The Indigenous Chicago Project

Chicago is, and always has been, an Indigenous place. As Neshnabé (Potawatomi, Odawa, Ojibwe), Illinois Confederation (Peoria, Kaskaskia, and others), Myaamia, Wea, Sauk, Meskwaki, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Kickapoo, and Mascouten homelands, the Chicago area has long been a historic crossroads for many Indigenous peoples and continues to be home to an extensive urban Native community.

Indigenous Chicago is a multifaceted project that explores these histories, centering Indigenous voices, laying bare stories of settler-colonial harm, and gesturing toward Indigenous futures. Indigenous Chicago is a living project and archive that will continue to be added to in collaboration with Native communities.

The project began with community conversations and discussions about misrepresentations of Chicago Indigenous history and the invisibility that Native people in Chicago continue to feel. Over the course of dozens of community meetings and conversations, and with the guidance of an Advisory Group, this project has been significantly shaped by community input.

This map was created by Rose Miron, Teagan Dreyer (Choctaw), Joshua Friedlein (Cherokee Nation), Dylan Nelson, Anthony Stamilio, Kabl Wilkerson (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Rene Ramirez (Juañeno Band of Mission Indians, unenrolled), and Jaqueline Lopez, with support from the Indigenous Chicago Mapping Subcommittee, whose members include Elizabeth Ellis (Peoria Nation of Oklahoma), Burgundy Fletcher (Peoria Nation of Oklahoma), Mishuana Goeman (Tonawanda Band of Seneca), Eric Hemenway (Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa), George Ironstrack (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma), Doug Kiel (Oneida), Dallas Hunt (Swan River First Nation), Kelli Mosteller (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Bimadoshka Pucan (Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation/Saugeen Ojibway First Nation), Josee Starr (Arikara, Omaha, Odawa), Raphael Wahwassuck (Prairie Band of Potawatomi)

On this map and throughout the rest of the project, we have striven to use terminology and names used by Indigenous people themeselves. For a full explanation of the names we use throughout the project, please visit our project website.

For a full history of the project, list of Advisory Group members, and credits, please view our project website.


Rights and Access

The Newberry Library is making the content on this site and any links to its Digital Collection freely available for educational and research purposes. All materials that are not drawn from the Newberry's collections are presented in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. If you are the copyright holder of any material on this website and believe you have not been properly identified, or you do not wish for your materials to be available on this website, please contact us at mcnickle@newberry.org to complete a takedown request.

For other users, many of the images on this site are protected by copyright. Users of the site are responsible for determining whether your use of the materials on this website is legal and securing any permissions needed to publish the materials on this site.