Anthropological Archives,
Smithsonian Institution.

Oklahoma, and given allotted lands for permanent
settlement. Due to the nature of the placement,
centuries-long relationships, intermarriage, and
political ties, shared reservation space continues
our relationships as they always have been: sibling
nations who live with and amongst each other.
The boundaries of this reservation stretch from
the Kansas border and down along the Neosho
River to the west, and the Quapaw Reservation
to the east, then south and east, wrapping around

What is our Place? Myaamionki “Miami
homelands” stretch from our historic place of
origin in the lower Great Lakes, and west to
our removal homelands of Kansas and south to
Oklahoma. Our tribal seat is in Miami, Oklahoma,
serving as our western boundary to Myaamionki.
It is essential to recognize the continuous idea
of shared spaces. As has always been the norm,
Myaamiaki have shared spaces with people from
many other tribes. Boundaries placed by the U.S.
government do not represent our traditional ideas
of land ownership and relationships. We have
always shared spaces with our close neighbors,
such as the Illinois, Shawnee, Potawatomi, and
other nations, and have been removed to a place
(Oklahoma) where the lands we occupy are not
where we originate from. Our current homelands
represent the collective resistance and resilience
of 39 tribes, including ours. The names of these
places derive from words of many different
peoples and signify the essence of a shared place.

Miami: Pronounced in the vernacular as “MyAm-Uh,” the town of Miami was established in
1891 as an effort of Thomas F. Richardville
(Myaamia Akima ‘chief’) and Wyland C. Lykins
with 588 acres purchased from the Ottawa Tribe
to establish the town of Miami. Miami, the town,
is directly named after the Miami Tribe.
Neosho River: The name of Neosho is a
derivation from the Osage language that has a
translation of “clear, cold springs.” The area
surrounding the Neosho River has long been
known for its freshwater springs and has been
used for this resource for hundreds of years by
Native Americans.

This is a 1978 map showing the Kaskaskia, Western Miami, Wea, Piankeshaw, and Peoria
Myaamia-Peewalia Reservation: The Miami- allotment areas within the Miami-Peoria Reservation. The Neosho River borders the WestPeoria Reservation is another example of shared ern Miami and Kaskaskia reserves to the west, and the town of Miami is represented by the
space. The Miami, Peoria, Wea, Piankeshaw, darker-shaded area south of Western Miami and west of Ottawa reserves. Map compiled by J.L.
and Kaskaskia were removed to Ottawa County, Speer. Copyright by Dick James, 1978. Source Unknown.

Would you like to learn more about plants
from a Myaamia perspective?
Mahkihkiwa hosts botanical archives from over 100 years ago
as well as plant information that elders shared in the 1990s. The
ethnobotanical site is named, Mahkihkiwa ‘herb medicines,’
as a reminder of the importance of plants to living well from a
Myaamia point of view. There is so much that can be searched
and explored!
Explore mahkihkiwa.org today!

8B Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - History & Culture, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

MYAAMIA COMMUNITY RESOURCES
Myaamia citizens and families have many language and cultural education
opportunities available on the web. The following sites regularly post videos,
photos and current news clips from the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the
Myaamia Center at Miami University.
MIAMI NATION WEBSITE www.miamination.com
Miami Nation Gift Shop myaamiagifts.square.site
________
MYAAMIAKI Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (closed Facebook group for Tribal citizens &
their immediate family members)

AATOTANKIKI MYAAMIAKI Miami Nation News on Facebook
Miami Nation Events Where public events are posted on Facebook
EEMAMWICIKI Facebook (our summer youth programs)
MYAAMIA CENTER Facebook & YouTube Channel
AATOTANTAAWI “Let’s Talk About It” Myaamia Community Discussion Group for
books, movies, shows, etc.

