Sauk people
The Sauk or Sac are a group of
History
Early history
The Sauk, an
The neighboring
Some Ojibwe oral histories also place the Sauk in the Saginaw Valley some time before the arrival of Europeans.[2][3] Sauk traditions state that the tribe occupied the vicinity of Saginaw river. (In this tradition, the name 'Saginaw' comes from the Ojibwe "O-Sauk-e-non," meaning "land of the Sauks" or "where the Sauks were.") Approximately from the years 1638 to 1640, it is believed that a fierce battle ensued, nearly annihilating the entire Sauk Tribe. According to the legend, the Ojibwe inhabited the lands north of the Saginaw Bay, and the harsher northern climate caused more difficulty in prosperity compared to that of the Sauk occupying the area of Saginaw Valley. The Ojibwe allied with the Ottawa, who resided south of the Sauk, and sprung a series of attacks on the Sauk, which practically decimated their people. One such attack, the Battle of Skull Island, occurred on a peninsula in the Saginaw river, which became afterwards known as Skull Island. (Its name came from the many skulls and bones supposedly found in mounds on that island over the years.) [4] In this battle, it is said that the Sauk had used their boats to cross part of the river, escape to the island, and were temporarily free from their attackers. But when morning came, ice had solidified the river enough for the Ojibwe to cross. They killed every member of the Sauk tribe who had fled to that island besides twelve women whom they later sent west of the Mississippi River.[2]
But later Europeans may have mistakenly recorded the Sauk as once dwelling at this location near Lake Huron. There is little archaeological evidence that the Sauk lived in the Saginaw area.[5] In the early 17th century, when natives told French explorer Samuel de Champlain that the Sauk nation was located on the west shore of Lake Michigan, Champlain mistakenly placed them on the western shore of Lake Huron. This mistake was copied on subsequent maps, and future references identified this as the place of the Sauk. Champlain never visited what is now Michigan.[5]
Anishinaabe expansion and the Huron attempting to gain regional stability drove the Sac out of their territory. The Huron were armed with guns supplied by their French trading partners. The Sac moved south to territory in parts of what are now northern Illinois and Wisconsin. In the seventeenth century the Sauk also maintained close relations with the Potawatomi (Pehkînenîha or Shîshîpêhinenîha). This relation has been found by borrowings of Sauk vocabulary that appear in the Potawatomi language.
In a loose coalition of tribes – including
Later they moved out on the prairie (Mashkotêwi) along the Mississippi and adopted the semi-sedentary lifestyle of Plains Indians (Mashkotêwineniwa). In addition to hunting buffalo, they lived in villages, raised crops, and actively traded with other tribes. The Sauk and allied eastern tribes had to compete with tribes who already occupied this territory. Disputes and clashes arose with the Dakota, Pawnee (Pânîha) and, most of all, the powerful Osage (Washâsha).
The Sauk had good relations with the English (Thâkanâsha) through trading. At first, the Sauk had good relations with New France too, until their alliance with the Meskwaki (Fox) made them short-term enemies of the French (Mêmehtekôshîha, Wêmehtekôshîha).
A closely allied tribe, the
Having failed to receive expected supplies from the Americans on credit, Black Hawk wanted to fight, saying his people were "forced into war by being deceived".[6] Led by Black Hawk in 1832, the mainly Sac band resisted the continued loss of lands (in western Illinois, this time.) Their warfare with United States forces resulted in defeat at the hands of General Edmund P. Gaines in the Black Hawk War.
From 1832 to 1837, debt and poverty were tools used to coerce the Sauk and Meskwaki to relocate three times following successive cessions of territory. The population of the two tribes living in Iowa was halved in the twelve years from 1833 to 1845.[7]
Oklahoma history
About this time, one group of Sac moved into Missouri, and later to Kansas and Nebraska. In 1869, after the Civil War, the United States forced the larger group of Sac to move into
The land currently occupied by the Sauk is only a section of what used to be the Sac and Fox Reservation during the time of 1867–1891. This reservation was established by the U.S. and spanned 480,000 acres. In 1887, however, the Dawes Act failed to recognize Native American culture by dividing the reservation into small allotments designated for individual households. The remainder of land not allotted to the Sac and Fox was then sold to non-Native settlers in an attempt to gain Oklahoma statehood and the full assimilation of its Native American population. By 1889, 519 of the tribe were located in Indian Territory, what is now central Oklahoma. On June 10, 1890, they ceded these Indian Territory lands to the federal government.[8]
Treaties with U.S.
