The
Oneida are a
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
/
First NationsFirst Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
people and are one of the five founding nations of the
Iroquois ConfederacyThe Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
in the area of
upstate New YorkUpstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
. The Iroquois call themselves
Haudenosaunee ("The people of the longhouses") in reference to their communal lifestyle and the construction of their dwellings.
Originally the Oneida inhabited the area that later became central
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, particularly around
Oneida LakeOneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York State . The lake is located northeast of Syracuse and near the Great Lakes. It serves as one of the links in the Erie Canal. It empties into the Oneida River which flows into the Oswego River which in turn flows into Lake Ontario...
and
Oneida CountyOneida County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 234,878. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, an Iroquoian tribe that formerly occupied the region....
.
The People of the Standing Stone
The name Oneida is the English mispronunciation of
Onyota'a:ka.
Onyota'a:ka means "People of the Standing Stone". The identity of the People of the Standing Stone is based on a legend in which the Oneida people were being pursued on foot by an enemy tribe. The Oneida people were chased into a clearing within the woodlands and suddenly disappeared. The enemy of the Oneida could not find them and so it was said that these people had turned themselves into stones that stood in the clearing. As a result, they became known as the People of the Standing Stone.
There are older legends in which the Oneida people self-identify as the "Big Tree People". Not much is written about this and Iroquoian elders would have to be consulted on the oral history of this identification. This may simply correspond to other Iroquoian notions of the Great Tree of Peace and the associated belief system of the people.
Individuals born into the Oneida Nation are identified according to their spirit name, or what most outsiders now call an Indian name, their clan, and their family unit within a clan. Each gender, clan and family unit within a clan all have particular duties and responsibilities. Clan identities go back to the Creation Story of the
Onyota'a:ka peoples. The people identify with three clans: the Wolf, Turtle or Bear clans. A person's clan is the same as his or her mother's clan.
Although colonizing forces tried to assimilate or extinguish the Original Nations of North America, the majority of the Oneida Nation people who descend from the Oneida Settlement can still identify their clan. Further, if a person does not have a clan because their mother is not Oneida, then the Nation still makes provisions for customary adoptions into one of the clans. The act of adopting is primarily a responsibility of the Wolf clan, so many adoptees are identified as Wolf.
American Revolution
The Oneidas, along with the five other tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, initially maintained a policy of neutrality in the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. This policy allowed the Confederacy increased leverage against both sides in the war, because they could threaten to join one side or the other in the event of any provocation. Neutrality quickly crumbled, however. The preponderance of the
MohawkMohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
, Seneca, Cayuga, and
Onondaga- Native American/First Nations :* Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League* Onondaga , Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capital* Onondaga language- Geology :...
sided with the
LoyalistsLoyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
and British. For some time, the Oneida continued advocating neutrality and attempted to restore consensus among the six tribes of the Confederacy. But ultimately the Oneida, as well, had to choose a side. Because of their proximity and relations with the rebel communities, most Oneida favored the colonists. In contrast, the pro-British tribes were closer to the
BritishThe former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
stronghold at
Fort NiagaraFort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario.-Origin:...
. In addition, the Oneida were influenced by the
ProtestantProtestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
missionary
Samuel KirklandRev. Samuel Kirkland was a Presbyterian missionary among the Oneida and Tuscarora people in North America. Kirkland graduated from Princeton in 1765. On September 20, 1769, Samuel Kirkland married Jerusha Bingham in Windham, Connecticut...
, who had spent several decades among them and through whom they had begun to form stronger cultural links to the colonists.
The Oneida officially joined the rebel side and contributed in many ways to the war effort. Their warriors were often used to scout on offensive campaigns and to assess enemy operations around
Fort StanwixFort Stanwix was a colonial fort whose construction was started on August 26, 1758, by British General John Stanwix, at the location of present-day Rome, New York, but was not completed until about 1762. The fort guarded a portage known as the Oneida Carrying Place during the French and Indian War...
(also known as Fort Schuyler). The Oneida also provided an open line of communication between the rebels and their Iroquois foes. In 1777 at the
Battle of OriskanyThe Battle of Oriskany, fought on August 6, 1777, was one of the bloodiest battles in the North American theater of the American Revolutionary War and a significant engagement of the Saratoga campaign...