________

ILDA Myaamia Online Dictionary (Miami-Illinois Indigenous Languages Digital
Archive) mc.miamioh.edu/ilda-myaamia/dictionary

KAAKISITOONKIA the Myaamia Heritage Museum & Archive’s online archive
kaakisitoonkia.org

AACIMOTAATIIYANKWI Myaamia Community Blog
aacimotaatiiyankwi.org
ŠAAPOHKAAYONI A Myaamia Portal
mc.miamioh.edu/eduportal/

PICNIC & PLAY

pakitahantaawi A P R I L

2 0

Grill out & picnic food provided,
bring your own dish if you like!
Live Music, Bounce House,
Lacrosse Games & Cornhole

Lacrosse Skills Competition - Grand Prize $150
Corn Hole Tournament - Grand Prize $100
1st Community Lacrosse Game of the year
At the Powwow Grounds, 54515 East 65 Rd. Miami, OK

M I A M I

N A T I

N

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meenapiyankwi
Myaamia Publications –Vol. 17, No. 3, Winter 2023-24 – Section C – Community – Noošonke Siipionki Myaamionki

Honoring Diane Hunter, Recently Retired MTO Tribal
Historic Preservation Officer
Logan York

Tribal Historic Preservation Officer
In Diane’s role as Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), the
critical focus of her position was to act as the State Historic Preservation
Officer (SHPO) for Tribal Lands and to consult on tens of thousands of
Section 106 projects on all lands that the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma has
ancestral or cultural ties to.
She also oversaw the Tribal Historic Preservation Office to ensure it
ran efficiently and smoothly. The THPO office identifies and designates
historic properties under the National Historic Preservation Act and the
Tribal Integrated Resource Management Plan and conducts public lectures, panels, and classes. She also had many talks focused internally on
a Myaamia audience for further education. She helped conduct archaeological assessments of historic sites and cultural resource surveys.
I have been very privileged to have been taught by Diane, and like everyone who has had the opportunity to work with her, I am the better for
it. She is incredibly talented and knowledgeable and has opened doors
I never would have thought possible. Between her and the Myaamia
Center, we are on a level of involvement and standing in our traditional
homelands that has not been the same in 200 years or more. Through
her, we have connections to hundreds of institutions, including Federal,
state, and county agencies, many conservation groups, universities, museums, history centers, archaeologists, schools K-12 all over our homelands, fairs, nonprofits, National Parks, National Forests, Departments
of Transportation, SHPO Offices, dozens of state parks and at least one
Mennonite church. She might have even renamed a National Forest in
Ohio. She is also a fantastic writer for both Tribal blogs and websites,
educational signage, curriculum, and even books.
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the THPO office specifically
would be years, if not a decade, behind where they are now if not for
her ceaseless work, talks, lectures, and editing of articles, blogs, signage, websites, and books. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma owes her and
those like her an unpayable debt for the service they have provided us
as a people.

Diane presented with a medal and blanket from Business Committee.
Photo by Karen Baldwin, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (MTO).

Diane recieves the highest MTO national honor. Photo by Karen Baldwin,
MTO.

Letter to citizens of the Miami Tribe
of Oklahoma from Diane Hunter
aya eeweemilakakoki ‘Greetings to all
my relatives’ and citizens of the Miami
Tribe of Oklahoma.
Now that I have retired, I look back on
my years working for our tribe with a grateful heart for the love and support I have
received as a citizen and employee of our
sovereign nation. I have many reasons over
many years to be thankful to all of you.
Mihši neewe to Miami University and
all who established and have served at the
Myaamia Center. Without the Myaamia student scholarship, I might never have known
that our Myaamia people who were removed
to Oklahoma did not, in fact, disappear but
struggled their way to survive and thrive as
the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. (Also, mihši
neewe to my late father Ken Hunter, whom I
doubted when he told me Miami University
had financial aid for Miami students.)
Mihši neewe to all who welcomed me
and made me feel at home and among family during my first visit to Miami in 2011.
Mihši neewe to my son John Bickers for
bringing me to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and for encouraging me to apply for the
Assistant Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) position.
Mihši neewe to those responsible for hiring me as Assistant THPO in 2015, in spite
of my minimal knowledge about the Tribe
and complete lack of knowledge about what
a THPO is or does.
Mihši neewe to so many who helped teach
and train me to do the job of Assistant THPO
and then THPO and for their patience in giving me time and many opportunities to learn.
Mihši neewe to the Business Committee for supplementing the funds from the
THPO grant. This support was especially
needed to enable me to travel for consulta-