Many of the latter treaties listed have little to no information regarding their details, besides the date. In total, twenty two treaties were signed from 1789 to, more than a century later, 1891.
- Treaty of Fort Harmar
- Treaty of Greenville
- Treaty of St. Louis (1804)
- Treaty of Portage des Sioux
- Treaty of St. Louis (1816)
- Treaty of St. Louis (1822)
- Treaty of Washington
- First Treaty of Prairie du Chien
- Fourth Treaty of Prairie du Chien
- 1832 Treaty
- September 27, 1836 Treaty
- September 28, 1836 Treaty
- September 28, 1836 Treaty
- 1837 Treaty
- 1837 Treaty
- 1842 Treaty
- 1854 Treaty (Missouri Sac and Fox)
- 1859 Treaty
- 1861 Treaty (Iowa Sac and Fox)
- Feb 18th, 1867
- June 10, 1872 "Act of Congress" (Missouri Sac and Fox)
- Feb 13th, 1891 "Act of Congress"
Clan system
The Sauk and Fox peoples were divided into two moieties or "divisions", which in turn were subdivided into Patri-lineages and Clans as local subgroups (segments).
The moieties were known as the Kishko/Ki-sko-ha/Kîshkôha (male: Kîshkôha, female: Kîshkôhkwêha) ("the long-haired") and as the Oskush/Askasa/Shkasha (male: Shkasha/Oshkashîwiwa, female: Shkashîhkwêwa/Oshkashîhkwêwiwa) ("the brave"). The two moieties were each symbolized by two colors: The Askasa/Shkasha painted their faces and partly their bodies with charcoal in mahkatêwâwi (black) and the Ki-sko-ha/Kîshkôha painted their bodies with white clay in wâpeshkyâwi (white). This duality was also celebrated by the two moieties in Lacrosse, which was often played extremely brutally to toughen young warriors for combat, for recreation, as part of festivals, and used as preparation for imminent wars or raids.[citation needed]
This division has survived to the present day, but is now more related to the political system of the United States: the supporters of the Democratic Party are associated with the Kîshkôha/Kîshkôhkwêha, while the supporters of the Republican Party are associated with the Shkasha/Shkashîhkwêwa.
Originally, the Sauk had a
Saukenuk or Saukietown (today: Black Hawk State Historic Site) near the mouth of the Rock River (Sinnissippi – "rocky waters") into the Mississippi (Mäse'sibowi – "great river"),[10] the most important Sauk settlement in the 18th and 19th centuries with about 4,000 inhabitants, was divided into 12 districts, which were assigned to the respective clans.
The tribe was governed by a council of sacred clan chiefs, a war chief, the head of families, and the warriors. Chiefs were recognized in three categories: civil, war, and ceremonial. Only the civil chiefs were hereditary. The other two chiefs were recognized by bands after they demonstrated their ability or spiritual power.
This traditional manner of selecting historic clan chiefs and governance was replaced in the 19th century by the United States appointing leaders through their agents at the Sac and Fox Agency, or reservation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In the 20th century, the tribe adopted a constitutional government patterned after the United States form. They elect their chiefs.[11]
Federally recognized tribes
Today, the
- Meskwaki: Othâkîwaki, meaning: "People of the yellow earth"), headquartered in Stroud, Oklahoma;
- Meskwaki: Meshkwahkîhaki, meaning: "People of the red earth"), headquartered in Tama, Iowa; and
Language
Sauk | |
---|---|
Algic
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | sac |
Glottolog | mesk1242 Meskwakisacc1239 Sac |
Sauk is a dialect of the
In their own language, the Sauk at one time called themselves asakiwaki [a-'sak-i-wa-ki], "people of the outlet".[14] The Sauk people have a syllabic orthography for their language. They published a Primer Book in 1975,[15] based on a "traditional" syllabary that existed in 1906. It is intended to help modern-day Sauk to learn to write and speak their ancestral tongue. A newer orthography was proposed around 1994 to aid in language revival. The former syllabary was aimed at remaining native speakers of Sauk; the more recent orthography was developed for native English speakers, as many Sauk grow up with English as their first language[16]
Sauk has so few speakers that it is considered an endangered language, as are numerous others native to North America.
