Shawnee Tribe now owns a historic cemetery in Johnson County: 'This is a sacred place'

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill requiring the Kansas State Historical Society to give the Shawnee Tribe ownership of a cemetery where many of its tribe members are buried.
The Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma now owns a historic half-acre cemetery off Nieman Road and W. 59th Terrace in Shawnee.

Earlier this week, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed SB 405, which obligates the Kansas State Historical Society, which had previously owned and operated the cemetery, to give the small plot of land back to the tribe.

Chief Ben Barnes called it a “significant day” for the tribe’s efforts to tell a fuller truth of their history in what is now Johnson County.