Yuchi
The Yuchi people, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma. Their original homeland was in the southeast of the present United States.
In the 16th century, Yuchi people lived in the eastern
Today, the Yuchi live primarily in the northeastern
Name
The term Yuchi translated to "over there sit/live" or "situated yonder." Their
History
At the time of first European contact, the Yuchi people lived in what is now eastern
Both historical and
Yuchi towns were later documented in western South Carolina and northern Georgia, where the tribe had migrated to escape pressure from the Cherokee. "Mount Pleasant" was noted as being on the Savannah River in present-day Effingham County, Georgia, from about 1722 to about 1750. To take advantage of trade, the British established a trading post and small military garrison there, which they called Mount Pleasant.[6]
"Euchee Town" (also called Uche Town), a large settlement on the
In the late 18th century, English colonists noted Patsiliga, a settlement on the
During the 18th century, the Yuchi established an alliance with white settlers in the
During the Creek War of 1813–1814, which overlapped the War of 1812, many Yuchi joined the Red Sticks party, traditionalists opposed to the Muscogee people of the Lower Towns, who had adopted aspects of European-American culture. Euchee Town decayed. The Yuchi tribe became one of the poorest of the Muscogee communities, at the same time gaining a bad reputation.[7] The archaeological site of the town, designated a National Historic Landmark, is within the boundaries of present-day Fort Moore, Georgia.
In the 1830s, the US government forcibly removed the Yuchi, along with the Muscogee, from Alabama and Georgia to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma), west of the Mississippi River. The Yuchi settled in the north and northwestern parts of the Muscogee Nation. Three tribal towns which the Yuchi established there in the 19th century continue today: Duck Creek, Polecat, and Sand Creek.[2][8]
Second Seminole War
Prior to 1818 some Yuchi moved to near
From 1890 to 1895, the Dawes Commission considered the Yuchi in Indian Territory to be an autonomous tribe. It registered tribal members preparatory to allotment of communal tribal lands in Indian Territory to individual households of members. Some 1200 tribal members were registered in those years. The Dawes Commission later decided to legally classify the Yuchi as part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, in an effort to simplify the process of land allotment. But this decision interrupted the autonomy of the people and their record of historical continuity as a recognized tribe.[11]
Current status
The Yuchi people are enrolled in
In the 1990s, the Yuchi Tribal Organization based in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, petitioned the US federal government to gain federal recognition as an independent tribe. In 2000, the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied the petition.[13]
As of 1997, the Yuchi tribe had a formal enrollment of 249 members. Other Yuchi descendants are already enrolled in other tribes, such as the Muscogee. Most Yuchi are of multi-tribal descent; some are citizens of other tribes, such as the Shawnee.[citation needed]
The Euchee Tribe of Indians, while not federally recognized, has their headquarters in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Their tribal chairmen are co-chairs Felix Brown Jr. and Clinton Sago.[14]
An estimated 2,000 persons are ethnically Yuchi. They are descendants of some 1,100 persons recorded by the Indian Claims Commission in 1950, which was settling compensation claims dating from allotments.[16]
The Yuchi continue their important ceremonies, such as the
In 2008, the Yuchi tribe received a grant from President George W. Bush's administration for a Native Americans Comprehensive Community Survey and Plan. The grant was used to developed the Tribal History Project, which began in October 2010.[16]
The Human Genome Project acknowledged the importance of the Yuchi's distinct culture and language and approached the Yuchi in order to collect genetic data (DNA).[17] The Yuchi tribe declined to participate in the Project due to cultural conflict and uncertainty among members over the uses of government ownership of tribal DNA.[17]
Yuchi language
The Yuchi language is a linguistic isolate, not known to be related to any other language.[2] In 2000 the estimated number of fluent Yuchi speakers was 15, but this number dwindled to 7 by 2006.[18] According to a 2011 documentary on the Yuchi language, the number of first-language speakers had declined to five by 2011.[19]
Young Yuchi people have learned the language in recent years and are continuing to do so.[20] Yuchi language classes are being taught in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, in an effort led by Richard Grounds and the Euchee Language Project.[18] As of 2011, the Administration for Native Americans awarded the Yuchi tribe a grant for the years 2011 to 2014 in an effort to provide after-school programs for youth to improve proficiency in their native language and develop a young generation of speakers.[21]
The Yuchi people and language are featured in a chapter in
Notable people
- Uchee Billy (died 1837), warrior and chief
- Sam Story, 19th-century chief
- Richard Ray Whitman (born 1949), artist, poet, actor
See also
References
Citations
- ^ "2010 Census CPH-T-6. American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2010". Census.gov. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Jackson, Jason Baird. "Yuchi (Euchee)." Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
- ^ a b Jackson 416
- ^ Jackson, pp. 427–28
- ISBN 0-300-10193-7.
