An American Indian ethnic group, whose members are found principally on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming and on allotments on the former Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation in Oklahoma, Arapahos are descendents of Algonquian-speaking peoples who migrated from the Great Lakes onto the Great Plains in the distant past. By the eighteenth century, distinct northern and southern divisions occupied lands on the Plains, where, drawn by bison herds and horses acquired from Comanches, they embraced Plains Indian cultural traditions. These divisions should be understood as flexible residence groups rather than unified political or economic entities. The band remained the most important unit of organization, and Arapaho governance operated through a series of age-grade societies (societies organized by age) that provided stable leadership while facilitating inter-band cooperation.
By the middle nineteenth century, Arapahos found themselves in competition with waves of settlers, miners, and military personnel for control of their lands and resources. Arapahos responded by endorsing the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, but while this agreement supposedly guaranteed peaceful relations with settlers, the 1864 massacre at Sand Creek convinced Southern Arapahos to surrender traditional lands to join Southern Cheyennes on a reservation in western Oklahoma. With a few exceptions, Northern Arapahos generally avoided engaging the United States Army, expecting to enjoy secure title to a reservation of their own in return. Instead, they settled on the Shoshone Reservation in 1878 (Wind River Indian Reservation after 1937), a "temporary" measure that eventually became permanent.
On reservations, Arapahos struggled to maintain their political, social, and religious institutions in the face of deepening poverty and aggressive government civilization programs. On the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation, implementation of Dawes Act allotment policies in 1891 replaced the tribal land base with individual homesteads. Land sales followed as did increased reliance on wage work and on quite minimal revenues from oil leases. Since 1935, a joint constitutional committee established under the auspices of the Indian Reorganization Act has governed affairs of the combined Cheyenne-Arapaho tribe.
Northern Arapahos also faced allotment and efforts by ranchers and farmers to gain control over valuable resources. Non-Indian farmers obtained title to irrigated lands within reservation boundaries, and water rights re-main a bone of contention between Indians and the State of Wyoming. But the Wind River Reservation remains substantially intact, and Northern Arapaho age-grade societies' ceremonial organizations continue to operate. Though they rejected the Indian Reorganization Act, Arapahos govern themselves through a six-member business committee that meets with an Eastern Shoshone counterpart on matters of mutual interest. Since 1947, the two tribes have divided oil revenues, the Arapahos dedicating most of their share to per capita payments, with some funding community development projects. But unemployment remains high, with tribal economic development projects like the Arapaho Ranch unable to produce many jobs.
Nevertheless, Arapahos remain politically vital and active ceremonially. Their annual sun dance, held on the Wind River Reservation, affirms a sense of shared identity and is a focal point for ethnic identity and tribal self-determination.
Bibliography
Berthrong, Donald. The Cheyenne and Arapaho Ordeal: Reservation and Agency Life in the Indian Territory, 1875–1907. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.
Fowler, Loretta. Arapahoe Politics, 1851–1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
Stamm, Henry E., IV. People of the Wind River: The Eastern Shoshones, 1825–1900. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Trenholm, Virginia Cole. The Arapahoes, Our People. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970.
—Brian C. Hosmer