, about fifty Oneida fought alongside the colonial militia. Many Oneida formed friendships with
Philip SchuylerPhilip John Schuyler was a general in the American Revolution and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually known as Philip Schuyler, while his son is usually known as Philip J. Schuyler.-Early life:...
,
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, the
Marquis de La FayetteMarie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
, and other prominent rebel leaders. These men recognized the Oneida contributions during and after the war. The
US CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
declared, "sooner should a mother forget her children" than we should forget you.
Although the tribe had taken the colonists' side, individuals within the Oneida nation possessed the right to make their own choices. A minority supported the British. As the war progressed and the Oneida position became more dire, this minority grew more numerous. When the important Oneida settlement at
Kanonwalohale was destroyed, numerous Oneida defected from the rebellion and relocated to Fort Niagara to live under British protection.
1794 Treaty of Canandaigua
After the war, the Oneida were displaced by retaliatory and other raids. In 1794 they, along with other
Haudenosaunee nations, signed the
Treaty of CanandaiguaThe Treaty of Canandaigua is a treaty signed after the American Revolutionary War between the Grand Council of the Six Nations and President George Washington representing the United States of America....
with the United States. They were granted 6 million acres (24,000 km²) of lands, primarily in New York; this was effectively the first
Indian reservationAn American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
in the United States. Subsequent treaties and actions by the State of New York drastically reduced their land to 32 acres (0.1 km²). In the 1830s many of the Oneida relocated into the province of
Upper CanadaThe Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
and
WisconsinWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, because the United States was requiring
Indian removalIndian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...
s from eastern states.
Recent litigation
In 1970 and 1974 the
Oneida Indian NationThe Oneida Indian Nation is the Oneida tribe that resides in New York and currently owns a number of businesses and tribal land in Verona, NY, Oneida, NY, and Canastota, NY.- Businesses :...
of New York,
Oneida Nation of WisconsinThe Oneida Nation of Wisconsin is an Indian reservation of the Oneida tribe on the west side of the Green Bay metropolitan area.-Demography and population:The reservation comprises portions of eastern Outagamie County and western Brown County...
, and the
Oneida Nation of the ThamesThe Oneida Nation of the Thames is an Onyota'a:ka First Nation located in southwestern Ontario on what is commonly referred to as the "Oneida Settlement", located about a 30-minute drive from London, Ontario, Canada...
filed suit in the
United States District Court for the Northern District of New YorkThe United States District Court for the Northern District of New York serves one of the 94 judicial districts in the United States and one of four in the state of New York. The U.S. Attorney for the district is Richard S. Hartunian...
to reclaim land taken from them by New York without approval of the United States Congress. In 1998, the United States intervened in the lawsuits on behalf of the plaintiffs in the claim so the claim could proceed against New York State. The state had asserted immunity from suit under the
Eleventh Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was passed by the Congress on March 4, 1794, and was ratified on February 7, 1795, deals with each state's sovereign immunity. This amendment was adopted in order to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Chisholm v...
. The Defendants moved for summary judgment based on the U. S. Supreme Court's decision in
City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation and the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals' decision in
Cayuga Indian Nation v. New York . On May 21, 2007, Judge Kahn dismissed the Oneida's possessory land claims and allowed the non-possessory claims to proceed.
More recent litigation has formalized the split and defined the separate interests of the Oneida tribe that stayed in New York and the Oneida tribe that left to live in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Oneida tribe has brought suit to reacquire lands in their ancestral homelands as part of the settlement of the aforementioned litigation.
Oneida Bands and First Nations today
- Oneida Indian Nation
The Oneida Indian Nation is the Oneida tribe that resides in New York and currently owns a number of businesses and tribal land in Verona, NY, Oneida, NY, and Canastota, NY.- Businesses :...
in New York
- Oneida Nation of Wisconsin
The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin is an Indian reservation of the Oneida tribe on the west side of the Green Bay metropolitan area.-Demography and population:The reservation comprises portions of eastern Outagamie County and western Brown County...
, in and around Green Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
- Oneida Nation of the Thames
The Oneida Nation of the Thames is an Onyota'a:ka First Nation located in southwestern Ontario on what is commonly referred to as the "Oneida Settlement", located about a 30-minute drive from London, Ontario, Canada...
in Southwold, OntarioSouthwold is a township in Elgin County, in Ontario, Canada, located on the north shore of Lake Erie. It is a rich agricultural zone producing predominantly corn and soybeans.-History:...
