Nebraska students walk in Chief Standing Bear’s footsteps

NEAR WYMORE, Neb. (AP) – A group of students from Peru State College have received the opportunity to learn a history lesson by leaving the classroom.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that a professor of the undergraduate course called History of Nebraska received a grant that helped pay costs for students to take a two-day trip Thursday to the Chief Standing Bear Trail south of Wymore.

The students will visit several sites along the trail, including the burial site of the chief’s daughter, who died during the journey and the Ponca Tribal Museum.

In 1877, the Ponca Tribe was forced to march from its home in northeast Nebraska to Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear led them on the march. The chief eventually returned to Nebraska with some other members of his tribe. Standing Bear was captured by the Army, but he was allowed to fight his case in court in 1879, which led to him being the first Native American to be legally recognized as a person in the United States.

Efforts have been made to bring more recognition to Standing Bear’s legacy. A congressional committee advanced a bill Thursday that would direct federal officials to study the possibility of designating the Chief Standing Bear Trail as a national historic trail.

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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com