In 2005, A Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language was published using the Algonquianist Standard Roman Orthography.[9]
In 2012, Shawnee High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma, began to offer a Sauk language course.[17]
Sauk language loss
Use of Sauk as the official tribal language in everyday communication declined rapidly between 1935 and 1945. The chances of coming across a tribal member who can understand basic phrases of Sauk is small, due to the fact that the main language spoken by the Sac and Fox today is English. The loss of Sauk, as with many other Native American languages, lies in context with American history. Speaking in the native language was actively discouraged and often punished in Indian boarding schools during the late 19th and early 20th century, when the U.S. was attempting to assimilate Native Americans into European-American culture.
Another conflict for the preservation of the language, is that the original syllabary created was intended for the use of native Sauk speakers, and its clarification was designed from the Sauk language. This is a problem because this is no longer as helpful for the majority of the Sac and Fox nation, as the official tribe language today is English. The issue arises in instances when Sauk is being taught to a school in the tribe, and an elder, who is fluent in the language, disagrees with the pronunciation being taught.
Phonology
Sauk does not have many phonemes in comparison to many other languages: four vowels, two semivowels, and nine consonants.
Consonants
The following consonant phonemes are given in Reinschmidt (1995):[16]
Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop
|
p | t
|
tʃ | k | ||
Fricative
|
θ | (s) | ʃ | h | ||
Nasal | m | n
|
||||
Approximant
|
j | w |
/ʃ/ is primarily heard as [ʃ], but may also alternate as [s] among speakers in free variation.
The representation of /h/ was omitted in the 1977 syllabary. It was added back in later editions because it is an important distinctive sound in the Sauk language.[citation needed]
Reinschmidt symbolizes /j/ as ⟨y⟩, following Americanist practice.[16]
All four stops have at least two allophones each, one fortis and one lenis:[citation needed]
- /p/ → [p, hp]
- /t/ → [t, ht]
- /t͡ʃ/ → [t͡ʃ, ht͡ʃ]
- /k/ → [k, hk]
Vowels
Front | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | ||
High | i | o | |
Mid | ɛ | ||
Low
|
ɑ |
Vowel length is important in the Sauk language because of its distinctive function. Long vowels are often distinguished by the doubling of characters, such as ⟨a/aa⟩ representing two different spoken lengths. This is different for the vowel ⟨e⟩, as an elongated version of this vowel shares the sound of the vowel in the English word bear.[vague] Reinschmidt presents four vowels, each with two allophones:[16]
- /ɑ/ → [ɑ, ɑː]
- /ɛ/ → [ɛ, ɛː]
- /i/ → [i, iː]
- /o/ → [o, oː]
Pitch and tone
Pitch and tone are important when speaking Sauk, as there is a general rule of emphasizing the first or second syllable of phrases, and slowly fades away by the end of a word. The Sauk language is perceived as having a "swallowed" quality when referring to the ends of phrases and words, so pitch, tone and intonation is a concept that would come from learning the language as opposed to studying the syllabary.[citation needed]
Syllables
Both the Sauk and Fox languages are known for "swallowing" syllables in word-final position, which can make identification of individual sounds more difficult for the language learner.[citation needed]
Morphology
Sauk is a polysynthetic language. Because this can easily pose great difficulties to learners with little to no experience with highly synthetic languages,[18][19][16] the Sauk orthography has words written by identifying each syllable.[clarification needed]
Orthography
Two samples of written Sauk language, as they appear in Reinschmidt 1995:[16]
Ho! Ne nu ta ma
'Hi! I speak Sauk!'
Ni swi me cli ke a ki a la se te ke wa ki a la te ki ki e ka ta wi ke mi yak i e we li ke mi ya ki ne ko ti me cle ke a e cla gwe ne mo tti wi ne li wi tti cle we na li ta ske wa ne li se ke
'Two turtles were sunning on a bank when a thunderstorm approached. When it began to rain, one turtle said to the other, 'I don't want to get wet,' and jumped into the lake.'
