'Homecoming': 100 years after forceful removal, Nez Perce people celebrate reclaimed land

[Ptah]

Vice-Chairman Shannon Wheeler has been dreaming about this day for years.

On Thursday, more than 150 Nez Perce (Niimiipuu) people returned and blessed part of their homeland, a hundred years after the U.S Army drove them from the Wallowa Valley in eastern Oregon.

In direct violation of 1855’s Treaty of Walla Walla, the Nez Perce in 1877 were forced from their 7.5 million-acre homeland to a 750,000-acre reservation in Idaho.

For years, the tribe has worked to keep a connection to the ancestral land they were driven from. Last year, they successfully reclaimed part of that land.

https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2021/07/29/oregon-nez-perce-tribe-celebrate-reclaimed-reservation-land-history-treaty-chief-joseph-amsaaxpa/5424269001/

[brush]

1. Good to hear this, although the 148 acre plot is only a small...

fraction of the land their ancestors were driven from in the 19th century. Chief Joseph, who resisted the government/army's breaking of a legitimate treaty, is considered a military genius and his brilliant retreat action leading a band of men, women and children is studied at Westpoint.