tions and to respond to the ever-increasing
requests for presentations and educational
talks about the history of Myaamiaki and
the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma today. I am
also so grateful that you hired Logan York,
so he could be trained as the next THPO. I
leave with complete confidence that he will
carry on the work and open new avenues for
preserving and protecting places of historic
and cultural importance to the Miami Tribe.
Mihši neewe to all those outside our
Tribe whom I’ve worked with over these
years for your cooperative consultation that
enable us to preserve and protect our places
and our ancestors.
Mihši neewe for the kind recognition
and the many well-wishes at Winter Gathering 2024.
Mihši neewe to every Myaamia citizen
who has befriended me and welcomed me
into our Myaamia family. I will always remember the joy of gathering with you in Miami, Oklahoma, or Fort Wayne, Indiana, or
both. In case you do not see yourself in any
of the preceding descriptions, believe me,
you are all part of everything that has happened and that I have done with the Tribe.
Every one of you has supported me in so
many ways and contributed to the work of
the THPO. I cannot thank you enough. My
heart is full when I think of you.
There are so many of you that I cannot
begin to name names. I will make an exception, however, as I remember Sue Strass as
one of the first Myaamia people to befriend
me. Sue, you are always in my heart.
Mihši neewe, eeweemilakakoki. Big
thanks to all my beloved Myaamiaki.
cecaahkohkwa
Diane Hunter, recently retired from her position as
Diane Hunter
the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO).
Photo by Doug Peconge, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.

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Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - Community, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

Introducing nahi meehtohseeniwinki Image

Haley Shea

Myaamia Research Associate
In August 2022, we announced the receipt of a
grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
intended to develop a conceptual understanding
of, and a tool to measure, living well for Myaamiaki. Recently, Stella Beerman of the Myaamia
Center posted an update on that project.
Out of this growing body of work has
emerged a new image, created by Megan Sekulich, that we intend to use within educational
and outreach programming to help Myaamiaki understand what wellness means from a
Myaamia perspective. In this blog post, we will
describe the meaning behind the imagery.

Significance of Imagery

In creating an image that corresponds to the
wellness model, it was important to us that we
capture something that connects to the 3 components of wellness, is recognizably Myaamia,
and has ties to a cultural perspective on wellness. While we went through many drafts, we
ultimately settled the following image.

Sassafras leaves

The three leaves within this image depict
those of the mankiišaahkwi ‘sassafras’ tree,
which we intentionally chose because our community knows it as mankiišaahkwi ‘the medicine bush.’ We chose three leaves to correspond
to the three components of nahi meehtohseeniwinki, which I will go into more depth on in a
future blog post.
Sassafras, specifically, has been purported
to have many health benefits, with the oil from
the sassafras roots being used as aromatics,
stimulants, diaphoretics, diuretics, aseptic and
astringent.[1] The late tribal elder Barbara Mullin told Dr. Michael Gonella (botany consultant
for the Myaamia Center) during a visit in the
early 2000s[2]:
“My grandfather said on the first day of
February that you had to have a cup of sassafras every day through the month of February
and then you would not be ill all year . . . And
he lived to be 93.”
This comment from a late tribal elder points
to the knowledge that moderation is important

The late Barbara Mullin at the Miami Tribe
of Oklahoma’s Annual Gathering General
Council Meeting in 2010. Photo by Hugh Morgan, Miami University (MU)

when using sassafras since large doses can lead
to health complications, including problems
with circulation and breathing.[3] In fact, the
FDA cautions against the use of sassafras as it
contains a chemical compound called safrole,
which the FDA considers a carcinogen and toxic to humans. At the same time, the FDA does
acknowledge that there is limited research on
the plant to make any conclusive claims.[4] Regardless, it is important to remember knowing
the proper ways to cultivate and use this plant
as an extension of myaamia knowledge that has
been passed down through generations.

