2023 Fall Newsletter

Museum Presentation Paid Respect to The Miami Tribe The November event honored Native American Heritage Month and was presented by Miami County native and the current Miami Nation Princess, Shannera McCoy, and volunteer museum staff member, Jeanne Dagenet. Together they presented information which served to respect, recognize and remember the tribe for which our county is named. The Miami tribe arrived in what is now Miami County 177 years ago. They were one of several tribes referred to as the "emigrant" tribes that were removed from their Indiana sacred lands along the Wabash River and relocat ed to eastern Kansas to make room for the westward expansion of white settlers. History has it that the Miami people sang their death songs the day soldiers showed up with guns and bayonets. On November 4, 1846, the group of 325 people arrived at Westport Landing (in current day Kansas City, Missou ri) and then traveled to the Miami camp along Little Sugar Creek in eastern Kansas. Topics covered included the life of the Miami people before the removal, the 1830 removal act, the 1846 remov al, a second removal to Oklahoma in 1867 and the current Miami Nation of Oklahoma. Shannera McCoy then discussed the revitalization of the tribe which today numbers over 7,000 people. Shannera shared a few words of the melodic Miami language with attendees and drew much interest in the discussion of historical customs and traditions.

Shannera shared with the group examples of native Myaami traditional art forms such as Ribbon work, like what is shown on her pants and bead work on her moccasins and head dress. She had a basket that was made from tree bark and a very small basket that hung around the neck and was used to carry small objects

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