Otoe-Missouria Day will feature public events, video at Husker football game

Native dancers perform before a crowd at the Center for Great Plains Studies.

Katie Nieland | Center for Great Plains Studies

Dancers perform during the first Otoe-Missouria Day in 2022.

The Center for Great Plains Studies and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma will host the third annual Otoe-Missouria Day in Lincoln and the surrounding area. Events Sept. 20-22 will welcome the tribe back to their ancestral homelands through youth events, ceremony, music, a public proclamation and more.

The tribe will be honored through a video presentation and ceremony at the Sept. 20 Nebraska football game at Memorial Stadium featuring Husker junior Lena’ Black and Otoe-Missouria Chairman John Shotton.

The public portion of Otoe-Missouria Day will take place at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center on Sept. 21. All are welcome at the events from 2 to 9 p.m., which include games, music, talks, dinner and a public proclamation by a Lincoln city official. The event is free, but donations to support travel for Otoe-Missouria tribal members are welcome. RSVP is required for dinner here.

Cory DeRoin and Billie Tohee, both members of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, speak with Margaret Jacobs, Charles Mach Professor of History and director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, at the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. — Cory DeRoin and Billie Tohee, both members of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, speak with Margaret Jacobs, Charles Mach Professor of History and director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center during a planning trip earlier this year.

“Returning to Nebraska with my Otoe-Missouria relatives to honor and celebrate our ancestors, who once thrived in this land, is a poignant journey filled with emotion,” said Cory DeRoin, an Otoe-Missouria tribal citizen who has led Otoe-Missouria planning efforts. “Each year, as we make this pilgrimage, we find healing in reconnecting with our roots. We eagerly anticipate engaging with the present stewards of Nebraska’s land, sharing our healing journey, and fostering understanding and unity for a brighter future together.”

Tribal members traveling to Lincoln for the event will also participate in medicine harvesting, a football tailgate at the Lincoln Indian Center, and river paddling or biking with UNL Outdoor Adventures. A full schedule is available here.

Otoe-Missouria Day is part of Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors: Re-Indigenizing Southeast Nebraska, a joint project of the Great Plains center and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe that aims to promote healing and reconciliation by reconnecting the Otoe-Missouria to their homelands and educating non-Native people about the history and ongoing presence of the tribe and other Indigenous peoples in the region. The project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities.

Partners and sponsors for Otoe-Missouria Day include The Mellon Foundation, Nebraska’s College of Arts and Sciences, Otoe-Missouria Tribal Council, Gage County Historical Society, Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, Intertribal Medicine Collective, UNL Outdoor Adventures, Lincoln Indian Center Inc., UNITE, LPS Trauma Warriors, Homestead National Historic Park and Otoe-Missouria tribal elders.