Our Native Traditions & Oklahoma Native Royalty 2023

OUR NATIVE TRADITIONS

OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY 2023

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Publisher - Jeremy Gulban Editorial Contributors & Photos: Christina Walker, Oklahoma Native Royalty Kent Bush, Wes Studi & David Holt Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Tribal History: Citizen Potawatomi Nation Comanche Nation Shawnee Tribe Kialegee Tribal Town Choctaw Nation Kickapoo Tribe Chickasaw Nation Absentee Shawnee Tribe Seminole Nation

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Advertising Sales: Michelle Bradley, Director Christina Walker (405) 617-3088 Aaron McDonald (405) 214-3970 Cover Artist: Traci Rabbit & Story Graphic Artist: Aaron Gulley Oklahoma Native Royalty & Our Native Traditions Shawnee News-Star, CherryRoad Media www.news-star.com The information in this magazine is gathered and compiled in a way to ensure maximum accuracy, however we cannot guarantee the accuracy of all information furnished in it, or the complete absence of errors and omissions, an no responsibility is assured. In the event of error or omission for paid services of this magazine, the liability shall be limited to a pro-rated abatement of the charge paid to the company, but shall not exceed the amount payable to the company.

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Our Native Traditions

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OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Abbygail Littleman Oklahoma Indian Nation Jr Princess 2023

Acelee Ellis District 8 Little Miss Choctaw Nation

Addison Rouse Jr Miss Cherokee 2023-2024

Aihanna Payne Otoe Missouria Princess 2023-2024

Aleacia Frazier-Walker Sac & Fox Honor Guard Princess, 2023-2024

Aleiyah Gaddis 2022 Jr. Miss Indian OKC - Osage

Aliyah Myers Miss Choctaw Nation 2023-2024

Allena Boyd-Kaudlekaule Kiowa Tribe Veterans Office Princess 2021-2024

Alyssa Danielle Palmer-Cardoza Fort Sill Apache Princess 2023-2024

Alyssa J Cole Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, District 12 Junior Miss

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Our Native Traditions

CulCultural tural Heri Heritage tage Center Center remembers remembers thethe P oP otawatomi tawatomi

Trail Trail ooff Death Death

Federal officials called a meeting with the in theofficials village’s Many in the Potawatomi Federal Federal officials calledcalled a church. meeting a meeting with the with the saw an to tell the Tribe Tribe sawinthis this as an opportunity toMany tell the the Potawatomi Potawatomi theas invillage’s theopportunity village’s church. church.

Many in in government Great region was government that the Great Lakes region was the Tribe the Tribe sawthat this sawthe asthis an as opportunity anLakes opportunity to tellto thetell the their and they not leaving, she government government thatthat the that Great thewere Great Lakes regionregion was their home home and that they were not Lakes leaving, she was said. their their home and that andthey thatwere they not wereleaving, not leaving, she she said. home said.“The said. leaders “The leaders weren’t weren’t given given that that opportunity, though,” Dr. Mosteller said.

“The “The leaders leaders weren’t given given that that opportunity, though,” Dr. weren’t Mosteller said.

“When they into the the opportunity, opportunity, though,” though,” Dr.church, Mosteller Dr. Mosteller said. said.

“When they went went into the church, the doors doors were “When Threewent days later, was doors “When they went they the into church, the everyone church, the doors the were locked. locked.

Threeinto days later, everyone was were were locked. locked.

Threehad Three daysa later, days later, everyone everyone was rounded up.

They volunteer militia of was rounded up. They had a volunteer militia of rounded up.from They up.around They had ahad volunteer a volunteer of of youngrounded men the area tomilitia ride militia out young men from around the area to ride out young young men up from men around around the area thewho to area ride toout ride out and gather all from the Potawatomi hadn’t and gather up all the who and gather andat gather up allup theallPotawatomi Potawatomi thevillage.”

Potawatomi who hadn’t hadn’t who hadn’t gathered Menominee’s gathered at Menominee’s village.” gathered gathered at Menominee’s at Menominee’s village.” village.”

