Like many French who came to North America in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Bourassa family played a role in the development of both the fur trade and French-Native American relations.
Joseph Napoleon Bourassa used his affinity and enjoyment of languages to represent the Potawatomi in dealings with the federal government.
After the Potawatomi arrived in present-day Kansas, Indian agents R.W. Cummins and A.J. Vaughan established a pay station and trading post at Uniontown located south of the Kansas River and west of present-day Topeka, Kansas. The settlement served as a commercial hub for Tribal members, and its position along the Oregon-California Trail made it a Read More »
The 2014 Gathering of Potawatomi Nations took place in the woods of western Michigan, home to the Gun Lake Potawatomi Tribe. Located near the Canadian and United States border, its cool summers were the exact opposite of what CPN member and University of Texas A&M-Kingsville student Caleb Lee is used to. Lee, a Bourassa family Read More »