In the Potawatomi communities in the United States and Canada, “fewer than a handful” of elders remain who speak Potawatomi as their first language, says Robert Collins, Interdepartmental Potawatomi Language Lead for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s (CPN) Cultural Heritage Center.
All 39 tribes based in Oklahoma are losing cherished first-language speakers, and the COVID-19 pandemic took a deep toll. But language preservation efforts are a priority.
When he studies the Potawatomi language, Collins says, “you can see the world the way our ancestors viewed it. It’s like a window to the past.”
Rainey Faris, Cheyenne Language and Culture Coordinator for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, has a similar view.
The language “is who we are as a Cheyenne people,” Faris says. “I don’t really like differentiating culture and language, because you can’t have one without the other.”
Collins says he developed an interest in the language because he wanted to learn to pray in Potawatomi during ceremonies. The CPN, with a tribal enrollment of 39,636, is the largest of the seven federally-recognized tribes of Potawatomi in the United States and two First Nations in Canada. It’s the only one based in Oklahoma. But a kinship remains, and the communities have worked together to develop programs.
The tribe’s language programs operate at the CPN Child Development Centers, the Cultural Heritage Center, in Shawnee and Tecumseh schools, and in seven colleges across Oklahoma and Kansas. Classes for adults are online and in-person. Technology has amplified the reach.
“For anyone who wants to learn the language, we will find something that fits them and their schedule,” Collins says. “We are in the midst of creating second-language speakers, so there is hope and promise with that.”
James Sleeper, coordinator of the Arapaho Language and Cultural Program for the Concho-based tribes, says Northern Arapaho elders in Wyoming have helped train the language apprentices in his program. One of the former apprentices, Jeff Black, teaches Arapaho classes at El Reno High School. Non-Native students are welcome to sign up for the classes, as well.
The Arapaho program includes weekly community classes and twice-a-month kids’ classes via Zoom, and tribal employees are offered classes during the workday.
“My personal opinion is that the language holds all of our identity,” Sleeper says. “I realized I needed to start learning so I could pass it down to my kids.”
Faris says that fewer than ten first-language Southern Cheyenne speakers remain.
“We are thankful for our elders who were able to hold on to their language,” she says.
Faris teaches weekly classes via Zoom for children and adults. The Northern Cheyenne tribe, with about 300 fluent speakers, has been a help to her tribe.
“Despite all the efforts the government made to strip us of our language, I feel blessed that we still have people who are breathing our language into us,” Faris says.
Blake Norton, director of the CPN Cultural Heritage Center, says Collins’ efforts contributed to the center being a recipient of the Institute of Museum and Library Services 2025 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
Only five libraries and five museums received the award, and CPN is the fourth Indigenous community to receive the medal since the award’s inception in 1994. The financial prize that ac-companies the medal will be used in part to bolster the tribe’s language program.
