Sac and Fox Nation

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Sac & Fox
Flag of the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Oklahoma Flag of the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa

Total population
3,500
Regions with significant populations
United States (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa)
Languages
English, Sauk, Fox
Religions
Christianity, other
Related ethnic groups
other Algonquian peoples

The Sac and Fox Nation is the modern political entity encompassing the historical Sac and Fox nations of Native Americans. The tribes were always closely allied and speak very similar Algonquian languages, sometimes considered two dialects, instead of two languages. The Sac call themselves Asakiwaki (or Osakiwug) which means "people of the yellow earth" while the Fox call themselves Meshkwahkihawi meaning "people of the red earth".

The tribe has multiple separate groups and reservations. The main group, the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Oklahoma moved to near Stroud, Oklahoma in 1869 where they have about 2500 members and an 800 acre (3.2 km²) reservation.

A smaller group (called the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa or the Meskwaki) returned to their Iowa lands where they now have about 700 members and 4,165 acres (16.854 km² / 6.507 sq mi) in Tama County, Iowa near the city of Tama. There was a resident population of 761 persons on the Sac and Fox/Meskwaki Indian Reservation at the 2000 census.

The Sac and Fox Tribe of Missouri separated from the main band in the 1830's and has 360 members and a 61.226 km² (23.639 sq mi) tract in southeastern Richardson County, Nebraska and northeastern Brown County, Kansas, near Falls City, Nebraska. The Sac and Fox Indian Reservation had a resident population of 217 persons at the 2000 census.

Massika, on left a Sac and Wakusasse, a Fox, painted in 1833, showing traditional Eastern Woodlands hairstyle of shaved side hair and added deerhair roach.