Indigenous Peoples of

Illinois and their Forced

Removal
Holly Vice
 History of Indigenous Peoples in Illinois
● Remains indicate that humans first traveled into the area about 10,000 years ago
● The earliest nomads were followed by Archaic Indians, who lived in the area ~5000 years
● Based on remains, historians can identify the Mound Builders that lived in the area
○ Ex: Briscoe Mounds in Channahon, IL
● By the time of European arrival, the Indigenous Peoples were thriving, growing the three sisters:
corn, beans, and squash
“Why will you take by force what
you may have quietly by love?”

— Powhatan in a plea to
John Smith (Zinn, 13)
 Indigenous Tribes Living Side by
Side
● The Miami lived with Ottawa, Chippewa, Sauk, Crows, Blackfeet, Fox, etc.
● The Miami were pushed out of the area by the Potawatomi during the 1700s
● The Potawatomi, Chippewa, and Ottawa had an alliance and lived here until the
1830s
 Indigenous
Peoples in
Chicago

Learn about the first people

that occupied Chicago!
 John Winthrop claimed that
Indigenous Peoples hadn’t
“subdued” the land, so they only had
a “natural” right, not a “civil” right.
 Forced Removal
● Indian Removal Act of 1830
○ Peaceful removal vs. resistance
○ Sauk, Fox, and the Black Hawk War

● Treaty of Chicago, 1833

○ Chippewa Odawa and Potawatomi

● Potawatomi Trail of Death, 1838

“So Columbus and his successors
were not coming into an empty
wilderness, but into a world
which in some places was as
densely populated as Europe
itself, where the culture was
complex, where human relations
were more egalitarian than in
Europe, and where the relations
among men, women, children,
and nature were more beautifully
worked out than perhaps any
place in the world.” (Zinn, 21)
 What
is“Home”
● Can be thought of in many ways
○ “Home is where the heart is”, etc.
● Unhomeliness
○ “A place full of strangers, which infiltrate our
space of safety and comfort.”
● Homing in an unfamiliar world

Handout:
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFT2B75X4o/1eLmxyN5D1CJBuZuSx_N5g/view?utm_content=DAFT2B75X4o&utm_campaign=
designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink
 Sources
● Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper, 2009.
● Krutka, Daniel G, Annie McMahon Whitlock, and Mark Helmsing. Keywords in the Social Studies. New York:
Peter Lang Publishing, 2018.
● “Native American Tribes & the Indian History in Minooka, Illinois.” American Indian COC, May 17, 2019.
https://americanindiancoc.org/native-american-tribes-the-indian-history-in-minooka-illinois/.
● Houchens, Michele. “Residents/Community.” Village of Minooka. Accessed December 4, 2022.
https://minooka.com/residents/#:~:text=A%20History%20of%20Minooka%2C%20Illinois&text=Until
%201852%2C%20the%20site%20of,area%20to%20stay%20in%201833.
● Bassett, Tom. “Campus Land Acknowledgement Statements Recognize Native Land History.” Department of
Geography and Geographic Information Science. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, November 5, 2018.
https://ggis.illinois.edu/news/2018-11-05/campus-land-acknowledgement-statements-recognize-native-land-
history#:~:text=The%20dispossession%20of%20Native%20peoples,Black%20Hawk%20War%20of%201832.