U.S. General John Tipton’s men also U.S. General John Tipton’s men also U.S.theU.S. General John John Tipton’s Tipton’s men men also burned cropsGeneral and wigwams, which made it also burned the crops and wigwams, which made it burned burned the crops the crops and wigwams, and wigwams, which which made made it it difficult for the Potawatomi to stay. difficult for the Potawatomi to stay. difficult for the Potawatomi to which stay.

“The federal government, is “The “The federal federal government, government, which is is organizing this with the politicians inwhich Indiana, organizing organizing this with this the withpoliticians the politicians in Indiana, in Indiana, knew that they didn’t care what Menominee, knew knew that they that didn’t they didn’t care care what Menominee, Menominee, knew that Black they didn’t careallwhat what Pepinawa, Wolf and theseMenominee, other Tribal Pepinawa, Pepinawa, Black Black Wolf and Wolfall and these all other these other Tribal Tribal Pepinawa, Black Wolf and all these other leaders said,” Dr. Mosteller said. “TheyTribal were leaders leaders said,” said,” Dr. Mosteller Dr. Mosteller said. said.

“They “They were were leaderstosaid,” Dr. Mosteller said.or“They were going get them out one way another — goinggoing to gettothem get them out one outway oneorway another or another — — going to get them out one way or another — whether it convincing or whether whether it was wasitthrough through was through convincing convincing or force.” force.” or force.” whether it was through convincing or force.”

Wall of Wall Wall of moccasins moccasins of moccasins Wall of moccasins Records show that most individuals Records show show that that most most individuals Records individuals

removed duringshow the Trail Trail of Death lackedlacked the the Records that most individuals removed during the Death lacked the removed during the of Trail of Death Amidst an era increased expansion by non-Native settlers into the removed during the Trail of make Death lacked footwear needed to the journey. proper footwear needed to make thethe journey.

Amidst anofera of increased expansion by non-Native settlers intoUnited the United proper gallery beginsbegins with awith display ofthe moccasins The gallery a display of moccasins proper footwear needed to make journey.

States’ western frontiers, a single piecepiece of by legislation codified federal policy on on The States’ western a expansion single of legislation codified policy Amidst an era offrontiers, increased non-Native settlers intofederal the United to and honor the Potawatomi who who to recognize and ahonor theofPotawatomi the topic of removing tribal people from from their lands.lands.

Oncodified May 1830, President thewestern topic offrontiers, removing their On 28, May 28, 1830, President Therecognize gallery begins with display moccasins States’ atribal singlepeople piece of legislation federal policy on the 660-mile trail. endured the 660-mile Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act lands. into Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Actlaw. into law.

This authorized endured to recognize and honor thetrail.

Potawatomi who the topic of removing tribal people from their OnThis Maylegislation 28, legislation 1830,authorized President CHCthe employees worked with CPN’s PublicPublic CHC employees with CPN’s the federal government to forcibly relocate Native Americans from from theirauthorized ancestral the Jackson federal government to forcibly relocate Native Americans their ancestral endured 660-mile trail.worked Andrew signed the Indian Removal Act into law. This legislation Information to encourage CPN members Information to encourage CPN members lands to reservations west of the Mississippi River.

On Sept.

4, 1838, the Potawatomi lands to reservations west of the Mississippi River.

On Sept.

4, 1838, the Potawatomi CHC employees worked with CPN’s Public the federal government to forcibly relocate Native Americans from their ancestral totohelp make the moccasins.

Each Each nation-wide to help make the moccasins. began involuntary walk walk from present-day to Potawatomi present-day their involuntary from Indiana to present-day nation-wide Information encourage CPN members landsbegan totheir reservations west660-mile of the660-mile Mississippi River.

Onpresent-day Sept. 4,Indiana 1838, the represents 10 who walked the Trail pair represents 10 people who walked the Trail Kansas known as of The Forced from Land and -- Removal Kansas known the Trail of Death.