Central Concepts & the Color Green

in this logo also has a deep historical and
cultural context which we will explain
below.
The myaamia word for
health comes from the stem
pelakii– which means both
‘heal’ and to ‘be in a good
condition.’ We see this
in words like peelakiita
‘s/he is cured, healed’,
aancipelakiita ‘s/he
makes life change,
improvement,’ and
peelakiihenci ‘liberate him/her, make
whole.’ The commonality across these
examples is that health
is a process in which
people are striving for
improvements and making intentional changes to
strive for holistic wellbeing.
The stem pelakii-, when inflected as a noun, is pilakioni and
can be translated as a general notion
of ‘health.’
A second concept that is central to our understanding of wellbeing, in our language is
captured by the stem aweem– which means ‘be Living Well Image, created by Megan Sekulich.
related’ and ‘be grateful.’ We see this concept
in words like eeweemaki ‘I am related to him,’ ated by Julie Olds within the center of the cirnintaweemaakana ‘my fellow tribesman,’ or ee- cle. Together with the sassafras leaves we hope
weenkiita ‘s/he is thankful.’ Across these terms, these two images are identifiably Myaamia in
we recognize that relationships and gratitude the context of our wellness model. We also hope
are embedded in everything we do. After all, we this symbol represents the fact that this entire
often greet one another with aya eeweemilaani notion of wellness is rooted in the community
‘hello my relative.’ When this stem is inflected itself. Without our community, knowledge, and
as a noun, as in aweentioni, it is generally trans- value system, we would struggle to retain our
lated as meaning ‘peace.’ The concepts embed- unique identity as myaamia people and would
ded in both pilakioni ‘health’ and aweentioni not be able to engage with the world around
‘peace’ make up the inseparable and founda- us as a distinct culture. The community and its
tional notion of wellness from a Myaamia cul- health serve as the central unit that unifies this
tural perspective. These two concepts together entire notion of wellness.
form the idea that we, as humans, must always
Be on the lookout for this image across varstrive to achieve nahi meehtohseeniwinki ‘liv- ious programs, educational initiatives, and on
ing properly, well.’
signage moving forward. After all, nahi meeA person who attempts to live out their htohseeniwinki is simply the process of living
lives as a Myaamia person cannot live prop- life in a good and proper way, so it’s part of
erly without the practice of healing or without everything we do as a Myaamia community.
relationship
building and maintenance.
These two concepts of
health and peace are
inextricably linked.
The color green
was historically used
as a symbol of peace
and strengthening relationships within our
community and externally in diplomacy
with other nations.
Many times when we
would declare peace
with other tribal nations, we would present them with something (a blanket or Sign marking Miami Tribe of Oklahoma’s Tribal Headquarters in Mipipe, for example) ami, Oklahoma. The symbol on the right, created by Julie Olds, has
that incorporated the become known as the “Community Symbol.” Photo by Doug Peconge.
color green on it to
symbolize peace and maintenance of the rela[1] Coulter, S. (1932). Pharmacology of the
tionship. In one recounting of a speech given medicinal agents in common use. Indianapolis,
by a Myaamia leader in order to make peace Indiana.
with another community, we presented a beaver
[2] Gonella, M.P (2003-2006). Field Notes.
blanket with a green circle in the middle along
[3] Coulter, S. (1932). Pharmacology of the
with the following translated statement,
medicinal agents in common use. Indianapolis,
“Brothers: We perceive that your country is Indiana.
all smooth and clear like this blanket, and that
[4] Ajmera, R. (2019, May 3). Sassafras tea:
your hearts are good, and the dwellings of your Health benefits and side effects. Healthline.
governors are like this green painted spot in https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sassathe middle of the blanket, which represents the fras-tea-benefits#benefits&nbsp.
Spring in its bloom.” [Gave the beaver blan[5] William Trent, Journal of Captain Wilket.]
liam Trent from Logstown to Pickawillany,
We continue the tradition of using color and A.D. 1752., ed. Alfred Thomas Goodman (Cinimages to express ourselves and have chosen cinnati: W. Dodge, 1871), 96.
the color green as the circular outline of the im- Originally published on Aacimotaatiiyankwi,
age with the sassafras leaves to represent the the Myaamia Community Blog, Nov 28, 2023,
interconnected notions of health and peace/re- https://aacimotaatiiyankwi.org/2023/11/28/introduclatedness.
ing-nahi-meehtoseeniwinki-image/.

