Indigenous Appalachia Library Exhibits

Fall 2022

The Shawnee
Sally Brown
West Virginia University, sally.brown1@mail.wvu.edu

Joe Stahlman
University of Buffalo, joestahl@buffalo.edu

Bonnie M. Brown
West Virginia University, BonnieM.Brown@mail.wvu.edu

Beth Toren
West Virginia University, beth.toren@mail.wvu.edu

Michael Sherwin
West Virginia University, Michael.Sherwin@mail.wvu.edu

See next page for additional authors

Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/indigenous-exhibit

Recommended Citation
Brown, Sally; Stahlman, Joe; Brown, Bonnie M.; Toren, Beth; Sherwin, Michael; Anderson, Richard; and
Zafar, Maryam Marne, "The Shawnee" (2022). Indigenous Appalachia. 22.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/indigenous-exhibit/22

This Other is brought to you for free and open access by the Library Exhibits at The Research Repository @ WVU. It
has been accepted for inclusion in Indigenous Appalachia by an authorized administrator of The Research
Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact beau.smith@mail.wvu.edu.
Authors
Sally Brown, Joe Stahlman, Bonnie M. Brown, Beth Toren, Michael Sherwin, Richard Anderson, and
Maryam Marne Zafar

This other is available at The Research Repository @ WVU: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/indigenous-exhibit/22

INDIGENOUS
APPALACHIA
The Shawnee
“The Shawnee ancestral, pre-contact homeland is the greater middle Ohio River Valley region, which stretches
through large portions of modern Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Despite forced removal
and marginalization from the region, the Shawnee Tribe maintains strong ties to this land dotted with Shawnee settle-
ments, sacred sites, and burial grounds.
The Shawnee Tribe fought to maintain their independence and homelands despite periods of genocide through warfare and disease at the hands
of French, Spanish, British and Americans. The Shawnee were regularly forced to relocate their settlements beyond the ever-expanding boundary
of colonial-controlled lands. Thus, the Shawnee are often referred to as the “Greatest Travelers in America,” having established historic
settlements in more than 20 modern states, with the highest concentration in or near their ancestral homelands of the greater Ohio River region.

Forced removals due to United States policies and Treaties resulted in the Shawnee People being fractured into three independent sovereign
Shawnee Communities: the Shawnee Tribe, Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. Each
of these Shawnee tribes are federally recognized with headquarters within the borders of the State of Oklahoma. The citizens of these three
Shawnee communities comprise all saawanooki (Shawnee People) in existence today.”

Text prepared by The Shawnee Tribe Cultural and Historical Preservation Committee

TOP, Left to Right:

Portrait of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh based
on sketch by Benson John Lossing, 1808,
and engraving by Pierre le Dru, 1868.
Watercolor on platinum print attributed to
Owen Staples, 1915.
Silver Dollar Coin issued 2002 by the
Sovereign Nation of the Shawnee Tribe.
Photo, courtesy of U.S. Mint.
The Shawnee Tribe Cultural Center
Young Shawnee men in traditional dress

BOTTOM, Left to Right:

The Shawnee Tribe Cultural Center,
Inside Visitor Entrance.
Survey Map showing location of three Shawnee
reservations: Wapakoneta, Hog Creek, and
Lewistown, 1817. Library of Congress

CLICK to learn more of each of the Shawnee:

www.shawnee-nsn.gov/ www.spthb.org www.astribe.com