The Forced Land and Culture - Removal pair pair represents 10 people people walked the Each Trail Kansas known as the theasTrail Trail of Death.

Death.

Thefrom Forced from from LandIndiana and Culture Culture Removal nation-wide to help make who the moccasins. began their involuntary 660-mile walk present-day to present-day Death. of Death. gallery within the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center highlights gallery within the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center highlights of of Death. gallery within the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center highlights pair represents 10 people who walked the element Trail Kansas known astime the time Trail in ofTribe’s Death.history.

Thehistory.

Forced from Land and Culture - Removal “The moccasins add human element to moccasins a human to this tumultuous in this tumultuous the Tribe’s “The “The moccasins add aaadd human element to this tumultuous in the the Tribe’s history. of Death. gallery within thetime Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Cultural Heritage Center highlights it, especially when you start seeing the baby it, especially when you start seeing the baby “In the immediate years after the Indian Removal Act, each community was “In the immediate years after the Indian Removal Act, each community was it, especially when you start seeing the baby “In the immediate years after the Indian Removal Act, each community was “The moccasins a human element to this tumultuous time the Tribe’s history.

—the different sizes and said moccasins —theadd different sizesstyles,” and styles,” approached the process with the knowledge that something was to approached the in treaty process with the knowledge that something was going moccasins —the different sizes seeing and styles,” said said approached the treaty treaty process withthe theIndian knowledge thatAct, something was going going to to moccasins it, especially when the “In the immediate after Removal each community was Norton, CHC you curator.

“As you tell, tell, Blake Norton, CHCstart curator.

“Ascould youbaby could happen,” said Dr. Kelli Mosteller, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage happen,” said Dr. years Kelli Mosteller, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Blake Blake Norton, CHC curator. “As you could tell, happen,” said Dr. Kelli Mosteller, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage moccasins —thepretty different sizes styles,” approached the treaty process with the knowledge that something was going to everybody was unique onand these journeys, everybody was pretty unique on thesesaid journeys, Center’s director.

Center’s director. everybody was pretty unique on these journeys, Center’s director.

Blake Norton, CHCofkind curator.

“As could tell, happen,” said Kelli Mosteller, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural everybody kind shared thisyou experience, as but everybody of shared this experience, as “The“The tribalDr. leaders signed treaties.

They tried tried to make it work.

TheyHeritage tried to tribal leaders signed treaties.

They to make it work.

They tried to but but everybody kind of shared this experience, as “The tribal leaders signed treaties. They tried to make it work. They tried to asbad it was.” as it was.” make amends and build a relationship with the They They were essentially make amends and build a relationship withgovernment. the government. were essentially bad everybody was pretty unique on these journeys, Center’s director. bad as it was.” make amends and build a relationship with the government. They were essentially saying, ‘Okay, you can some lands,lands, but tried saying, ‘Okay, you have can have some but to make it work. They tried to but everybody kind of shared this experience, as “The tribal leaders signed treaties.

They saying, ‘Okay, you can have some lands, but you cannot have itbuild all,’” Dr. Mosteller said.the you cannot have it aall,’” Dr. Mosteller said. bad as it was.” make amends and relationship with government.

They were essentially you cannot it all,’” Dr. Mosteller said.

“As the government kept coming for more “As‘Okay, thehave government kept coming for more saying, you can have some lands, but “As more, the kept coming fortomore and ashave theaspressure began to build, the the and government more, pressure began build, you cannot itthe all,’” Dr. Mosteller and as thelose pressure began to build,said. the tribesmore, began to patience.” tribes began to their lose their patience.”

“As government keptpatience.” coming for more tribesthe began to lose their Chief Menominee led led a resistance Chief Menominee a resistance and more, asMenominee the pressure began build, the Chief ledwho atorefused resistance group of Potawatomi who refused to cede group of Potawatomi to cede tribes began to lose their patience.” groupwhat of Potawatomi who refused to cede what little lands remained.

Records indicate little lands remained.