Understanding wellness in the context of
Myaamia language and culture requires an understanding of two central components that Community Symbol
serve as foundational concepts for Myaamia
Finally, we decided to use a face inspired by
wellness. Additionally, the color green used the community symbol that was originally cre-

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - Community, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

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Components of the Living Well Model
Haley Shea

Values

The second component of nahi meehtohseeniwinki is our community
value system. There are eight values that guide what we deem important
Understanding the Myaamia concept of living well requires knowledge as a community and which guide both our worldview and our behaviors.
of two tenets that form the foundation of a life lived well. It could be gen- If you’re anything like me, there are things you do that you don’t know
eralized that most humans, regardless of cultural upbringing, are driven or why you do them, you just know they are there in your life. Looking at this
motivated to seek a good life, which we will refer to in this context as nahi value system, I am now able to describe the “why” behind some of these
meehtohseeniwinki. This term more directly translates for us as ‘to live a behaviors. Here are the eight values that have been formally articulated
and implemented within our educational curriculum:
proper human life.’
1. neepwaahkaayankwi ‘we are wise, conThe two tenets that form the basis of nahi
scious, aware’: A drive to understand
meehtohseeniwinki ‘living well’are pilakithings and gain knowledge/awareness of
oni ‘health’ and aweentioni ‘peace.’ You can
the way the world works.
read more about this on page 2C.
2. eeyaakwaamisiyankwi ‘we strive for
It is likely these broader concepts of health
(something)’: Striving to work towards
and peace, or more specifically improving
goal(s) in life.
one’s condition and seeking beneficial rela3. eeweentiiyankwi ‘we are related to each
tionships, are common across many cultures
other’: Value in the interconnectedness
and form the basis of a more general human
among the tribal community and recogniexperience. Although we may share these
tion of our relationships and responsibility
foundational ideas with other human groups,
to one another.
how they get expressed can differ depending
4. peehkinaakosiyankwi ‘we are generous,
on the cultural attributes of the group. This is
kind’: Treating others with generosity and
important to remember because underneath Myaamia community members gathering to play lakindness as these individual acts impact
our cultural differences lies a layer of human crosse at the 2022 Fall Gathering in kiihkayonki, Fort
the entire tribal community.
need that we all share and strive to maintain. Wayne, IN. Photo by Jonathan Fox, Myaamia Center (MC).
5. aahkohkeelintiiyankwi ‘we care for each
Furthermore, the notion of living well,
other’: Thinking about others and caring
as realized through our individual lives, can
for the needs of our kin, particularly elders
be influenced by many variables, due to the
and youth.
many experiences and interpretations that
6. neehweeyankwi ‘we speak well’: Speaking
have been imposed on us by external sources
in ways that bring pride to the community.
and cultures. What each person’s daily ex7. paahpilweeyankwi ‘we joke, are humorpression of wellness looks like is impacted
ous’: Use of humor for many purposes inby different social, geographical, and percluding entertainment, to break tension, or
sonal factors. What unites us as a Myaamia
to cope with difficulties.
community is our shared identity. This par8. aahkwaapawaayankwi
‘we
dream’:
ticular model is intended to represent the
Dreaming about our future both metaphorfeatures of that shared identity that enables
ically in identifying our hopes for the fuMyaamiaki to continue striving for a proper
ture, and literally through fasting and seekhuman life. The features of this identity sys- Storytellers at the 2024 Winter Gathering depicting
ing visions.
tem have been maintained throughout gener- a humorous scene from one of the stories told that
These stated values are often subtly exations and are identifiably and specific to a evening. Photo by Jonathan Fox, MC.
pressed in our behavior and expressions toMyaamia way of being. Please see these priwards one another. For example, at every comor blog posts for some additional background
munity event, we ask that elders and guests
on how this model was created: (Grant Anbe the first to eat. This communal formality
nouncement, Wellness Metaphors, and Livwas passed to us from past generations and is
ing Well Image).
a manifestation of the value that ‘we care for
Expression of Nahi
each other.’ Serving food is an expression of
Meehtohseeniwinki
generosity and an important way of caring for
There are three expressive components
others, in this case, upon elders and guests.
that contribute to and strengthen a Myaamia
sense of identity. Together, these three comIntentional Interactions
ponents of expression further define nahi
The third component of nahi meehtohseenmeehtohseeniwinki ‘living well.’ These iniwinki includes the intentional interactions
