A Native American Tribe - 1318 Words

The Quapaw are a Native American tribe originally located in the lower Mississippi Valley. As a tribe, they had a peaceful lifestyle, at least until outer influence with other countries, such as France. While they cooperated peacefully with the French, and later the U.S., that cooperation has been nothing but a source of great misery for them. Both the French and the U.S failed to see them as human beings, and they were repeatedly been off and cheated out of their land. They are thought to have formed in the Ohio Valley, but slowly migrated into the lower Mississippi Valley sometime before 1673 (as that was when they were first observed by Europeans) before their forced relocation by the U.S. to Kansas. According to Simon Audrey, author of†¦show more content†¦The lifestyle of the Quapaw was a spiritualistic yet simple one, as most tribes lifestyles were. The tribe was split up into multiple villages, and each village was made up of clans, or family units. Quapaw women wore deerskin skirts and went topless, while the men either went naked or wore loincloths. The hair of a Quapaw woman signified whether she was married or not, as married women let their hair down, and unmarried women kept their locks held in braids. During the colder seasons, both sexes wore leggings, moccasins, and robes. They lived in rectangular, bark-covered houses, with woven mats lining the interior, or sometimes acting as a substitute for bark. Other substitutes included hides and grasses. In The Quapaw Indians, according to Carrie Wilson and George Sabo III, Every village also had a community building, built like a house but much larger, where people could assemble for meetings and ceremonies. Another structure, roofed but with open walls and a platform was also built near the plaza. Here, leaders conducted public ceremonies and guests were received.(2) As for food, they were skilled farmers, growing corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, gourds, and tobacco(Wilson/Sabo 1). However, on ce horses were brought to America from Spain, the Quapaw hunted herds of buffalo on horseback, much like other Plains Indian tribes. They were also known to create lovely pottery. Ceremonially, the tribe performed stomp dances,