Geographical names
Place names with "Sauk" references include:
- Iowa: Sac City, Sac County, and Sac Township.
- Illinois: Sauk Village; Sauk Valley: the cities of Dixon, Sterling, Rock Falls and the surrounding area; Sauk Trail, a winding road south of Chicago, said to follow an old Indian trail; Johnson-Sauk Trail State Recreation Area; and Black Hawk College [Moline and Kewanee, IL].
- Michigan: The name of Saginaw is believed to mean "where the Sauk were" in Ojibwe; and the Saginaw Trail is said to follow an ancient Native American trail.[21] US Route 12 in Michigan is said to follow the Sauk Native American trail.[22]
- Minnesota: Sauk Rapids.
- Missouri: Sac Township, Sac River and Little Sac River of southwest Missouri
- North Dakota: Sauk Prairie and Sauk Valley Township
- Wisconsin: Saukville, Sauk County and Ozaukee County
Notable people
- Black Hawk
- Checokalako
- Keokuk
- Do-Hum-Me
- Quashquame
- Jim Thorpe
See also
- African-Native Americans
- Algonquian languages
- Sac and Fox Nation
- Kickapoo
- Meskwaki
- Native Americans in the United States
- Native American tribes
- Native American tribes in Nebraska
- One Drop Rule
- Saginaw Trail
- Sauk Trail
Notes
- 1.^ The name of the Sauk River in Washington State, however, comes from the Sah-kee-ma-hu (Sauk-Suiattle tribe), a group related to the Skagit tribes, not from the Sac tribe of the Midwestern U.S.[23]
References
- ^ "Meskwaki-Sauk Color Words". Native Languages of the Americas. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ a b Leeson, Michael A.; Clarke, Damon (n.d.). "History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ..." Michigan County Histories.
- ^ "Saginaw Valley". Castle Museum of Saginaw County History. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ Hinterman, Peter (1 November 2018). "Battle of the Flint River – Fact or Fiction?".
- ^ a b Kilar, Jeremy W. (1994). Saginaw's Changeable Past: An Illustrated History. St. Louis, Missouri, USA: G. Bradley Publishers. p. 15.
- ^ Black Hawk (1882). Autobiography of Black Hawk or Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak. Translated by LeClair, Antoine. J.B. Patterson.
- JSTOR 20722027. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
- ^ "Sac and Fox". digital.library.okstate.edu. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ a b Whittaker, Gordon (2005). A Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language (PDF). The Sac & Fox National Public Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2019.
- ^ "The Decolonial Atlas - St. Louis in the Fox Language". The Decolonial Atlas. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ "Government - Sac & Fox Nation". Sac & Fox Nation. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ "Tribal Governments by Tribe: S". National Congress of American Indians. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010.
- ^ Goddard, Ives. "Central Algonquin languages". In Sturtevant, William C.; Trigger, Bruce G. (eds.). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 583–587.
- ^ Bonvillain, Nancy (1995). The Sac and Fox. Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 13, 17.
- ^ McCormick, Mary F., ed. (1975). Sac and Fox Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma Primer Book Sac and Fox Language.
- ^ ISSN 0831-5671. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
- ^ Carmen Bourlon (11 August 2012). "Shawnee High School to offer new course on endangered Sauk language". The Shawnee News-Star. Shawnee, OK. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013.
- ^ Sorensen, Barbara; Weston, Jennifer. "I love Sauk Language". Cultural Survival. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ "Mesquakie-Sauk Pronunciation Guide, Alphabet and Phonology (Sac and Fox)". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ISBN 0-87351-396-7.
- OCLC 1044964376.
- OCLC 698029175.
- ^ Phillips, James W. (1976). Washington State Place Names. University of Washington Press.
External links
- Official Site of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa/Meskwaki Nation – the Meskwaki
- Official Site of the Sac and Fox Nation (of Oklahoma) – the Thakiwaki or Sa ki wa ki
- Official Site of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska – the Ne ma ha ha ki
- General information to Sac and Fox
- Sauk Language, Sac and Fox Nation