clude Myaamia knowledge competencies,
between a person’s being or spirit and various
community values, and intentional inter- CREO staff tapping maple trees in kiihkayonki ‘Fort components of life. We all possess a soul sepactions. For the purposes of this model, we Wayne, Indiana’ to process for maple syrup. This de- arate from our physical form that is the source
tease apart these three components as sepa- picts an example of the intentional interaction with of our individual identity, and kicihciikamerate definable features but note that they are myaamionki ‘myaamia places.’ Photo by Doug Pe- naanaki ‘our living souls’ guide our intentional
all interconnected to form a complete and conge, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (MTO).
and conscious interactions within each of the
complex Myaamia experience.
following five domains.
1. awiiyoome ‘body’: The strength and health of our physical body influKnowledge Competencies
ences the way we engage with others and can form the basis of healthy
First are the knowledge competencies. We present these first as they
behaviors and a long life.
are the foundation for the other two components of nahi meehtohseeniwinki. The process of knowledge acquisition begins at birth and continues 2. mihtohseeniaki ‘the people’: This social realm includes our interaction
with social networks we are born into, help sustain, and include new rethroughout our entire life. Most often we gather information about the
lationships that emerge throughout our life.
world we live in through our environment. More specifically, we identify
five domains of knowledge that are needed to realize a strong Myaamia 3. manetawioni ‘spirit’: This spiritual realm includes our interaction with,
and understanding of, the metaphysical world which can include things
identity.
we cannot know.
1. Akimaayoni “Civic Knowledge”: A basic understanding of the civic
nature of the tribal nation. This includes knowledge of the tribal con- 4. išiteehioni ‘thought’: This mental realm includes our cognitive experiences of engaging with our surroundings and includes one’s mental
stitution, government, and all matters regarding their citizenship in a
capacity, emotion, and intellect.
sovereign-dependent nation within the United States borders.
2. Nakaaniaki “Ancestral/Historical Knowledge”: The knowledge of 5. Myaamionki ‘Myaamia places’: This realm includes knowledge of, interaction with, and reciprocity within our tribal homelands and the placone’s ancestral line and related history.
es we live out our lives as individuals and community.
3. Myaamiaataweenki “Language competence”: A level of proficiency
These intentional interactions are most often thought of as health or
in Myaamiaataweenki or ‘Miami language,’ which is necessary to reinforce our identity and critical in expressing cultural information and wellness, but in isolation (without Myaamia knowledge and values) are void
of a Myaamia cultural context. Our work in revitalization serves to bring
knowledge.
4. Myaamia Nipwaayoni “Cultural competence”: Individual cultural these important attributes back into our lives. These values and knowledge
knowledge that can take many forms including (but not limited to) provide the context and understanding of how an individual is able to take
dancing, singing, art, games, storytelling, clothing, and food harvest- care of their body, social being, or their homelands. Those are the foundation
ing. This is passed down through families, engagement with commu- upon which we are able to interact with these five domains.
Note that this entire model represents our current understanding of our
nity, participation in educational programs, or personal/self-directed
lived experiences as Myaamia people as it pertains to our every-human need
study.
5. Ašiihkiwi kiišikwi “Ecological Competence”: Understanding of the to improve our condition and remain a people over time. We realize that
landscape(s) we inhabit as well as our relationship and responsibility knowledge, time and experience change the way we think and behave. Therefore, a concept such as wellness will continue evolving as our community’s
to all other inhabitants we share our landscape with.
It is not expected that an individual will ever possess all knowledge needs and lived experience change. We expect to incorporate these compothat can be gained from each of these five domains. Rather, each of us is nents both formally and informally throughout future educational programs. It
on a journey of lifelong learning, seeking to understand as much as we can is our hope that you will continue to engage with us and ask questions about
about the world based on our individualized interests and our families’ nahi meehtohseeniwinki in order that our perspective will continue to evolve.
needs, and taking opportunities to express this learning in a community Originally published on Aacimotaatiiyankwi, the Myaamia Commucontext. Therefore, these domains can serve as a starting point to help you nity Blog, Feb 7, 2024, https://aacimotaatiiyankwi.org/2024/02/07/compoon your journey of learning and sharing as a Myaamia person.
nents-of-the-living-well-model/
Myaamia Research Associate