Records indicate Menominee ledRecords a resistance whatChief little lands remained. indicate Menominee’s village grew grew from four wigwams Menominee’s village from four wigwams group who refused tocabins cede Menominee’s village grew from four wigwams in 1821 toPotawatomi around 100 wigwams and in of 1821 to around 100 wigwams and cabins what little remained.

Records by 1838. by 1838. in 1821 to lands around 100 wigwams andindicate cabins Menominee’s village grew from four wigwams “The“The question on whether or not question on whether or there not there by 1838. was1821 awas treaty that that would forceforce our ancestors treaty ourcabins ancestors in toaquestion around 100 wigwams “The on would whether orand not there to wasthat being debated,” Dr. ancestors Mosteller remove waswould being debated,” Dr. Mosteller by 1838. wasremove atotreaty force our said.

“Menominee other village leaders said.

“Menominee and other village leaders “The question ondebated,” whether or not there to remove was beingand Dr. Mosteller had onto a treaty aother fewayears previously signed onto a treaty few previously said.

“Menominee and village leaders was signed ahad treaty that would force ouryears ancestors that did not call for removal.

ItDr. was land that did not calldebated,” for removal.

It awas a land had signed onto a treaty a few years previously to remove was being Mosteller cession treaty, and it specifically g aveleaders hem and it specifically ave t hem that did not treaty, call forand removal.

It was agt land said.cession “Menominee other village EachEach pair pair of moccasins of moccasins the right to stay assigned reservation the treaty, right to on staytheir their assigned cession itonspecifically ave reservation t hem had signed ontoand a treaty a few yearsgpreviously symbolizes 10 Potawatomi forcibly symbolizes 10 Potawatomi forcibly Each pair of moccasins landslands in Indiana.” in Indiana.” the right assigned reservation that did to notstay callonfortheir removal.

It was a land removed on of Death. removed onTrail the Trail of Death. symbolizes 10the Potawatomi forcibly lands Indiana.” cessionin treaty, and it specifically g ave t hem Each pair of moccasins removed on the Trail of Death. the right to stay on their assigned reservation 5 lands in Indiana.” symbolizes 10 Potawatomi forcibly

Participants received a moccasin kit with all the leather and tools needed, written instructions and a step-by-step video.

“The moccasin project was a really big community-building project,” Norton said. “For most people, I think this was the first time that they had ever made moccasins. It is really neat to see them put their own style and their different spin on it.”

Lowell Ziegler, a CPN member from Garner, North Carolina, and his family contributed to the project.

“While working on the moccasins, I kept thinking about the ones who were forced to march,” Ziegler said. “The ones who had to leave their homes, suffering harsh conditions and facing sickness were a lot tougher than most people today.”

In 1997, Ziegler learned he is Potawatomi and a Burnett family descendant. A few years later, he visited Oklahoma and CPN. He looks for ways to stay involved with the Nation, even thousands of miles away.

“I have often read articles about the Trail of Death. Not knowing my roots until later in life, I wanted to be able to do something to connect with my heritage,” he said. “This seemed like a good opportunity. I told my daughter, Jordan Dufresne, and she participated as well.”

Ziegler read the instructions provided and watched the tutorial video. He then recruited his son to help create the pattern.

“Making the moccasins was not complicated, but the process took a little longer than expected,” Ziegler said. “It was rough on the fingers, and I broke one of the needles that was included in the kit. I worked hard to try to keep everything as clean as possible while working on them.

“I feel honored to have been allowed to participate and to have my moccasins on display,” he said.

Dr. Mosteller said this project was an opportunity for CPN members to honor their ancestors and have a hand in the CHC’s reconstruction.

“They like coming to the CHC and being able to point out something they made for the museum — it’s something to be proud of and to bring your family to,” she said.

The Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. helped inspire the gallery’s design.

“We saw all of the effects that were collected from prisoners in the concentration camps, and they have them on display,” Norton said.

