A-970-3TON

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A-970-3TON

The Tonkawa Tribe, indigenous to Austin, Texas was forcibly removed to Oklahoma over one hundred years ago. Today’s members still consider themselves as being from the Austin area and carry an emotional attachment to the city of Austin. In the 1800s, the Tonkawa were consistently friendly to Texas settlers, providing countless acts of assistance to them over six decades of contact. In a little-known story, the tribe provided its finest help directly to the people of Austin at the time of our city’s greatest need, during Texas’ “Archive War.” When Texas President Sam Houston tried to remove the “capital of Texas” status from Austin, after three-quarters of our city’s population relocated eastward for safety, the Tonkawa Tribe moved into Austin in the summer of 1842, doubled the city’s population, lived peaceably with the remaining settlers, and worked cooperatively with them for eighteen months to protect the city from Comanche raids. By the end of 1843 when political winds shifted in the city’s favor, the Tonkawa Tribe was asked to leave the city. In the following years, the tribe suffered much at the hands of Texans and others, declining almost to the point of extinction. Today the tribe is mostly forgotten in Austin, however, on its reservation in northern Oklahoma, the tribe has made an amazing comeback in recent decades. Now with over 800 persons it is one of the smallest yet up-and-coming federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma. A feature-length documentary, Tonkawa: They All Stay Together, currently being produced in Austin, Texas, and Tonkawa, Oklahoma, will tell the tribe’s story including their presence in Austin (Sugarloaf Pictures LLC, 2023). Research performed during the planning phase of the film was the catalyst for this paper. This paper reviews evidence for the Tonkawa Tribe having lived in Austin and suggests the parameters of the unusual arrangement the tribe had with the city. The forced displacement of two-hundred or more Tonkawa tribal members from within Austin’s city limits was the first ethnic removal event in Austin’s history. To the author’s knowledge, the City of Austin has never acknowledged its debt to the Tonkawa Tribe for the city’s survival.

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How the Tonkawa Tribe Came to Live in Austin Texas

This paper reviews evidence for the Tonkawa Tribe having lived in Austin and suggests the parameters of the unusual arrangement the tribe had with the city. The forced displacement of two-hundred or more Tonkawa tribal members from within Austin’s city limits was the first ethnic removal event in Austin’s history. To the author’s knowledge, the City of Austin has never acknowledged its debt to the Tonkawa Tribe for the city’s survival.

2023-08-02