Ponca Tribe of Nebraska

Introduced European diseases had killed 90% of the Ponca people by 1804, when the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived in their lands.

Chief Standing Bear led a group on a 500-mile walking trek (800 km) back to their homelands in Nebraska to bury their dead.

The subsequent trial, Standing Bear v. Crook established the writ of habeas corpus for the first time for Native Americans, also allowed the Poncas to have lands restored to them in Nebraska.

[6] In an effort to identify and save prehistoric artifacts before they were destroyed during agricultural development, the University of Nebraska and the Smithsonian Institution undertook a joint project.

The Ponca village included large circular homes up to sixty feet in diameter; their residences were located for almost two miles (3 km) along the south bank of the Niobrara River.

[8] In 2018 farmers Helen and Art Tanderup gifted and deeded 1.6 acres (0.65 ha) of their land near Neligh, Nebraska, which had been in their family for 137 years, back to the tribe in the first ceremony of its kind; the Fifth Annual planting of sacred Ponca corn also took place.