Our Story

Timeline of Events

1838

Missouri legislation prohibiting Indians from “hunting or roaming” nor in the state without a permit from their Indian agent, punishable by fine or imprisonment – duty of Governor to request no agents give permits to Indians.

December 29, 1890

Widely considered the end of the Indian Wars, the Wounded Knee massacre was the slaughter of 300 unarmed Lakota men, women, and children by the US Army.

Five days after the massacre, L. Frank Baum wrote in his newspaper, the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, “The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.”

1915

Cleveland Indians (MLB team) change name from Naps to Indians.

1925

Tribe of Mic-O-Say – H. Roe Bartle, a Boy Scouts of America executive of St. Joseph, Missouri, founded the “Tribe of Mic O Say” – a program of BSA that culturally appropriates Native American identity, culture, traditions, and sacred practices, including teaching non-Native children to dance various Native American dances to “honor” tribes and ceremonially giving “Indian names.” This is where H. Roe Bartle became a self-proclaimed “Chief.”

1960

The Dallas Texans (predecessor to KC Football) join the American Football league.

1963

Dallas Texans move to Kansas City, lured by KC Mayor H. Roe Bartle. Owner, Lamar Hunt, renames the team the Ch**fs in honor of Mayor Bartle’s nickname of “The Chief.” The nickname was based on Bartle’s continuing appropriation of Native American identity and imagery that began decades earlier with the founding of Mic-O-Say. Lamar Hunt also began appropriating Native imagery for the brand of the team.

2005

Not In Our Honor (NIOH) was founded by a group of Native American college students at the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University. Although this was the organization’s first protest, there were many others who had protested in KC for decades. Many Native Americans from all across the midwest came out to support including Vernon Bellecourt.

2020

NIOH continued to protest outside the stadium, ramping up efforts as George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter became a major spotlight on race issues.

January 2021

Shawnee Mission Board of Education in the Kansas City metro area unanimously approved a new mascot policy prohibiting mascots deemed derogatory or offensive, requiring them to be culturally sensitive and respectful. The Shawnee Mission North High Indians and three other schools in the district changed their Native American themed names.

Present

NIOH continues to protest the cultural appropriation and promotion of stereotypes by the Kansas City Football team.