Sauk people
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Massika_and_Wakusasse.jpg/288px-Massika_and_Wakusasse.jpg)
The Sac or Sauk are a group of Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands culture group, who lived primarily in the region of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, when first encountered by the French in 1667. Their autonym is oθaakiiwaki, and their exonym is Ozaagii(-wag) in Ojibwe. The latter name was transliterated into French and English by colonists of those cultures.
Today they have three federally recognized tribes, together with the Meskwaki (Fox), located in Iowa, Oklahoma and Kansas.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Sauk_Indian_family_by_Frank_Rinehart_1899.jpg/220px-Sauk_Indian_family_by_Frank_Rinehart_1899.jpg)
The Sauk, an Algonquian languages people, are believed to have developed as a people along the St. Lawrence River. They were driven by pressure from other tribes, especially the powerful Iroquois League or Haudenosaunee. It is believed by some historians that they then migrated to what is now eastern Michigan, where they settled around Saginaw Bay. Due to the yellow-clay soils found around Saginaw Bay, they called themselves the autonym of Oθaakiiwaki (often interpreted to mean "yellow-earth".)
However, this location near Lake Huron for the Sauk at that time is unlikely. In the early 17th century, when Natives told French explorer Samuel de Champlain that the Sauk nation was located on the west shore of Lake Michigan, Champlain mistakenly placed them on the western shore of Lake Huron. This mistake was copied on subsequent maps, and future references identified this as the place of the Sauks. Champlain himself never visited what is now Michigan. There is little archaeological evidence that the Sauk lived in the Saginaw area. [1]
- The above paragraph can be called in to question based on oral historiesAB and other supporting evidence (why did the Fire Nation name Saginaw after the Sauk if the Sauk never lived there?). There is actually a detailed story that describes the invasion and forced migration held by the Ojibwa.
The neighboring Anishanabeg Ojibwe and Ottawa peoples referred to them by the exonym Ozaagii, meaning "those at the outlet". French colonists transliterated that as Sac and the English as "Sauk". Anishinaabe expansion and the Huron attempt to gain regional stability drove the Sac out of their territory. The Huron were armed with guns supplied by their French trading partners. The Sac moved south to territory in parts of what are now northern Illinois and Wisconsin.
A closely allied tribe, the Meskwaki (Fox), were noted for resisting French encroachment, having fought two wars against them in the early 18th century. After a devastating battle of September 9, 1730, in Illinois, in which hundreds of warriors were killed and many women and children taken captive by French allies, Fox refugees took shelter with the Sac, making them subject to French attack. The Sac continued moving west to Iowa and Kansas. Two important leaders arose among the Sac: Keokuk and Black Hawk. At first Keokuk accepted the loss of land as inevitable in the face of the vast numbers of white soldiers and settlers coming west. He tried to preserve tribal land and his people, and to keep the peace.
Having failed to receive expected supplies from the Americans on credit, Black Hawk wanted to fight, saying his people were "forced into war by being deceived".[2] Led by Black Hawk in 1832, the mainly Sac band resisted the continued loss of lands (in western Illinois, this time.) Their warfare with United States forces resulted in defeat at the hands of General Edmund P. Gaines in the Black Hawk War.
About this time, one group of Sac moved into Missouri, and later to Kansas and Nebraska. In 1869 the larger group of Sac moved into reservations in Oklahoma, where they merged with the Meskwaki as the federally recognized Sac and Fox Nation. (The United States had been making treaties with them together since their residency in the Midwest.) A smaller number returned to the Midwest from Oklahoma (or resisted leaving.) They joined the Mesquakie at the Mesqwaki Settlement, Iowa.
Clan system
Originally, the Sauk had a patrilineal clan system, in which descent and inheritance was traced through the father. Clans which continue are: Fish, Ocean/Sea, Thunder, Bear, Fox, Potato, Deer, Beaver, Snow, and Wolf. The tribe was governed by a council of sacred clan chiefs, a war chief, the head of families, and the warriors. Chiefs were recognized in three categories: civil, war, and ceremonial. Only the civil chiefs were hereditary. The other two chiefs were recognized by bands after they demonstrated their ability or spiritual power.
