MEXICAN KICKAPOO

NO ONE IS SURE WHEN THESE TEXAS INDIANS ARRIVED. AFTER THE WAR OF 1812 WHERE THE SETTLERS FOUGHT THE BRITISH, TWO KICKAPOO BANDS SETTLED IN MISSOURI. IN 1833 THEY MOVED TO THE KANSAS, AND OTHERS CAME TO TEXAS. TWO ANTHROPOLOGISTS STUDIED HERE WHEN THEY MOVED TO THIS AREA. THE KICKAPOO WERE GRANTED LAND BY WAS IN MEXICO , PART OF SPANISH TERRITORY. THIS PART OF MEXICO LATER BECAME TEXAS.

THEY WERE FORCED TO MOVE MANY TIMES BY THE GOVERNMENT. SOME WENT TO RESERVATION AT OKLAHOMA . OTHERS GOT LAND FROM PRESIDENT OF MEXICO AND LIVED IN MEXICO. AFTER MANY YEARS OF DROUGHT AND POWER HUNTING THEY WERE FORCED TO WORK AS MIGRANT WORKERS THROUGHOUT DIFFERENT STATES.

IN 1983 THEY APPLIED FOR U S CITIZENSHIP AND WERE FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED THEY WERE GIVEN LAND JUST SOUTH OF EAGLE PASS, TEXAS. AT FIRST THEY HAD NO HOUSES. THEY LIVED IN WIKIUPS MADE OF WOOD SAPLINGS COVERED WITH BARK. THIS WAS THEIR TRADITIONAL HOUSE. IN MEXICO THEY STILL HAVE TRADITIONAL STYLE HOUSES THEY SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON THEIR LAND. IN MEXICO THEY MAINTAIN THEIR TRADITIONAL WAY OF LIFE. IN THE 1600'S THEY LIVED IN MICHIGAN, ONCE THE EUROPEAN CAME THEY MOVED SOUTH. THEY KEPT MOVING THEY RAISED CROPS GATHERED FISH, FRUIT, NUTS AND HUNTED DEER. THEIR HOUSES WERE SIMILAR TO THOSE IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN. THESE WOMEN DIRECTED HOUSE BUILDING THEY MADE BASKETS - NOT POTS. THEY PREPARED HIDES VERY WELL. SOME BOWLS THEY MAKE FROM SOFT STONE.

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