Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians (Potawatomi: Pokégnek Bodéwadmik) are a federally recognized group of Native American people who speak the Potawatomi language. They live mainly in southwestern Michigan and northeastern Indiana, with their tribal government based in Dowagiac, Michigan. The tribe’s lands stretch across ten counties in these areas.

The Pokagon people are descendants of Potawatomi villages that were located near the St. Joseph, Paw Paw, and Kalamazoo rivers in what is now southwest Michigan and northern Indiana. They are unique because they were the only Potawatomi band allowed to stay in Michigan after the United States government moved many Native American tribes to other places in the 1830s. The tribe gained official recognition from the United States government in 1994 and now runs its own government.

History

The Potawatomi people may have started near the Atlantic coast or around the Grand River by Lake Michigan. Over many years, they moved to the Great Lakes area.

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians signed agreements with the government. Chief Leopold Pokagon helped keep his group of 280 people in southwestern Michigan instead of moving west. In 1994, they officially became recognized as a tribe again. Many places in Michigan now have names from the Potawatomi language.

Contemporary

Casinos

Main article: Four Winds Casinos

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians opened their first casino, Four Winds New Buffalo, in 2007. It is located in New Buffalo Township, near New Buffalo, Michigan. The tribe later opened more casinos in Hartford, Michigan in 2011, Dowagiac, Michigan in 2013, and South Bend, Indiana in 2018. In 2021, they also started an online gaming platform.

The tribe uses money from these casinos to build homes and plan a community center. They received $2 million to help build this center, which will use special designs to save energy.

Land

In 2018, the Field Museum in Chicago asked a member of the Pokagon Band to help guide changes to its Native North American Hall.

Language

Fewer elders speak the Potawatomi language today, but the Pokagon Band is working to teach it again. See Potawatomi language § Language revitalization.

Tribal government

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians has a tribal council where members, including the chairman, are chosen by the tribe. They also help lead the Pokagon Gaming Authority.

The tribe has its own court system with a Chief Judge, an Associate Judge, and three Appellate Court Justices, all chosen by the tribal council for four-year terms. There is a tribal police department created in 2003 to keep everyone safe in the areas where the tribe lives in Michigan and Indiana. This police department follows all the rules from the government, the state, and the tribe itself. The tribe also has a Gaming Commission started in 2007 to watch over all games, following special laws and agreements with the states of Michigan and Indiana.