“They’re exhibited in a really visceral way, so we wanted to do something This display similar. represents the “There’s a small amount of prisoner wagons intricate detailing that’s very defining, U.S. officials and this display exhibits what the placed Potawatomi moccasins signify and the gravity of leaders in on the each pair,” he said.

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Trail of Death.

Staff chose these shackles to remember the Tribal members placed under arrest during the forced removal.

660-mile trek

“We just wanted to utilize as much of the collection as possible,” Norton said, then motioned to the moccasins featured on the gallery’s floor. “The moccasins are a common theme here, and the messages that are conveyed in the gallery – we set them up as a procession that leads you through this period into Kansas. It provides a deeper metaphor.”

The moccasins encourage visitors to take time in this exhibit by walking throughout the section, Dr. Mosteller said.

“Our ancestors were making this long, 660-mile walk away from the homelands and an environment they understood. The oral traditions said that Creator meant for them to be in this place. They were being forced out of that to a place they do not understand; a place where clan animals do not live, the medicines do not grow, there aren’t as many rivers, and there aren’t trees,” she said. “Their whole world was turned upside down.”

The lack of access to clean water on the Trail of Death caused many to die from typhoid and cholera, she said.

“People were sick and probably going to die because they didn’t have medicine or the ability to rest,” Dr. Mosteller said.

“This was not a well-organized removal. The health and wellness of the tribal members were not the government’s concern.”

Imprisonment

Under the direction of General John Tipton, federal officials placed Menominee and other leaders in prisoner chains and a jail wagon.

CHC staff strategically placed a display case with shackles and a gun across from a wagon.

“It’s jarring, but it’s also humbling,” Dr. Mosteller said.

“There’s one thing to be told it was a forced removal, and it’s another to stand in front of chains and think about them going on your wrists or the wrists of your grandfather who probably couldn’t walk the 660 miles.”

Our Native Traditions

Mskwa (It is red)

“When we were laying out what colors every section was going to be, one of the first o nes t hat w e d id n ot h ave to discuss was the removal gallery,” Dr. Mosteller said. “We knew that this section was going to be red.

“Red, whether you like it or whether you hate it, it’s not a neutral color. We chose this particular shade of red for many reasons. It fits in with cool but bold overall color tone that we chose for the CHC,” she said.

“Does it evoke death? Yes, that’s what red does. That is a cross-cultural understanding and concept of red. There are other countries that have more defined understanding of what red means, but in virtually every culture, red has a very intentional connotation tied to it.”

Pick Your Path interactive

In this removal treaty era, different communities had varying responses, Dr. Mosteller said.

“There were no good choices,” she said. “Some wanted to fight, and some wanted to resist in a more political kind of way by making alliances. Some didn’t want to deal with the government, and they didn’t trust them. They were moving ahead and going somewhere they thought they could be safe and live their lives on their terms without having to deal with the government trying to come in.”

The Pick Your Path Interactive provides scenarios each Potawatomi group faced and allows CHC visitors to select what decisions they would have made based upon the information given. The interactive helps build a greater understanding of the complexities each Potawatomi group faced and learn about how the different Potawatomi communities came to exist.

“Putting the interactive as the first thing you see after the moccasins is a good transition,” Dr. Mosteller said. “Treaties have consequences, and there were a lot of different results.”

George Winter

As a trained miniaturist, many of Winter’s works feature intricate details within a small space. The middle of the exhibit features an interactive where visitors can see his sketches and learn about the Potawatomi depicted in them.

“I think having an artist who was in the place, in the time, and with the people sketching real scenes — that’s something that most tribes do not have. Being able to showcase these pieces, it’s a real boon to us to have these visual representations,” Dr. Mosteller said. “Of course, every artists is going to put their own interpretation on things, so we can’t take everything in the sketches as gospel.”

The way individuals chose to present themselves to an artist and the artist’s rendering can provide a tremendous amount of insight, she said.