This traditional manner of selecting historic clan chiefs and governance was replaced in the 19th century by the United States appointing leaders through their agents at the Sac and Fox Agency, or reservation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). In the 20th century, the tribe adopted a constitutional government patterned after the United States form. They elect their chiefs.[3]
Federally recognized tribes
Today the federally recognized Sac and Fox tribes are:
- Sac and Fox Nation, headquartered in Stroud, Oklahoma;
- Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, headquartered in Tama, Iowa; and
- Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, headquartered in Reserve, Kansas.[4]
Language
Sauk is one of the many Algonquian languages. It is very closely related to the varieties spoken by the Meskwaki and the Kickapoo tribes; linguists often describe these three as dialects of the same language. Each of the dialects contains archaisms and innovations that distinguish them from each other. Sauk and Meskwaki appear to be the most closely related of the three, reflecting the peoples' long relationship.[5] Sauk is considered to be mutually intelligible, to a point, with Fox.
In their own language, the Sauk at one time called themselves asakiwaki [a-‘sak-i-wa-ki], "people of the outlet".[6]
The Sauk people have a syllabic orthography for their language. They published a Primer Book in 1975,[7] based on a "traditional" syllabary that existed in 1906. It is intended to help modern-day Sauk to learn to write and speak their ancestral tongue. A newer orthography was proposed around 1994 to aid in language revival. The former syllabary was aimed at remaining native speakers of Sauk; the more recent orthography was developed for native English speakers, as many Sauk grow up with English as their first language (Müller 1994).
Sauk has so few speakers that it is considered an endangered language, as are numerous others native to North America.
In 2012, Shawnee High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma began to offer a Sauk language course.[8]
Phonology
Sauk does not have many phonemes in comparison to many other languages: four vowels, two semivowels, and eight consonants.
Consonants
Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop | p | t | k | ||
Fricative | θ | s | h | ||
Nasal | m | n |
The representation of /h/ was omitted in the 1977 syllabary. It was added back in later editions because it is an important distinctive sound in the Sauk language[page needed].
All three stops have at least two allophones each, one voiceless and one voiced[page needed]:
- /p/ → [p, b]
- /t/ → [t, d]
- /k/ → [k, ɡ]
Semivowels
Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|
Central approximant | j | w |
Müller (1994)[9] symbolizes /j/ as /y/, following Americanist practice.
Vowels
Front | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | ||
High | i | o | |
Mid | e | ||
Low | ɑ |
Vowel length is important in the Sauk language.[how?] Müller presents four vowels, each with two allophones[page needed]:
- /ɑ/ → [ɑ, ɑː]
- /e/ → [e, eː]
- /i/ → [i, iː]
- /o/ → [o, oː]
Pitch and tone
Pitch and tone are also important when speaking Sauk.[how?]
Syllables
Both the Sauk and Fox languages are known for "swallowing" syllables in word-final position, which can make identification of individual sounds more difficult for the language learner.[page needed]
Morphology
Sauk is a polysynthetic language. Because this can easily pose great difficulties to learners with little to no experience with highly synthetic languages[10][11][12][citation needed], the Sauk orthography has words written by identifying each syllable.[clarification needed]
Orthography
Two samples of written Sauk language, as they appear in Müller (1994)[page needed]:
Ho! Ne nu ta ma!
'Hi! I speak Sauk!'
Ni swi me cli ke a ki a la se te ke wa ki a la te ki ki
e ka ta wi ke mi yak i e we li ke mi ya ki ne ko ti
me cle ke a e cla gwe ne mo tti wi ne li wi tti cle we na
li ta ske wa ne li se ke
"Two turtles were sunning on a bank when a thunderstorm approached. When it began to rain, one turtle said to the other, 'I don’t want to get wet,' and jumped into the lake."
Geographical names
Lake Osakis in west-central Minnesota, the Sauk River,[13] which flows from Lake Osakis, and the towns of Osakis, Sauk Centre, and Sauk Rapids all were named for association historically with a small party of Sac who made camp on the shores of Lake Osakis. They had been banished from their tribe for murder. According to Anishinaabe oral tradition, these five Sac were killed by local Dakota in the late 18th century.[14]
Place names with "Sauk" references include:
- Iowa: Sac City, Sac County, and Sac Township.