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Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - Community, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

Families Enjoy Storytelling &
Feasting to Celebrate New Year in
kiihkayonki
Staff Article
Cultural Resources Extension Office
Celebrating lunar new year is one of the most
popular events in the kiihkayonki community.
This year, myaamiaki from as far as Ann Arbor, Mich. and Cincinnati, Ohio traveled to Fort
Wayne, Ind. to attend. Not only is it the first event
of the season here, but it is also one of the few
opportunities to hear our winter stories in person
and in our language. After mingling and feasting,
the focus becomes storytelling, myaamia-inspired
crafts, and traditional games.
Community Food Program Director Dani Tippmann guided the process of prepping seeds for
spring planting. Aspiring gardeners took home
their potted cabbage, tomato, and pepper seeds to
be nurtured for planting after the last frost.
Celebrating the New Year in kiihkayonki
Those seeking faster harvest gratification with the tribal community. Photo by Johnathan
could visit the nut cracking station. Here is the Fox, Myaamia Center (MC).
excuse to make a bit of a
mess while experiencing
the satisfying crunch of
breaking the shells! Pecan and hickory nuts were
gathered on MTO properties in Oklahoma and Indiana last fall for community
sharing.
With bellies full of
good food and hearts full
of good company, families
settled in to experience
traditional winter stories.
The skill of guest storytellers from the Myaamia
Center brings fresh life
into our traditional stories
each time they are told. Community members playing seenseewinki ‘bowl game.’ Photo by
Both newly learned and Jonathan Fox, MC.
established favorite stories were presented. Mihši
neewe ‘big thanks’ to the
center staff who made our
celebration more special
by treating the community
to these treasures from our
myaamia heritage!
While some continued
to visit after storytelling
and begin their long midwestern goodbyes, others
tried their skill by entering
the seenseewinki ‘bowl
game’ tournament. Lucky
winners were awarded gifts
decorated with Myaamia
and other Indigenous designs.
Pecan and hickory shelling station with nuts from tribal properParticipation at this ties in Oklahoma and Indiana. Photo by Jonathan Fox, MC.
event reflects growing enthusiasm for community
and culture in this area of
myaamionki. CREO staff
are dedicated to meeting that need by enriching the experience of our
land, our culture, and each
other when we gather as
myaamiaki, Miami People.
Families are encouraged to
join us for summer fun at
peehkahkionki ‘the beautiful place’ on the tribe’s
Fort Wayne property.
Please keep your contact
information current with
tribal headquarters to ensure you are notified of up- Winter storytelling to celebrate the new year. Photo by Jonathan Fox,
coming cultural events!
MC.

KEEP UP-TO-DATE BY FOLLOWING US
ON FACEBOOK AT
MIAMI NATION EVENTS

peenaalinta
‘One who is born’
Laylyn Rose
Williams
December 29,
2023

Laylyn Rose
Williams was born
on December 29,
2023, at 12:32pm
at Integris Miami,
OK.She weighed
8lbs & 12 oz and
was 21 ½ “ long. Laylyn’s parents are
Wade Williams (Miami Tribal member)
and Kaitlyn Luttrell. Her paternal grandparents are Jeff and Stacy Williams (Miami Tribal member). Her maternal grandparents are Greg and Kira Luttrell.

