The Fox Project

Abstract

Picture a piece of land on the Iowa River in Central Iowa. Some of it is bottomland that floods over. Some of it is wooded hillside. Some is useful for farming. For the past 100 years this has been the home of a growing community of American Indians who call themselves Mesquakies. They are commonly known as Fox Indians. After the Blackhawk War they were removed from Illinois and Iowa to Kansas. They defied the government, however, and in 1857 a few of them sought and received permission from the state of Iowa to buy 80 acres of land on which to settle. The 80 acres have grown to 3300. The population has grown to some 600 persons who think of this settlement as home even though many work and live in the towns and the cities of the white world—which in the meantime has surrounded their land and their lives.