- Illinois: Sauk Village; Sauk Valley: the cities of Dixon, Sterling, Rock Falls and the surrounding area; Sauk Trail, a winding road south of Chicago, said to follow an old Indian trail; Johnson-Sauk Trail State Recreation Area; and Black Hawk College [Moline and Kewanee, IL].
- Michigan: The name of Saginaw is believed to mean "where the Sauk were" in Ojibwe; and the Saginaw Trail is said to follow an ancient Native American trail.[citation needed] US Route 12 in Michigan is said to follow the Sauk Native American trail.[15]
- Minnesota: City of Sauk Centre, Le Sauk and Little Sauk townships, Lake Osakis, Sauk River, Sauk Rapids.
- Missouri: Sac Township, Sac River and Little Sac River of southwest Missouri
- North Dakota: Sauk Prairie and Sauk Valley Township
- Wisconsin: Prairie du Sac, Sauk City, Saukville, Sauk County and Ozaukee County
Notable people
See also
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- African-Native Americans
- Algonquian languages
- Sac and Fox Nation
- Kickapoo
- Meskwaki
- Native Americans in the United States
- Native American tribes
- Native American tribes in Nebraska
- One Drop Rule
- Saginaw Trail
- Sauk Trail
Notes
- ^ Saginaw's Changeable Past, Jeremy W. Kilar, G. Bradley, St.Louis, Mi, 1994, p 15
- ^ J. B. Patterson, Autobiography of Black Hawk or Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, 1882, Access Genealogy Archived 23 July 2012 at archive.today
- ^ "Government - Sac & Fox Nation". Sac & Fox Nation. 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
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(help) - ^ "Tribal Governments by Tribe: S". Archived 12 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine National Congress of the American Indian. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
- ^ Goddard, Ives. "Central Algonquin languages". In Sturtevant, William, C.; Trigger, Bruce G. (eds.). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 583–587.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) (As quoted in Müller 1994) - ^ Bonvillain, Nancy (1995). The Sac and Fox. Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 13, 17.
- ^ McCormick, Mary F. (1975). Sac and Fox Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma Primer Book Sac and Fox Language compiled and edited by Mary F. McCormick
- ^ Carmen Bourlon (11 August 2012). "Shawnee High School to offer new course on endangered Sauk language". The Shawnee News-Star. Shawnee, OK. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Müller Reinschmidt, Kerstin. 1994. "Language preservation with the help of written language: The Sauk language of the Sac and Fox of Oklahoma", in Papers of the Twenty-Sixth Algonquin Conference. pp 413-430
- ^ "I love Sauk Language | Cultural Survival". www.culturalsurvival.org. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ "Mesquakie-Sauk Pronunciation Guide, Alphabet and Phonology (Sac and Fox)". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ Müller, Reinschmidt, Kerstin (1 January 1995). "Language Preservation With The Help Of Written Language: The Sauk Language Of The Sac And Fox Of Oklahoma". ISSN 0831-5671.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ The name of the Sauk River in Washington State, however, comes from the Sah-kee-ma-hu (Sauk-Suiattle tribe), a group related to the Skagit tribes, not from the Sac tribe of the Midwestern U.S. (James W. Phillips, Washington State Place Names, University of Washington Press, September 1976)
- ^ Upham, Warren (2001). Minnesota Place Names, A Geographical Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition. Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. p. 53. ISBN 0-87351-396-7.
- ^ Morrison, Roger L. (Autumn 1937). "The History and Development of Michigan Highways". Michigan Alumnus Quarterly Review. 39 (54). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Bureau of Alumni Relations: 59–73. OCLC 698029175.
External links
- Official Site of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa/Meskwaki Nation - the Meskwaki
- Official Site of the Sac and Fox Nation (of Oklahoma) - the Thakiwaki or Sa ki wa ki
- Official Site of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska - the Ne ma ha ha ki
- General information to Sac and Fox
- Sauk Language, Sac and Fox Nation
- "I love Sauk Language". Cultural Survival. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- Use dmy dates from October 2010
- Sac and Fox
- Algonquian peoples
- Native American tribes in Iowa
- Native American tribes in Kansas
- Native American tribes in Missouri
- Native American tribes in Nebraska
- Black Hawk War
- Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands
- Algonquian ethnonyms
- Native American tribes in Illinois
- Native American tribes in Wisconsin
- Native Americans in the American Revolution