“Movement” discusses the physical movement of the Eastern Shawnee people, including the topics of removal and land allotment.
Chapter 1: A Patriot Defamed: Captain Lewis, Shawnee Chief – R. David Edmunds, Watson Professor of American History, University of Texas at Dallas
Captain John Lewis is described in this chapter as an honorable but tragic figure who was fiercely loyal the U.S. government as well as his people’s best interest. Born in approximately 1760, Lewis was an adolescent during the time of the American Revolution and witness to significant events that changed the Eastern Shawnee tribe for centuries. This chapter follows Lewis’ life, leadership, and eventual removal from Ohio in 1825 when he and two hundred fifty-five Shawnee headed west. He was the last and first chief of the Eastern Shawnee – the last chief in Ohio and the first chief post-removal.
Chapter 2: From Ohio to Oklahoma and Beyond: The Long Removal of the Lewistown Shawnees – Amy Diane Bergseth, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of History, University of Oklahoma
This chapter gives deeper insight into the causes and “messiness” of Indian Removal. From the 1790s to the conclusion of the War of 1812, a “civilization program” was in place to effectually assimilate the native population into the white republic. Ohio’s non-Indian population more than tripled from 230,000 in 1810 to 940,000 in 1830. In May of 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act making removal a priority to make room for incoming white settlers. In the 1830s and 1840s, over 80,000 Indians were forced to relocate west of the Mississippi River. This “massive program of forced relocation” divided many of the Indian nations as mobility was a long process and lasted decades. The author states that Native peoples were not just victims in this process. Many found ways to defend themselves and their rights. Consequently, “the history of the Indian Removal is therefore not only about loss and suffering but also about survival, adaptation, and creation.”
Chapter 3: Divided Lands and Dispersed People: Allotment and the Eastern Shawnees from the 1870s to the 1920s – John P. Bowes, Associate Professor, Department of History, Eastern Kentucky University
This chapter takes a closer look at the effects that removal and allotment policies had on the Eastern Shawnee as a community. The period between 1870 and 1920 was extremely transformational. Due in large part to the processes of federal allotment policies, much land was lost. Bowes explores how the Dawes Act divided reserved lands, and also how leasing and allotment “ended up dispersing the Eastern Shawnee people.”
Chapter 10: Eastern Shawnee Migration: Cultural Changes and Disconnection Following the Move to the Pacific Northwest – Cathleen (Cat) Osborne-Gowey, Instructor at Utah State University and Oregon State University
This chapter explores the effects that movement continues to have on the descendants of those who had to leave their tribal communities in order to survive. Osbourne-Gowey shows how the physical disconnection from these communities did cultural damage as they were encouraged to move away from communal living and to assimilate for survival.