1. Historical information about the culture

The term “Shawnee” refers to a collection of Native American groups who lived semi-nomadic lives. The Shawnee were renowned as fierce warriors, so other tribes would invite them to come share their lands in return for protection. This resulted in the Shawnee, at various points in history, occupying lands as far south as South Carolina, as far east as Pennsylvania, and as far west as Missouri. They principally were settled in Kentucky and Ohio immediately before and during European contact, at which time they numbered between 2,000 and 12,000. The Shawnee language is part of the Algonquian language family, and the name Shawnee is derived from an Algonquian word, sawanwa, which means “people of the south.”
            The historical Shawnee organized their society into five divisions or “septs.” Each sept served an important cultural purpose for the tribe. The Pekowi sept oversaw all aspects of religious life. The Mekoche practiced healing arts. The Kishpoko were warriors. The Thawikila and Chalaakaatha septs both engaged in political activities for the tribe, and tribal chieftains of the Shawnee came from one of these two septs.
            The Shawnee worshipped both a Great Spirit as well as the spirits of nature and natural objects such as mountains and animals. They also worshipped a deity known as Our Grandmother, who they believed responsible for creation and for drawing souls up to heaven in a net. Some worship also centered around mishaami, which were sacred bundles of holy objects. Each of the five septs kept its own mishaami and believed that by manipulating and venerating the objects in the mishaami, they could help bring good fortune. The mishaami were believed to be able to influence health, harvests, hunting, and war, and only very important tribe members were privy to what objects the mishaami actually contained.
            Other aspects of religious life included ceremonies, such as the spring and fall Bread Dances and the Green Corn Dance, which honored tribe members for their farming and hunting and thanked nature for the sustenance the tribe enoyed. Additionally, all Shawnee children underwent both naming ceremonies and vision quests. The naming ceremonies aimed to give each child a name that would bring him or her good fortune throughout his or her life, and vision quests were periods of deprivation, fasting, and isolation during which children of both sexes received spiritual visions. The Shawnee are notable for the fact that children undertook vision quests before puberty, much younger than children of other Native American tribes.
            The Shawnee practiced a livelihood that was a combination of farming, hunting, and gathering. Traditionally, the women farmed maize, beans, squash, and pumpkins and gathered wild staples such as nuts and berries. The Shawnee men hunted throughout the year for deer, bear, pheasants, and other animals. The Shawnee, like other tribes, were very adept at finding uses for all parts of the animals that they hunted.
      In the summer, the Shawnee lived communally in semi-permanent villages comprised of longhouses that used saplings for the framing covered by bark or animal skins as walls. There was usually one msikamelwi, or council house, that was very large with wide doorways and windows that was used for religious and political proceedings and as a village safe house when the tribe was under attack. In the fall and winter, however, Shawnee men set off on hunting expeditions while Shawnee women set off on gathering expeditions. During this time, they constructed and lived in much smaller, less permanent longhouses that each only housed a few people.

References:
1.  Page 213-226 of the Encyclopedia of Ohio Indians, v. 1
2.  Page 285-291 of the Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, v. 1