- ^ a b c Daniel T. Elliott and Rita Folse Elliott, "Mount Pleasant. An Eighteenth-Century Yuchi Indian Town, British Trader Outpost, and Military Garrison in Georgia", Watkinsville, GA: LAMAR Institute Publications, 1990
- ^ a b John T. Ellisor, The Second Creek War, p. 31
- ^ a b Jackson 415
- OCLC 12315671.
- ^ Army and Navy Chronicle, Volumes 4-5, edited by Benjamin Homans, pp. 203-4
- ^ "Euchee Tribe". Eucheetribe.com.
- ^ "Euchee Language Program". Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
- ^ "Petitioner #121: Yuchi Tribal Organization, OK". Bia.gov. 21 March 2000. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
- ^ "Oklahoma's Tribal Nations." Archived 2010-03-28 at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission. 2010 (retrieved 10 April 2010)
- ^ "REPORT FROM THE EUCHEE (YUCHI) TRIBE OF INDIANS". Eucheetribe.com.
- ^ a b "Euchee Tribe of Indians" (PDF). Ok.gov.
- ^ a b Grounds, Richard A. (Summer 1996). "The Yuchi Community and the Human Genome Diversity Project: Historic and Contemporary Ironies". Cultural Survival Quarterly.
- ^ a b Anderton, Alice, PhD. "Status of Indian Languages in Oklahoma", Intertribal Wordpath Society, Ahalenia.com, 2006-2009 (retrieved 7 Feb 2009)
- ^ Harjo, Sterlin and Matt Leach We Are Still Here, This Land Press, 8 July 2011 (retrieved 8 July 2011)
- ^ Associated Press, "Scientists Race Around World to Save Dying Languages", via Fox News, 2007-09-18. Accessed 2007-09-19.
- ^ "Current ANA Grants Awarded Prior to FY 2012". Acf.hhs.gov. January 3, 2013.
Bibliography
- Jackson, Jason Baird. "Yuchi." Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Eds. William C. Sturtevant and Raymond D. Fogelson. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. ISBN 0-16-072300-0.
Further reading
- Mark Abley, Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages, Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
- Jason Jackson, Yuchi Ceremonial Life: Performance, Meaning, and Tradition in a Contemporary American Indian Community, University of Nebraska Press, 2003.
- Jason Baird Jackson (ed.), Yuchi Indian Histories Before the Removal Era. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
- Frank Speck, Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians (reprint), University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
- Daniel Elliott, Ye Pleasant Mount: 1989&1990 Excavations. The LAMAR Institute, University of Georgia, 1991.
External links
- The Euchee Language Project
- Memoirs of Jeremiah Curtin in the Indian Territory, pp. 327, 333–335. 19th-century ethnographer's account of learning Yuchi language in 1883 in a Yuchi settlement 55 miles from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Electronic record maintained by Library of Congress, accessed January 15, 2007.
- Uchee Path historical marker
- Joseph Mahan Collection, Columbus State University Archives