ABOUT
KHS is a non-profit 501(c)3 entity dedicated to educating the public about who we, the Kanza, are as a people, that we are original inhabitants of Kansas, and that we are still here. Kaw Nation citizens founded KHS and we work closely with the tribe, residents in Kansas, and other allies for the preservation, protection, and perpetuation of our culture, history, and sacred sites in Kansas.
On February 28, 2000, the Kaw Nation purchased 146.8 acres of land along the Little John Creek near Council Grove, Kansas and named it Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park, after the tribe’s last principal chief in Kansas. It is the first time Kaw Nation reunited with land in Kansas since our forced removal to Indian Territory in 1873. In 2006, in consultation with other Kaw Nation citizens, James Pepper Henry created a non-profit organization to revive and preserve a Kaw Warrior Dance.
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In 2018 we renamed this organization Kanza Heritage Society after a generous reparation donation. Florence Schloneger, a retired Mennonite pastor, donated a portion of the proceeds from the sale of her family’s McPherson County farm. Her family had lived on the property for five generations, on what is part of Kanza homelands. This was a historic event for the tribe and the first known reparation donation to the Kanza in the state of Kansas.
Our organization is supported by donations from people like you. Any amount makes a difference.
We are grateful you are here; wéwahnaⁿbe.
Jim Pepper Henry,
Co-Founder, President
Pauline Eads Sharp,
Co-Founder, Vice President
Pauline Eads Sharp (Kaw/Potawatomi/Ojibwe) is a citizen of Kaw Nation and currently serves as Chair of the Kanza Heritage Society. She is on the Sacred Red Rock leadership team which has successfully rematriated Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe to the Kaw Nation homeland at Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park near Council Grove, Ks.
Pauline has served on the Kaw Nation Cultural Committee as well as the Board of Trustees of the Mid-American All-Indian Center in Wichita, Ks. She is a juried member of the Kansas Alliance of Professional Historical Performers.
Pauline retired in 2012 from a 40 year career in Information Technology. She lives in Wichita, Ks. with her husband, Doug Sharp.
James Pepper Henry (Kaw Citizen, Muscogee Creek) is co-founder and President of the Kanza Ilóshka Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the perpetuation of the cultural life-ways and traditions of the Kaw people. Jim is also an active Native American traditional dancer and is co-founder of the Kaw Nation Traditional Dance Society.
He was the Executive Director of Oklahoma’s premier art, history, and culture museum, the Gilcrease Museum. “Jim” co-led the successful $65 million campaign to update and expand the facility. Prior to Gilcrease, he was the Director and CEO of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ. He developed programming and exhibitions that significantly increased visitorship and membership. He was the first enrolled Native American to be at the helm of the 83-year old institution.
Jim is a former Associate Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian where, for nearly ten years, he managed a wide variety of Native American community oriented programs, services, and traveling exhibitions. Jim played a pivotal role in the establishment and launch of the American Indian museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC that opened to the public in 2004.
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