Gabriel Alexander Voltz
Bickers
August 9, 2023

Tribal member John Bickers
and his wife Noel
Voltz are proud to
announce the birth
of their son Gabriel Alexander Voltz
Bickers. Gabe was born in Cleveland,
Ohio, weighing 7lbs 8oz and 19.25 inches
long. His paternal grandparents are tribal
member Diane Hunter and Patrick Bickers.
His maternal grandparents are David L.
Miller II, Carol Miller, and Margo Voltz.
His great-grandparents are David L. Miller
I and Theresa Miller.

S U B M IT
O B IT U A R IE S ,
B IR T H S ,
M A R R IAG E S ,
G R A D U AT IO N S
& OT H E R H O
RS
A N N O U N C E MNEO
NTS
SUBMIT
Photo resolution: 30
0 dpi
Minimum size: 3” x
3”
Formats: tif, jpg, pd
f, psd
Tribal members and their family
members are encouraged to submit
detailed text and a color or B&W
photo to newspaper staff at:
mtonewspaper@miamination.com

Myaamia Makerspace
keešhtooyankwi 'we make it'

Aatotankiki Myaamiaki - Community, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2023-24

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wiiyaakiteeheelo weehki-kihkatwe ‘Happy New Year!’
Staff Article
Cultural Resources Office
On February 17th, around 70 myaamiaki ‘Miami people’ gathered
at the council house in noošonke siipionki ‘Miami, Oklahoma’ to celebrate weehki-kihkatwe ‘the New Year.’ For us, as a lunar calendar
culture, this marks the beginning of a new cycle of ecologically named
months, which we call kiilhsooki ‘moons.’ This was the 7th day of
mahkoonsa kiilhswa ‘Young Bear Moon’, our first moon of the year
and typically the last moon of peepoonki ‘winter’ before we enter the
transitional period of meeloohkamiki ‘spring.’
As we enjoyed pizza and a salad bar, we learned about our lunar
calendar and the ecological connections associated with each moon
phase. This helps us understand the relationships between myaamiaki,
the environment, and all the inhabitants with whom we share the landscape. We discussed how certain observations lead to specific cultural
actions. For instance, when we hear the call of wiihkoowia ‘whippoorwill’ during wiihkoowia kiilhswa ‘Whippoorwill Moon’ and see their
nests on the ground, we know it is safe to plant seeds, such as miincipi ‘corn.’ And when we see kiišiinkwia ‘ironweed’ blooming during
kiišiinkwia kiilhswa ‘Green Corn Moon’, we know that corn will be
in its green stage and may need to be protected from feeding animals.
After dinner, we got to enjoy a live band and earn tickets for the
prize table by playing myaamia games and using myaamiaataweenki
‘the myaamia language.’ The prize table, which has become a constant
and popular fixture at events, was filled with fun goodies for all ages.
Among the games played were mahkisina meehkintiinki ‘the moccasin
game’, and seenseewinki ‘the plum stone/bowl game.’ This year, we
introduced a scavenger hunt bingo game where attendees were rewarded with stamps on their cards for expanding their cultural knowledge,
such as learning about the treaty signatures above the entry doors, as
well as for their community interaction. In addition, we enjoyed gloLED mini golf, glo-LED shuffleboard, glo-Skee-Ball, and a virtual
reality roller coaster.
With the help from the Myaamia Makerspace, we had fun doing
activities, such as making single-strand bead bracelets and buttons
using myaamiataweenki, as well as designing ribbonwork-inspired
bookmarks. The partnership with the Maker Space also allowed us to
create and launch a new interactive game created to teach the names
and order of the myaamia moons. We also enjoyed information tables
teaching us about the sugaring process from black walnut trees and the
publication of our new book, myaamia kiilhsooki: Myaamia Moons,
Seasons, & Years, which was just recently mailed to each Tribal household.
Mihši neewe ‘big thanks’ to all the staff and tribal members that
made this event a success! We hope to see you all next year!
Join us April 20th for, peekitahamankwi: Lacrosse Fest! More information is coming to the MYAAMIAKI F

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Amiami_oklahoma%3A1c8ca52c8c44225c. Public record. Not legal advice.