The Sacred Stone, Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe

This is one in a series of articles written by a Lawrencian originally published in the Ostholsteiner Anzeiger in Eutin on August 23, 2021. The article in German.

by Courtney Shipley, vice mayor of Lawrence
German translation by Arne Scholz

Growing up in Lawrence, Kansas we are proudly taught the story of the founding of our town. We were founded by the New England Emigrant Aid Company with the intention of settling abolitionists (anti-slavery) in the Kansas Territory in order that Kansas would enter the Union as a “Free State”. The creation of our little town was conceived of as a strategic act in the fight against the atrocity of slavery in the United States. The name of our little town stands more than a footnote in the history of the American Civil War owing to its passionate stand against slavery and the citizens who fell victim to violent pro-slavery groups in the Sacking of Lawrence and Quantrill’s Raid during a time we call Bleeding Kansas.

In my experience, you can live here thirty years basking in the pride of that story and never ask yourself, “Yeah, but what happened before that?”.

Recently, our community was reminded that the land the city sits on was previously inhabited by indiginous tribes. This reminder came in the form of a letter from the Kaw Nation, now centered in Oklahoma, requesting the safe return of Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe, commonly called “the big red rock”. Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe is the sacred prayer rock of deep spiritual and cultural significance to the Kanza people of the Kaw Nation. Estimated to weigh well over a ton, the red Sioux quartzite glacial erratic stone is native to eastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. This boulder was pushed into what is now Kansas during the last ice age, between 600,000 and 1 million years ago, depositing it at the junction of Shunganunga creek and the Kansas River, near present-day Tecumseh, Kansas where it held sacred space.

In 1929 under threat that the boulder would be placed in front of the Kansas State Capital building, a Lawrence resident moved the boulder with the aid of the Santa Fe Railway and a crane from its original spot to what is now called Robinson Park. It was erected as a monument to the town’s “Pioneers” to celebrate Lawrence’s 75th anniversary and stands mere meters from the Kansas River and City Hall.

The Kanza people were not consulted.

Known as the ”Wind People” by traders, the Kanza (Kaw) people inhabited a large area of the midwest. This includes our State of Kansas, the name of which is derived from the tribe’s name. They hunted successfully on the plains and made the most of life along the Kansas River. However, as colonization spread exposure to European diseases such as smallpox is estimated to have decimated their population- droping as much as 50% down to 1,500 people by the year 1800.

In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to facilitate the expulsion of all Indigenous nations east of the Mississippi river into the lands of Indigenous nations west of the river. Some of the removed Indigenous groups, such as the Wyandot, Delaware (Lenape), and Shawnee, were forced to settle in the homelands of other Indigenous people such as the Kanza. The Kanza people were also exploited by merchants on the Santa Fe Trail as well as railroad developers. Another predatory treaty in 1846 further reduced Kaw land, forcing them to move to Council Grove, Kansas.

In 1853, more than a year before Kansas territory was officially created, a Congressional appropriations bill included authorization for the President to commence forced removal of Indigenous Nations in Kansas and Nebraska. Even as the abolitionist settlers were fighting to free slaves during the time of Bleeding Kansas and the American Civil War, the government and settlers were cruelly displacing Indigenous Tribes. Even though a number of tribes, including the Kaw, served (or were forced to serve) in the Civil War against the South, nothing stopped the systematic theft of their lands through predatory treaties in favor of settlers. As Kansas became a State in 1861, pressure continued to remove all Native People. Finally a 1872 Congressional Act, which rendered the Kanza people legally disintegrated under federal authority, provided for the complete removal of the Kanza people to Oklahoma.

Over the past thirty years or so debate would occasionally open up in Lawrence about the unjust theft of Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe and the history of the many Indigenous Tribes that thrived prior to colonization. An often cited technicality that Douglas County owned the land Robinson Park is on while the City of Lawrence operates the park was the excuse that no singular entity could take responsibility. That was until the 2020 letter from the Kaw nationarrived bringing with it the opportunity to confront this injustice as a community. Lawrence City Commission swiftly determined that it simply didn’t matter who owned the park, we all owned the shame.

We pledged to return the Sacred Stone, Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe, safely, unconditionally, and entirely at our own cost. We further apologised for the harm caused by the theft and the subsequent defacing of the stone, as the townspeople had also affixed a plaque commemorating white settlers. Douglas County Commission joined us in acknowledgement and resolve. Thoughtful research is progressing under the leadership of the sovereign Kaw Nation to examine and evaluate the safe transportation of Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe to Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park at Council Grove, Kansas where there are educational resources to teach visitors about the original inhabitants of Kansas