Who Are the Potawatomi?
The Potawatomi are an Algonquian-speaking people of the Great Lakes, now numbering over 35,000 enrolled members across nine federally recognized tribes in the United States and several communities in Canada. Their name, "Bodéwadmi," means "Keepers of the Fire"—referring to their role maintaining the sacred council fire of the Three Fires Confederacy (with Ojibwe and Odawa). They speak Potawatomi, an Algonquian language with fewer than 50 fluent speakers. Originally centered around Lake Michigan, the Potawatomi were forced into multiple removal episodes, scattering them across Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and beyond.
Three Fires Confederacy
The Potawatomi formed part of the Council of Three Fires with the Ojibwe and Odawa—a political and cultural alliance of related Algonquian peoples. The Potawatomi held the position of "Keepers of the Fire," maintaining the council fire that symbolized alliance unity. This confederacy dominated the western Great Lakes for centuries, coordinating diplomacy and defense. The Potawatomi specialized as middlemen in trade networks; their strategic position at the southern end of Lake Michigan made them crucial intermediaries. European colonization fragmented the confederacy, but cultural connections persist among the three nations.
Potawatomi Trail of Death
The 1838 Potawatomi Trail of Death exemplifies forced removal's brutality. Indiana Potawatomi were forcibly marched 660 miles to Kansas at gunpoint. Children, elderly, and sick died along the way; at least 40 perished during the two-month march. Those who reached Kansas faced more displacement—eventual removal to Oklahoma for some. Other Potawatomi scattered: some fled to Canada, some hid in Michigan and Wisconsin, others accepted small reservations. This diaspora created the present situation of multiple separated tribes, each navigating federal recognition and community survival independently.
Contemporary Potawatomi
Modern Potawatomi tribes vary widely. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation (Oklahoma, ~38,000 members) is one of the largest tribes in the US, operating major enterprises. The Prairie Band Potawatomi (Kansas) maintains traditional practices. Forest County Potawatomi (Wisconsin) operates gaming in Milwaukee. Other groups in Michigan, Kansas, and Indiana pursue various paths. Language revitalization, coordinated across tribes, works to save critically endangered Potawatomi; online resources and immersion programs serve dispersed communities. Annual gatherings bring separated bands together. How these scattered communities maintain shared identity while building separate institutions shapes the Keepers of the Fire's future.
References
- Clifton, J. A. (1977). The Prairie People: Continuity and Change in Potawatomi Indian Culture, 1665-1965
- Edmunds, R. D. (1978). The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire
- McDonald, J. (2016). A Cultural History of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians