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Neligh Couple Gifts 'Trail of Tears' Land To Ponca Tribe

6/20/2018

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Fresh tears of joy were shed on the historic Ponca “Trail of Tears,” as many were moved by the generosity of Neligh farmer Art Tanderup and his wife, Helen.  

During the fifth year of celebrating the planting of the Ponca’s sacred corn, Art Tanderup created a first in history.

On June 10, Art and Helen returned a little over 1.6 acres of land that has been in Helen’s family for over 100 years back to the Ponca in an all-day-long land gifting ceremony.

The restored farmland includes where the sacred corn has been planted for five years and a portion of the Ponca “Trail of Tears.”

About 200 people attended the event, including people from Oklahoma, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska Chairman Larry Wright Jr., the chairman of the Omaha Tribe, Winnebago Tribe representatives and a man from one of the First Nations tribes in Canada, Art Tanderup said.

The day started off with a potluck and then included a variety of activities.

“Then there were speeches there, and then lunch, then we went out to the field and we started with a native ceremony that included grass dancers, and drums and singing and more speeches,” Tanderup said. “And then, we moved further down the field and we had the signing ceremony with more speeches.”

After that, they planted the corn and people came back and visited.

Tanderup said the damage from the “Trail of Tears” cannot be completely repaired, but returning the 1.6 acres is a step in the right direction.

“The whole process of the Ponca Tribe being moved to Oklahoma on the ‘Trail of Tears’ was such a tragedy in our history and nothing can make that right again,” he said. “However, this is a small gesture in allowing them to reclaim part of the land that was once theirs.”

Tanderup said he has concerns about the pipeline leaking to the aquifer in Nebraska or even breaking. So, by gifting the land to the Ponca, he said he also hopes that it will allow them to have a say in what happens with the pipeline.

“We originally planted that corn in the path of that pipeline, so this land is in the path of that pipeline,” Tanderup said. “And so now, the Ponca Nation will also have a voice in what happens there.”

Before Tanderup signed the deed to return the land, he said he had an inkling for a few years that the property included part of the “Trail of Tears.”

“We have had suspicions for quite a few years, and then I think it was around 2013 that there was a historical mapographer that did all of the research and then he created a Google Map of the Ponca ‘Trail of Tears,’” he said.  

Based on the mapographer’s research, Art and Helen Tanderup discovered for certain that their land contained part of the “Trail of Tears.”

In that same year, Tanderup said they held a spirit camp on their farm and some of the Oklahoma Ponca Tribe members attended and discussed how to find their corn and bring it back to its homeland.

“One of the Oklahoma Ponca, Mekasi Camp-Horinek, was here and he talked a lot about how wonderful it would be if the Ponca could find their sacred corn and start growing it again back in its homeland,” he said.

According to Tanderup, when the Ponca were driven from the Niobrara area, the Yankton Lakota Tribe was given their land, including the corn they had planted. Every year, they would then create a medicine bundle, including some of that corn. People from Oklahoma worked to track down the bundle and when they found it, they bartered for all of its corn.

The corn was then brought to Tanderup Farm, where they planted it and four other varieties of Ponca corn, Tanderup said.

“We planted about four acres of corn that first year and from that crop, they took that to Oklahoma and planted 80 acres of corn,” he said.

Since then, Tanderup said they have planted a smaller amount of corn on the farm.

“We haven’t planted the four acres because they were able to start getting seed back, and so we’ve planted a smaller amount of corn ever since then,” he said.  

In addition to the historical “Trail of Tears” lying on the land, Tanderup said they also chose to return it because it felt appropriate since the Ponca have been planting corn on it for five years.  

“In their culture, the ground where we planted the corn has become sacred,” he said. “So, it’s only right to us that they should have that ground.”

Holding the land gifting ceremony on the same day as when they planted the sacred seed was significant because they were able to plant on earth that the Ponca Tribes of Nebraska and Oklahoma now own, according to Tanderup.
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Tanderup said he hopes that the Ponca can continue growing their corn and expand to their land by Niobrara.

“We hope that the Ponca continue to plant their corn here,” he said. “And, one of the things we discussed the other day with the chairman, Wright, was they’re hoping they can get enough seed so they can start planting some of this corn on their land up by Niobrara.”
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