“It says a lot about the relationship and how these individuals carried themselves — their entire persona,” Dr. Mosteller said. “I think we would be doing a disservice to Tribal members to not highlight Winter’s works and to make it available to them to have that key point of reference.”

No other tribe has first-hand visual records of their removals, Norton said. “To have that record, be able to see each scene and

Kee-Waw-Nay

A colored George Winter painting wraps the wall behind the interactive and features tribal delegates and several Citizen Potawatomi ancestors at a meeting near the Potawatomi village of Kee-Waw-Nay. “What’s really neat about the mural is that it works hand in hand with the interactive,” Norton said. “There’s so much acute detail seen in the painting that you can see which individuals are participating in the removal negotiations and know what villages they come from. It helps illustrate how villages came together for these important meetings. It sets the scene as to the way meetings of this type would occur and what each representative looked like. They would have come in their Sunday best.”

This painting also provides insight into traditional regalia.

“This is a case study into the various forms of dress and how people put their own style into things,” Dr. Mosteller said.

English artist George Winter documented meetings between various tribal leaders and the federal government and followed the Potawatomi on the Trail of Death.

“Once word spread he was at many live negotiations and captured images, people began to commission him to create and report on these meetings — they wanted to remember it,” Dr. Mosteller said.

The George Winter interactive lets visitors browse through all of his scenes and portraits.

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OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Amaya Bonilla-Harris Apache Tribal Princess 2023-2024

Amira Jaimes Newson Jr. Miss Seminole Nation, 2022-2023

Anessa Janae Hamon Apache Tribal Princess 2023-2024

Anna-Belle R. Banderas AMS Indian Club Princess, 2022-2023

AnnMarie Cometsevah Sr. Cheyenne Princess Cheyenne and Arapaho Labor Day Powwow 2023

Ariayna Yellowbank Arapaho Tribal Princess 2020-2023

Arlene Schonchin Comanche Indians Veterans Association (CIVA) Princess

Aubrey Elaine Berry Kiowa Tia-Piah Princess 2022

Aurianna Jones Miss Indian Oklahoma City, 2023 – 2024

Ayani Leelyn Tebe Sr Miss Seminole Nation 2022-2023

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Our Native Traditions

pieces that (Gayla) recreated to make a complete outfit,” Mosteller said.

While researching archives in Washington D.C., Norton and Dr. Mosteller came across a green Potawatomi boy’s dress from Kansas. They captured pictures and began working with G. Mosteller to recreate the piece and find appropriate fabric.

“There’s a Civil War line of quilting fabric, and I was able to find almost the exact same pattern as the dress in the archives,” Mosteller said. “The original was pretty tattered, but I was able to recreate the dress really close to the original. I even had the red Rick Rack on hand.”

Mosteller said every time she walks through the removal gallery, she feels an ancestral presence.

“I can hear our ancestors laughing, crying and moaning in pain,” Mosteller said. “I can be walking in the section from either end, and every time, there’s no denying I can hear and feel them.”

Mosteller hopes her pieces encourage members to think about their own regalia.

“Whether it’s ceremonial regalia or like the simple yellow camp dress on display, I hope Tribal members are inspired to create their own pieces,” she said.

Long-term implications

CPN tribal member and seamstress Gayla Mosteller’s pieces of regalia, inspired by George Winter images, provide insight into traditional garments.

understand what was going on, it’s impactful.”

CHC staff chose several of Winter’s sketches to feature throughout this section and along the walls. They collaborated with CPN Graphic Designer Trey DeLonais to create layers and depth.

“My process started with high-resolution scans and images, as high as I could get, so the final result was as crisp as possible,” DeLonais said. “The higher resolution images also make cutting them out easier.”

DeLonais placed the images in editing software to select plants and individuals from Winter’s images.

“I love the use of these cutouts in the museum, particularly in the removal gallery,” he said. “I think it’s a simple but effective way to bring attention to specific elements while also adding depth.”

In the end, more than 40 Potawatomi, mostly children and elders, died on the Trail of Death.

