American Indian Trails of the West

Nebraska-Oklahoma Ponca TrailThe legacy of Standing Bear stands tall across the Great Plains. “My hand is not the same color as yours. But if I prick it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you too will feel pain. The blood that flows will be the same color. I am a man.” These words, spoken in an Omaha, Nebraska, courtroom by Ponca Chief Standing Bear, resulted in a May 12, 1879, landmark decision to free this man and his followers from arrest for leaving a reservation in Oklahoma. I