Just a quick note on this episode, the ways we think about ourselves and refer to ourselves

and the way we want others to think about us and refer to us is extremely important.

In today's episode, one of the people you'll hear from is a citizen of the Pockegon

band of Pottawatomie Indians.

The language and terms you'll hear in this episode are the ones he prefers.

I'm Curious Cities, Jason Mark.

Last week, we dove into the question about why there are no Indian reservations in Illinois.

To find the answer, we looked back at the history of this region from the late

1700s through the 1830s. It was a period marked by armed conflicts, numerous treaties

negotiated under pressure and coercive tactics, and eventually the removal of most Native Americans

from this area in 1833.

Illinois was just too good of land to bother to share with Indian peoples, and so we all got removed.

And, of course, the Native people often didn't understand the terms that the U.S. negotiators were using. It's a really coercive process.

I think it was either, you know, sign this treaty,

give up this land or die.

There are newspaper reports from the time that most of the people

were made to walk.

People died along the way, particularly the sick, the old, and the very young babies.

And they oftentimes wouldn't allow people to even stop and do a burial. You just had to keep moving. And so it becomes a death march.

Now, last week's episode closely examines the end of an era.

But what about the decades, the centuries even leading up to that time?

That's something Mark Licti wanted to know more about.

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