“The rock, it was our medicine that we could see and we could touch.”

The Kaw, the people of the South Wind, lived on more than 20 million acres across what is now northern Kansas, southern Nebraska, and western Missouri until they were forced to Indian Territory in 1873. They left behind Iⁿ’zhúje ‘Waxóbe, a sacred stone the people had prayed with for generations. Decades later, the stone was taken from a riverbed and installed in a city park in Lawrence, Kansas, with a plaque honoring the city’s founders. For nearly a century, almost no one knew it had ever belonged to the Kaw.

This story follows a vow between an uncle and his nephew, a Kaw Nation Chairman’s formal letter, a unanimous vote of the Lawrence City Commission, and a public apology from the city and Douglas County. Together they brought Iⁿ’zhúje ‘Waxóbe home to the Allegawaho Heritage Memorial Park in Council Grove, Kansas. It is the story of a sovereign nation bringing a relative home, and of a non-Tribal community choosing to listen.

Featuring Kaw Nation leadership and the City of Lawrence.