In the 1830s, Chief Shab-eh-nay, the leader of tribal residents on 1,300 acres (530 ha) of land in Illinois, went to visit members of his family who had been forced west to Kansas.

[4] On August 1, 1953, the US Congress passed House Concurrent Resolution 108 which called for the immediate termination of the Flathead, Klamath, Menominee, Potawatomi, and Turtle Mountain Chippewa, as well as all tribes in the states of California, New York, Florida, and Texas.

[7] The Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation tribal leader, Minnie Evans (Indian name: Ke-what-no-quah Wish-Ken-O)[8] led the effort to stop termination.

[9] Tribal members sent petitions of protest to the government and multiple delegations went to testify at congressional meetings in Washington, DC.

[10] Tribal Council members Vestana Cadue, Oliver Kahbeah, and Ralph Simon of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas traveled at their own expense to testify as well.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi became the first and only federally recognized tribal nation in Illinois, since Native Americans were dispossessed in the 19th century.