“The physical removal is one trauma. The severing from the grounding of our homeland and all of the things that are entwined in that was a secondary trauma that I believe is much longer lasting,” Dr. Mosteller said. “It carries down through multiple generations — even those generations who were not themselves on that removal. They had to figure out how to live in the Great Plains as a woodland people.”

CPN Cultural Heritage Center 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon-Fri and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat 1899 Gordon Cooper Drive • Shawnee, Oklahoma potawatomiheritage.com 405-878-5830 Admission: Free For a list of upcoming CPN Cultural Heritage Center events and programming, visit www.potawatomiheritage.org

The CHC’s vast moccasin collection highlights Potawatomi art and history.

Regalia

Staff recruited seamstress and Tribal member Gayla Mosteller to assist with creating regalia featured at the end of this gallery.

“It’s a mixture of pieces from the collections that have been either acquired by us or donated to us over time and then

9

OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Bella Asdza’a’ Na’ats’ii’lid Kodaseet Jr. Miss Oklahoma Indian Biker MC Princess

Bella Muncy District 6 Choctaw Nation, Junior Miss Princess 2023-2024

Bluesky Tosee Comanche Nation Jr. Princess 2022

Breanna Butler Miss Sac & Fox Nation Princess 2023-2024

Brooklyn Choate Miss Indian OU 2023-2024

Brooklyn Frazier Choctaw Nation district 2, Jr miss princess 2023-2024

Candis Battice-Louis Jr Miss Choctaw Nation 2022-2023

Caroline Blackwolf Eugene White Thunder Descendants 2023-2024

Chenoa Barnett Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation 2023-2024

Chloe Friend Wyandotte Nation Senior Princess 2023-2024

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Our Native Traditions

OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Diamond Nicole Henry Senior Miss Choctaw Nation District 3

Ella Beatrice Blackbear Cheyenne-Arapaho Labor, Day powwow Jr Cheyenne Princess 2023-2024

Emily La’Miyah Gray 2023-2024 Little Miss Oklahoma Indian Nations Princess

Emma Battiest Dist. 3 Choctaw Nation Junior Miss Princess 2023-2024

Emmary Rose Elizondo Standing Bear Princess 2023-2024

Ezabelle Pai’-Nah Tehauno Wichita Tribal Princess 2023-2024

Georgia Adeline Harjo Jr Miss Muscogee Creek Nation 2023-2024

Grace Da Më Zhinga Harvey Tonkawa Princess 2022-2023

Graison Leeann Yellowfish Comanche Little Ponies Princess

Haleigh Gibson Dist. 9 Sr Miss Choctaw Nation Princess from 2019-2023

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Wes Studi

By Kent Bush

Wes Studi’s story is an Oklahoma story. Born in a rural area on Cherokee land, Studi never spoke English until he was sent to school at the age of five.

When his acting career began, there weren’t many parts available for Native American actors.

Often, roles were limited to Westerns that reimagined the relationship between tribes and settlers or other roles from historical films.

“The opportunities for Natives were fairly slim when I first went to Los Angeles,” Studi said. ”Other than playing historical characters and what now are referred to as extremely stereotypical roles. I was involved in that. Because that was the only place that a Native actor could get a start.”

Now, at 75, Studi is working to continue opening more doors for Native American actors. He has appeared in all three seasons of the Hulu breakout series “Reservations Dogs” in the role of Bucky.

While it hasn’t been the role that most will associate him with after a Oscar Award winning career starring in classic films like “Last of the Mohicans” and “Dances With Wolves” Studi’s work on the show only serves to elevate the series that tells a modern-day story of reservation life in Oklahoma and every writer and main character is indigenous.

“People went to meetings to talk about what we can do to get our own stories out there so that's been the mantra since time immemorial,” Studi said. “It finally has come about in Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi were able to put together this Reservation Dogs which has actually caused an absolute boom in Natives telling their own stories, as well as more and more young people becoming involved in the process of making film, of telling stories, making film, and learning the business.”

He said that series has led to a moment he believes could be a turning point in the industry for Native Americans.

