The Ohio Country

What is tribal citizenship? What damage has and is being done by pretendians in Ohio? And how are citizens of federally recognized tribes correcting those situations?

The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University have partnered since the 1970s. This relationship resulted in the Myaamia Center, a research and education initiative.

Artist and Ohio resident Suzanne Chouteau became a citizen of The Shawnee Tribe as an adult. Chouteau said her art reflects her appreciation for the brilliance and struggles of her Shawnee ancestors.

The Indian Removal Act resulted in the relocation of thousands of people. It was chaotic and deadly for tribal nations. Still, those nations maintain their communities today.

Historic interpreter Talon Silverhorn, of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, spoke about Tecumseh’s legacy and invited Ohioans to rebuild authentic relationships with Shawnee people.

The Ohio Country’s population and economy were transformed in the 1700s as the Shawnee, Miami, and others returned to the region, and traders and settlers arrived by the thousands.

Shawnee and Myaamia ancestral cultures have been grouped into the Adena, Hopewell and Fort Ancient eras. Fort Ancient era people thrived for 700 years before Europeans arrived.

In this episode, we'll hear about the Shawnee and Miami practice of intentionally burning land. But when the settlers came to the Ohio Country, they did not embrace that practice. Can it come back?

In this episode, we talk with three American Indian historical interpreters about the Shawnee lifeway in the Ohio River Valley, walking through each season.

From Blue Jacket's adoption to where Tecumseh was born, there's a lot of false mythology about Shawnee history in what we now call southwest Ohio. This episode explores the region’s narrative through a more accurate, inclusive lens.

In this episode, we meet a visionary leader from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma working to reconnect her community with their homelands.

In our upcoming series, we will provide a perspective on the history of the region we now call Ohio that very few of us learned in school. We'll put the experiences of Miami, Shawnee, Wyandotte, and other American Indian people at the center of a refreshed version of the state’s complicated past and undecided future.

The Ohio Country is a 12-episode podcast from the public media station WYSO about American Indian people reconnecting with their homelands in the Ohio River Valley.