- Oneida at Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario
Notable Oneida
- Aaliyah
Aaliyah Dana Haughton , who performed under the mononym Aaliyah , was an American R&B recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside...
, American Recording Artist was of African American and Oneida descent.
- Ohstahehte, the original Oneida Chief who accepted the Message of the Great Law of Peace.
- Graham Greene
Graham Greene is a Canadian actor who has worked on stage, and in film and TV productions in Canada, England and the United States.-Early life:...
, actor.
- Lloyd L. House, PhD - Educator, First American Indian Elected to the Arizona State Legislature
- Cody McCormick
Cody McCormick is a Canadian ice hockey player who currently plays for the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL. He is of First Nations descent, with both Oneida and Chippewa/Ojibway ancestors, and he also has European heritage.-Playing career:...
, Canadian professional ice hockey player for Colorado AvalancheThe Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1995–96 and 2000–01. The franchise...
.
- Joanne Shenandoah
Joanne Shenandoah is an Iroquois singer, composer and acoustic guitarist. She is a member of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida Nation, of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Her music is a combination of traditional songs and melodies with a blend of traditional and contemporary...
, award-winning singer and performer.
- Tehaliwaskenhas Bob Kennedy (Turtle Island)
- Moses Schuyler, co-founder of the Oneida Nation of the Thames Settlement.
- Garrison Chrisjohn, X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
actor.
- Alex Elijah I (Pine Tree Chief & Haudenosaunee Expert)
- Charlie Hill
Charlie Hill is an Oneida-Mohawk-Cree stand-up comedian and actor. He was also a writer on Roseanne.Although he is known for groundbreaking jokes that reverse the roles of Native American and white culture , his comedy transcends issues of color, and addresses foremost the matters of human...
, comedian, entertainer.
- Mary Wheeler, land claims activist.
- Evan John I, oral historian, traditional agriculture and horticulture expert.
- Demus Elm, oral historian, Haudenosaunee expert.
- Polly Cooper
Polly Cooper was an Oneida woman who took part in an expedition to aid the Continental army during the American Revolution at Valley Forge in the winter campaign of 1777-78.-At Valley Forge:...
, leader, friend of Washington.
- Venus Walker, oral historian, Haudenosaunee ceremonies expert.
- Loretta Metoxen, leader, Oneida historian.
- Dr. Eileen Antone, academic, adult education expert.
- Harley Elijah Sr., President of Ironworkers Union Local 700.
- Gino Odjick
Wayne Gino "Chief, The Enforcer" Odjick was born on 7 September 1970 in an Algonquin Native Reserve named Chum Sa Bay at Maniwaki, Quebec. He was a professional hockey player in the National Hockey League from 1990–91 to 2001–02....
, Canadian former professional ice hockey player.
- Chief Skenandoah, Oneida leader during the American Revolution.
- Carl J. Artman
Carl J. Artman served as the United States Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs with jurisdiction over the Office of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education from 2007 to 2008, and he served as the Associate Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the...
, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian AffairsThe Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
.
- Dr. Roland Chrisjohn, Director of Native Studies at St. Thomas University (New Brunswick)
St. Thomas University is jointly a public and Roman Catholic liberal arts university located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It offers degrees exclusively at the undergraduate level for approximately 3,000 students in the liberal arts, humanities, journalism, education, and social work....
.
- Ernie Stevens Jr., Chairman of National Indian Gaming Association.
- Lillie Rosa Minoka Hill
Dr. Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill was a 20th century Native American physician. She was the second Native American female doctor in the United States, after Susan La Flesche Picotte. Her granddaughter is poet and professor Roberta Hill Whiteman.-Early life:...
, 20th century Native American physician.
- Purcell Powless
Purcell Powless was the tribal chairman of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, United States.He served in the United States Merchant Marines during World War II and worked as a steel worker. In 1967 he was elected tribal chairman of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin serving until 1990...
, tribal chairman of the Oneida Nation of WisconsinThe Oneida Nation of Wisconsin is an Indian reservation of the Oneida tribe on the west side of the Green Bay metropolitan area.-Demography and population:The reservation comprises portions of eastern Outagamie County and western Brown County...
External links