Editing Ponca City, Oklahoma (section)

===Native Americans===
[[File:Statue of Standing Bear seen from West.jpg|thumb|right|The statue of Standing Bear honors the [[Ponca]] chief who successfully argued in U.S. District Court in a landmark civil rights case in 1879 that Native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law" and have the rights of citizenship.]]
[[File:Ponca City Standing Bear Museum Dedication.jpg|thumb|right|Native American young people are holding flags of their tribes at the dedication of the Standing Bear Museum.]]
Until recently, European Americans' accounts of their settlement and the growth of the oil industry in Ponca City have often overshadowed both the long ancient history of [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous peoples]] in the area, and those tribes who were resettled to Oklahoma in the 19th century under [[Indian Removal]].

Ponca City is named after the [[Ponca]] tribe, part of whom were relocated from [[Nebraska]] to northern Oklahoma from 1877 to 1880. Like all of the forced American Indigenous removals of the 19th century, the Poncas' trek was arduous. Followed by the [[United States]] government's failure to provide adequate supplies and [[malaria]] at their destination, nearly one-third of the Ponca died from illness and exposure. "Out of 700 Ponca who left the Nebraska reservation, 158 died in Oklahoma within two years."<ref>Federal Writers' Project, ''Nebraska: A Guide to the Cornhusker State'',  Works Projects Administration for the State of Nebraska, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1939, reprinted 1979, p. 36</ref>

The [[Ponca]] protested their conditions. An additional irritant occurred upon the death of [[Standing Bear]]'s oldest son in 1879. The chief had promised to bury him in his homeland, and about 60 Ponca accompanied him back to Nebraska. The [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] was ordered to arrest them for having left the reservation, and they were confined to [[Fort Omaha]]. Most of the tribal members who left eventually returned to the reservation in [[Oklahoma]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/stories/0601_0104.html |title=The Ponca Trail of Tears: Standing Bear Returns and Is Arrested |publisher=Nebraska Studies |work=The Trial of Standing Bear |access-date=2010-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616211804/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0600%2Fstories%2F0601_0104.html |archive-date=2011-06-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> With the aid of prominent attorneys working ''[[pro bono]]'', [[Standing Bear]] filed a writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' challenging his arrest. The case of ''[[Standing Bear v. Crook]]'' (1879) was a landmark decision in the [[United States district court|U.S. District Court]], where the judge ruled that Indians had the same legal rights as other [[United States]] citizens.

A statue of [[Standing Bear]] was erected in his honor at the intersection of Highway 60 and Standing Bear Parkway in Ponca City. In the late 20th century, the city developed a park and museum named in his honor. In addition to the Standing Bear Museum, the 63-acre park includes more than eight fully developed acres with off street parking, a one-acre pond and a walking trail.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.standingbearpark.com/|title=Home|website=Standing Bear}}</ref>

The [[Ponca Nation]], which has kept its headquarters south of Ponca City since 1879, played a major part in the development of the Marland Oil Company and the city. Chief White Eagle leased resource-containing portions of the tribe's allotted land to E.W. Marland in 1911 for oil exploration and development.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ponca {{!}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=PO007|access-date=2021-02-17|website=www.okhistory.org}}</ref>

Since the late 20th century, the [[Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma|Ponca tribe]] has worked to build its infrastructure and improve services for its people. In February 2006, the tribe received a grant of more than $800,000 from the [[Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community]] of [[Minnesota]] for debt retirement and economic development.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}

Nearby north-central tribes are the [[Kaw people|Kaw]], [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Otoe–Missouria Tribe of Indians|Otoe-Missouria]], [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], and [[Tonkawa]]. These are all federally recognized tribes, as is the [[Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma]]. In 1994, the six tribes established the Standing Bear Foundation and Pow-wow, beginning the first of annual shared [[pow-wow]]s, to which they invite the public. They wanted to build collaboration among the tribes and with the non-Native residents of Ponca City. The pow-wow is now held in Standing Bear Park.{{Citation needed|date=December 2015}}