About
Who We Are
The Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana is a Native American tribe located in Indiana, which was part of our original homelands. We were once one tribe with the present-day Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, but became two separate tribes when the United States Government removed the Miami from Indiana, but by treaty, allowed some clans of the Tribe to remain in Indiana, thus creating two Miami Tribes. The Tribe members who were removed from Indiana would at first be removed to Kansas, only to be removed again to their present location in Oklahoma. The Miami signed an 1854 treaty with the U.S. government, making us the only tribe to be recognized by the government in the State of Indiana post-removal. However, only 45 years later, the federal recognition that the Indiana Miami possessed was illegally taken by the government.
Several attempts have been made to regain our federal recognition. We petitioned the government in 1934 during the Indian Reorganization Act, but that petition was denied in 1936. In 1937, we were forced to incorporate in order to survive as a group. For the next several decades we rebuilt from the trauma of the tribe being split by the 1830s removal, losing all our tribal-owned land, and the loss of federal recognition. Then in 1989, we began attempts again to regain our federal recognition. That year provided an opportunity to regain recognition through a technical corrections bill. Despite the hard work and effort we put forth toward that bill, support for the adequate number of votes was lost prior to the Congressional vote. By 2002, we had exhausted all judicial and legal avenues. Despite the fact that our governing body of the Tribe (tribal council) has remained in operation, strong, and intact, and our culture continues to be visible to this day, the government cited “tribal abandonment” as their reason to continue denying our rightful recognition.
Federal recognition efforts are still ongoing today. Tribal officials are working on state, national, and international levels to regain the respect and status that the Miami of Indiana deserve. Although we have always maintained our own government and membership, sovereignty (federal recognition) would allow us to be considered an independent nation able to adjudicate legal cases, levy taxes within our borders, and possess greater control over our economic development.
Our headquarters (tribal complex) is the former Peru High School in downtown Peru, Indiana, just a short distance from the mouth of the St. Joseph River where our Tribe’s origin story is set. The tribal complex is the center for our operations, the tribal government, a food pantry open to all of Miami County, Indiana, the Crane’s Nest, and has space available for member and community gatherings. The Miami of Indiana Tribe continues to preserve our culture, language, heritage, and community.
Our Tribe is flourishing with a tribal enrollment of 6,000 individuals, with concentrations of members in Miami, Huntington, Allen, Wabash, Marion, and Parke counties in Indiana. The governing body consists of a tribal council comprised of an elected chief, vice chief, and representatives from each of the five families that remained in Indiana after the removal era.
What We Do
The Honoring Our Ancestors Project
The Honoring Our Ancestors Project is a program being created by the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana for the purpose of stabilizing, revitalizing, and renovating cemeteries that contain the remains of our Miami ancestors—specifically, the Godfroy, Clayton, Slocum, and Meshingomesia/Miami Indian cemeteries, all of which are in the vicinity of the city of Peru, Indiana.
We as a people hold our ancestors in high regard and honor them on many occasions, including an annual ceremony called a “Ghost Supper.” In this ceremony, we conduct a longhouse ceremony followed by a communal dinner where we set a place for each person in the Tribe who began their journey to the spiritual world that year. Because of the high place of honor in which we hold our ancestors, we need to ensure their memorials in our cemeteries are well maintained and continue on for generations to come. These cemeteries are also of great historical and genealogical value as they contain the memorials of not only Indiana’s first people, but also the memorials of many ancestors of current local and regional residents of the area.
The Godfroy, Clayton, and Francis Slocum cemeteries are registered 501(c)3 not-for-profits but are managed, operated, and financially sustained by the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana. The Meshingomesia cemetery (called the Indian cemetery locally), is owned and operated by the Tribe. Over the years, the Tribe’s finances have had many strains upon them due to the loss of bingo patrons—from the conversion of Grissom Air Force Base to an air reserve base in the area near Kokomo, Indiana, the slow economy in Peru, Indiana where the Tribe is located, and the increasing costs of operating the Tribe over time. One of those large expenses has been the maintaining and operating of our tribal complex which is an 83-year-old brick building. It is a historical landmark for both the Tribe and the City of Peru and is on the National Historic Registry.
A secondary goal is to establish the Godfroy, Clayton, and Francis Slocum cemeteries as financially self-sufficient entities that can continue to maintain and manage the needs and costs of each cemetery separate from the Tribe’s fiscal budget.
This program will seek to obtain financial support from a combination of grants and donations from current Tribal members who have ancestors from their lineage buried in the cemeteries, Tribal members in general, and the public. These funds will be used to revitalize, refurbish, repair, and designate the cemeteries previously listed. This includes, but is not exclusive to, the following:
· Cleaning and repairing existing headstones that can be revitalized.
· Purchase, engrave, and set new headstones to replace broken headstones or those faded beyond repair.
· If lacking signage, place historical or other markers to make the location of the grave sites easier to find.
· Repair and replace other features like fencing around the cemeteries.
The Meshingomesia Cemetery
Of the four cemeteries, the Meshingomesia (also known within the region as the Indian Cemetery) has the greatest and most urgent needs. The cemetery is about 148 years old, so many headstones are weathered beyond legibility. Incidents of vandalism, however, have done greater damage as the vandals didn’t just topple and break up headstones, but during an incident in 1934, they came to “rob graves” and even stole some of the bones of one of our ancestors!
