Needless to say, I haven’t posted at this site for eons! Hopefully, I can start it up again and post on a more regular basis.
So let’s begin with an On This Day In History. On January 23, 1907 Charles Curtis, of Kansas, became the first Native American to serve in the United States Senate. In 1929 Curtis became U.S. President Herbert Hoover’s Vice President. From Wikipedia….. I
Portrait of Charles Curtis
Charles Curtis
Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was an American attorney and Republican politician from Kansas who served as the 31st vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. He also previously served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1924 to 1929.
Curtis was member of the Kaw Nation and was born in the Kansas Territory. He was the first person with any Native American ancestry and with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the highest offices in the federal executive branch….He is the most recent Executive Branch officer to have been born in a territory rather than a state….
also….He was the last Native American elected to the U.S. Senate until Ben Nighthorse Campbell (a Northern Cheyenne) was elected from Colorado in 1992.
Additionally, he was the only multiracial person to serve as Vice President of the United States [15] until the inauguration of Kamala Harris in 2021.
As I read the above, I was curious about the Kaw Nation. I have read several books about the Indian Wars and Nations but don’t remember the Kaws. So I set out to find find more about the Kaw.
Three prominent Kaw chiefs: Al-le-ga-wa-ho, Kah-he-ga-wa-ti-an-gah, and Wah-ti-an-gah
The Kaw People
The Kaw Nation (or Kanza or Kansa) are a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma and parts of Kansas. They come from the central Midwestern United States. The tribe known as Kaw have also been known as the “People of the South wind”,[2] “People of water”, Kansa, Kaza, Konza, Conza, Quans, Kosa, and Kasa. Their tribal language is Kansa, classified as a Siouan language.[3]
The toponym “Kansas” was derived from the name of this tribe. The name of Topeka, capital city of Kansas, is said to be the Kaw word Tó Ppí Kˀémeaning “a good place to grow potatoes”.[4] The Kaw are closely related to the Osage Nation, with whom members often intermarried.
So I imagine the answer to the question “who are they was “Oh, they’re the Kansas”. And then It stuck as the name of the territory. I love learning something new!
Links for Further Exploration of Charles Curtis and the Kaw Nation
Charles Curtis – Wikipedia
Kaw People – Wikipedia