Kennekuk

Keannekeuk (c. 1790–1852), also known as the "Kickapoo Prophet", was a Kickapoo medicine man and spiritual leader of the Vermilion band of the Kickapoo nation. He lived in East Central Illinois much of his life along the Vermilion River[1] and led a community of followers, whose beliefs centered on non-violence, passive resistance to resettlement, abstinence from alcohol, and meditation.[2] He favored moderate, nonviolent accommodation and coexistence with American westward expansion, and a settled agricultural life. These views caused him and his followers to suffer derision and alienation from some of the other Kickapoo bands. His tribal community's religious outlook embodied a type of Christian evangelism in some respects and a group of Potawatomi converts joined his following over time. He died on the reservation in Kansas in 1852.

Reverend William H. Honnell, who visited a few years after Kennekuk's death, reported that Kennekuk went back and forth between Christian teachings and "heathenism."[3]

Some Kickapoo descendants still follow the tenets of his preaching.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Herring, Joseph B., Kenekuk: The Kickapoo Prophet. University of Kansas Press, 1988, pp. 47–48.
  2. ↑ Student Britannica
  3. ↑ "Reminiscences of Reverend William H. Honnell". Kansas Memory. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  4. ↑ Kickapoos: Lords of the Middle Border pgs 109–118
  • "Portrait of Kennekuk, "The Kickapoo Prophet"". Kansas Memory. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  • "Kennekuk's prayer-stick illustration". Kansas Memory. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  • "George Remsburg Papers". Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-12-12. Contains a rather detailed study of Keannakuk (Kennekuk)
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