Potawatomi Nation’s decades-long effort to reclaim land near DeKalb could be settled by Congress

In farm country near DeKalb, Native Americans and settlers have been feuding over a piece of disputed land for 173 years. Now, a federal bill proposes to settle the dispute once and for all — but could still face local resistance.

“This is to correct a historical wrong,” Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, chairperson for Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, said of the pending legislation.

Much of the land in question is underwater, flooded to create part of Shabbona Lake State Park in the 1970s. Some is occupied by homeowners, farmers and local government. All of it is part of a much broader argument over how to compensate Indigenous people for land that was taken from them long ago.

The Land Back movement has played out across the United States, from Hobart, Wisconsin, near Green Bay, where the Oneida Nation is using casino proceeds to buy back its land, to eastern Oklahoma, where a federal judge ruled that much of the land can be considered tribal territory.

The village of Shabbona, Illinois, is named after Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay, who once made a Paul Revere-like horse ride, warning settlers of an impending attack. In recognition of his broader efforts in the region, the U.S. government, through an 1829 treaty, awarded him 1,280 acres south of DeKalb.

Four years later, in the Treaty of Chicago of 1833, tribes granted the U.S. government 5 million acres west of Lake Michigan, including the chief’s land — but the Senate never ratified that part of the deal, according to the federal bill now under consideration.

Members of the Potawatomi Nation, who once lived in the Great Lakes region, were forced to move to Kansas, where they remain. The federal government auctioned off the chief’s land while he was in Kansas in 1849.

The chief’s tribe, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, has been trying to reclaim the land ever since. They were backed up by a Department of Interior finding in 2001 that the tribe had a legitimate claim on the reservation.

Local opponents, most notably disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, fought the effort. They maintain the land was not a reservation but land privately held by the chief that he abandoned or tried to sell.

One key concern for returning the land is what would happen to those who are living on it. In the Shabbona area, some deeds are subject to “all rights, claims, or title to the descendants of a Potawatomi Indian Chieftain named Shabbona and his Band.”

The federal bill would address this by giving such landowners clear title to their land.

In exchange, the Potawatomi would be compensated with $10 million to begin buying back 1,151 acres in the area, at fair market value, from willing sellers. The office of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior — for the first time, a Native American, former U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland — would determine how much total compensation would be paid over the following nine years.

In 2005, the Potawatomi bought about 130 acres of adjacent land and proposed building a casino and hotel. By 2016, instead of a casino, the tribe proposed an electronic bingo hall and lodge.

Now, Rupnick, a descendant of Chief Shab-eh-nay, said tribe members aren’t sure what they might do with the land. He noted the gambling market in Illinois has become saturated, with video gambling statewide and a casino planned in nearby Rockford. One proposal has called for a heritage museum to display Potawatomi artifacts, and a lodge to house the estimated 500,000 annual visitors to the nearby state park.

This spring, Illinois lawmakers approved resolutions in favor of the federal legislation with bipartisan support.

Last week, U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, both Democrats, introduced a measure in support of the proposal, which was originally introduced by Republican Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran.

The Shabbona village board has consistently supported the tribe and its plans, in anticipation of getting money to build infrastructure in the town that has fewer than 1,000 residents.

Shabbona Trustee Marc Cinnamon said the village has a good working relationship with the tribe.

“We have people in the village say, ‘Why are you even talking to them?’ ” he said. “We want to be involved if they gain sovereignty (over the nearby land).”

But the DeKalb County board is balking. In 2008, it entered a binding agreement with the Potawatomi to allow for a casino in exchange for a cut of the proceeds, to make up for lost property taxes. Recently, the board voted 12-10 against supporting the federal proposal.

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Board Chairman John Frieders said they want more information before committing either way.

‘We have concerns about everything,” he said. “If we don’t have the details, we can’t make decisions on it.”

Doug Kiel, an assistant professor of history and the humanities at Northwestern University and a citizen of the Oneida Nation, said the Potawatomi effort is part of a broader movement to compensate people for having their land taken away. He noted that areas like Chicago, where Native Americans were forced out but don’t have a similar claim of sovereignty, are unlikely to be affected.

A counter movement has arisen to try to treat reservations as irrelevant history. Local governments fear the loss of property taxes since Indian reservations don’t pay taxes, but Kiel said compensation could be negotiated, just as the Potawatomi did with the county.

He sees the federal proposal regarding the Potawatomi as a compromise that could both compensate the tribe while protecting local landowners.

“This is increasingly going to be the way of the future,” Kiel said. “What might seem like obscure history is not. It has a lot of stakes for the present.”

rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com