2. Colonial experience of the culture

The Shawnee have had a long history of trying to avoid conflict with both other tribes and settlers alike.  They originally were known to have settled in the Ohio Valley, but most were expelled by a neighboring Iroquois tribe in the 1660s due to a land skirmish.  They scattered into four groups settling around the country.  This “war” between tribes ended around 1700, and the Shawnee were allowed to return to their previous lands.  They began to trade with French settlers, but British allied tribes soon descended upon them and put an end to the business.
          Around 1740, the four groups of Shawnee finally began to come back together, but it wasn’t without issues.  The Iroquois, the French, and the British all claimed the land the Shawnee declared to be home.  The Shawnee began to slowly migrate more towards Pennsylvania, which made the French happy as they were quite set on making an alliance against the British and opening more trade with the Shawnee people.  When they finally received an opportunity, the French were quick to use force to try and push the British back; Shawnee were appalled by this and had no interest in fighting for either side. 
        The Iroquois, given a form of authority to communicate between the British and a large number of tribes (including the Shawnee), decided to sign a treaty giving their lands to the British in exchange for protection from the French.  Presumably, this was unknown to the other tribes; when the French and Indian war came about, the Ohio tribes were willing to fight at first.  However, when they discovered the Iroquois had given their land to the British, they became distrustful- the Iroquois tribe had misused their power, and the British were merely out to take their lands!  The tribe was angry and betrayed, but did not jump so quickly to the other side.  Though they knew not to trust the British or Iroquois, the French seemed just as untrustworthy, so they chose to stay out of the conflict.  In 1754 however, after a Shawnee War Chief had been captured by the British and died in their prison (the British suspected more than neutrality to the issue), his family concerted a number of raids in vengeance against his captors.  This appeared to be the end of the Shawnee listening to orders from the Iroquois.
        After a variety of issues, a final peace treaty was signed by the Shawnee with the British in 1762.  Respect for Native Americans was hard to find after this time, and many of the Shawnee and other tribes were mistreated by the British, who looked down upon the tribes and saw themselves victors rather than honoring a peace treaty. 
        Fast forwarding to the American Revolution, the Shawnee took a strong stance against the American settlers.  Though gruesome, the British would pay for American scalps as well as supply arms against them- a hard bargain to walk away from for the Ohio tribes.  They were all too eager to go up in arms against the American people, and though the Revolutionary war ended in 1783, the issues with the indian tribes continued steadily until 1795.  After this, the conflict dropped off, but did not end.  As it happens, the Shawnee were merely biding their time, waiting to strike.
        Shortly following all this conflict, who comes into the picture but Tecumseh, who assembles an army of combined tribes to fight the American’s colonization.  While he had numerous victories against the Americans, he was killed in 1813 during his final stand.  With his loss, any hope of opposing the Americans was gone.   In 1817 the Shawnee finally gave up to sign a final treaty in exchange for 3 reservations totaling 173 square miles.
       After all this conflict, little history remains- the Shawnee spread through multiple states and received a few reservations in the process.  While some of these lands were eventually surrendered back to the US government, the Shawnee continued to have lands available for them to live on, and never again since then has a serious conflict arisen between Shawnee and other tribes or settlers.  

References:

1.  http://www.tolatsga.org/shaw.html

3. Contemporary developments or issues

Ever since the arrival of the Europeans hundreds of years ago, the Native Americans have endured hardship. Issues of stolen land, foreign illness, and unwanted, violent battles plagued the Native Americans nationally. It goes without saying that the Shawnee tribe experienced all of these same horrors. It also goes without saying that due to these events, trust of the United States is something that doesn’t come easily to the Shawnee.
For the first time in over 159 years, a Native American tribe owns land in the state of Ohio. But more importantly, it’s land that the Shawnee personally owns. The land was not given to them or rented to them. They, “have earned it. [They] have purchased it”. Dark Rain, Clan Mother, shares proudly that they, “did presentations for the public… and would rent a place and give public presentations” which is how they generated finances. This is a development, an accomplishment, that the Shawnee are currently very proud of and they don’t want to stop here. Their goal is to have lifetime acres those tribe members and family members can buy and turn into a community. The ambitions don’t stop there either. The Shawnee tribe of Ohio also aspires to build a museum and a store to sell and showcase their crafts and fresh produce. 
Today, Dark Rain admits that they, “have assimilated into the workforce and into the education system and into communities” of the United States. For so long, the members of the Shawnee tribe had to play, “the game of hide-and-seek” to evade the government. They had to change their names, the way they walked, what they wore, and how they spoke so no one would recognize them. This is the origin of the decline in the use of their language. As Reverend Shaw, a United Methodist minister and fellow Shawnee, shares, “I couldn't speak my own language or people would know who I was”. Their language is now considered endangered.

References:

1. https://www.facebook.com/pages/SHAWNEE-NATION-UNITED-REMNANT-BAND/92202359479

1. http://shawneeway.org

1. http://shawneeway.org/darkrain-pod.pdf