Kickapoo are a Native American tribe who lived in the Great Lakes region of what is now the United States. Today, the Kickapoo are divided into three groups. One of the groups lives near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and another is in southern Texas and northern Mexico. The third band of Kickapoo lives in northeastern Kansas. About 4,700 Kickapoo live in the United States.
Until the 1800’s, the Kickapoo inhabited woodland areas and hunted buffalo, deer, and other animals. They also fished and raised corn and squash. The Kickapoo built dome-shaped wigwams covered with bark.
The first Europeans to have contact with the Kickapoo were French explorers, who encountered the tribe in the mid-1600’s. Most Kickapoo fiercely opposed sharing their lands with invading settlers. For this reason, the tribe fought against the colonists during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and against the United States during the War of 1812.
After 1820, many Kickapoo moved to what is now Oklahoma and Texas. Later, some of these people moved to northern Mexico. Other tribe members remained in Illinois with a religious leader named Kennekuk, also called the Kickapoo Prophet. Kennekuk’s name is also spelled Kenekuk or Kannekuk. In the 1830’s, the U.S. government moved Kennekuk and his followers to a reservation in present-day Kansas. Another Kickapoo reservation was established in 1883 in central Oklahoma. In 1893, the government divided part of the Oklahoma reservation among members of the Kickapoo tribe and sold the rest of the land.
Today, many Kickapoo work as farmers and ranchers. The Kickapoo still follow many of their tribal customs, and some still speak the Kickapoo language. Members of the three Kickapoo groups meet occasionally for tribal ceremonies.
