Osage Nation History
Osage Dancers
(15637, Ruth Mohler Collection, OHS).
The vibrant history of the Osage is that of a proud, spiritual people who have weathered hardship to emerge as a leading force in Native America. The Osage were known for being bold warriors, skilled hunters and farmers, and preservers of family life.
​
Between 1808 and 1825, treaties with the United States resulted in the cessation of Osage tribal land across Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Under the 1825 treaty, the Osage were removed from Missouri and mandated to relocate to a designated reservation in southern Kansas. By the time they negotiated the 1865 treaty to purchase land in present-day Oklahoma, the Osage population had been reduced by 95%. Only 3,200 Osage People walked across the Kansas border into their new land. Through an act of Congress in 1870, remaining tribal lands in Kansas were sold, and the Osage relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, site of present-day Osage County.
​
Life was hard in Kansas and Oklahoma. Food, clothing and medical supplies were in short supply. In 1894, the tribe’s fortunes finally changed when crude oil was discovered under Osage land.
The Osage Allotment Act of 1906 ensured that the Osage would retain mineral rights to the land. Oil companies bid for land rights under the shade of a spreading elm in Pawhuska. With millions of dollars often changing hands in a single day, the tree became known as the Million Dollar Elm.
​
The Osage of today, resonate their culture of long standing traditions by preserving the lessons of their ancestors. The modern day Osage is educated, diverse and staunch to the fact that being Osage is their identity.
​
Their culture today is a respectful memorial to their past. They participate in their dance, feasting and naming ceremonies because that is their Osage tradition. They do not try to re-create the past; they are the present, and their culture is in the present. Like all indigenous cultures, the Osages are a traditional people. “We are always ‘Osage’ and that is what brings us back to our Osage Nation. To commune with each other, to relate to each other and to be recognized each year during our ceremonials as Osages”.
​
The Osage Nation Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to promote the continued development of the Osage Reservation and the communities influenced by the Osage Nation.