“I would call it like a renaissance,” Studi said. “But it's more like the beginning of native filmmaking.”

Currently, Studi is in Minneapolis where he said he was proud to be back working on stage in a play.

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“I’m doing a play called “For the People” which is essentially a play that takes a look at ourselves as Indian people and how we go about, how we have gone about, and are still going about, making organizational decisions and that it's a comedy about contemporary life,” he said. “It is much like Reservation Dogs in that way.”

Studi said the comedy was fun to produce and does a good job of shining a light on Native culture in America today.

“It's younger people telling the story of how they saw their parents and elders going about doing the kinds of things that Indian organizations do,” Studi said. “So it's pretty exciting. But I like the way that younger Natives have opened up to telling the world about us as Natives.”

He said that wasn’t always the case.

“In my lifetime, it was one of those times where we didn't want to share that much about ourselves with the larger society simply because we were just tired of having had so much taken from us,” Studi said. “ We didn't want to share for whatever reason, but in any case, younger people have gotten to the point where they believe if they are going to be a real part of this world, they have to show the world who we are and essentially that's what shows like these have started.”

Studi said the best way for people to support shows like his stage production or Reservation Dogs is to actually get involved.

“Become involved in any way that you can and support those of us who are involved in actively pursuing careers in the business,” he said. “ I think that we can prove to the outside world that we have entertaining stories to tell that deserve time on screen and on TV.” As for Studi, after his current production ends, the 75-year-old has no plans of slowing down.

“I will continue to work because it's a business where you can work until basically before you die,” he said. “If you're still enjoying the work and it still excites you to play a role and portray a character and tell a good story that resonates with not just Indian people, but with everybody.”

Our Native Traditions

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Comanche The Origins of the Comanches The Comanches were among the classical Plains Indians who have become characterized as the typical American Indian. But the Comanches were not always Plains Indians. In fact, they did not arrive on the plains until shortly after 1700, moving down into the western plains from the northwestern United States. Previous to this move, some believe the Comanches migrated from the southwest.

This belief is held because of a linguistic relationship between Comanche and Nahuati in Central Mexico. When they did move into the plains, they established themselves firmly in the area and soon became the dominating tribe, replacing the Padoucas, or Apaches. Their dominance over the area from southwestern Texas north into Kansas was so thorough that the Comanche language became the lingua franca of the western plains, the language used for all inter-tribal communication when sign language did not do the job.

The reputation of the Comanche as a warrior during the 18th century can be seen in the name itself. The name Comanche is not a Comanche word. It is probably a Ute word Komantcia, which means, ‘anyone who wants to fight me all the time’, or ‘enemy’. The Comanche became the traditional enemy of the Utes and the name was attached to them permanently.

The Comanche word for the Comanche people is Numunu which means ‘The people’.

Some information about the early origins of the Comanches is provided by the language. Comanche is so closely related to Shoshoni, that some speakers claim that the Shoshoni speak like the Comanches used to speak. Both Comanche and Shoshoni belong to a group of languages called the Numic languages. Numic is related to the Comanche name for the Comanche people - Numunu. The Numic languages include many of the languages in the plains and mountain states, including Ute, Bannock and Paiute. The Numic languages are in turn a part of an even larger language family, UteAztecan. This family includes Hopi, several languages from as far west as California and even the Aztecan languages in Mexico. The Uto-Aztecan languages, including Comanche, are a wide-spread and important linguistic family.

“Numunu” - The People Editor’s Note: “Numunu” has often been used in articles related to our friends of the Comanche nation. In this article, Johnny Wauqua enlightens us on the meaning of the word.

To themselves, the Comanche are “The People” from the word Numunu menacing “human being.” It was not because they failed to recognize other people as humans, but in the minds of the Comanches, others were less than Comanches and the Comanches were the People.

The English language had no word for them originally nor did

Eschiti Wildhorse

Whitewolf

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Parker

Moway

Our Native Traditions

the Spanish. The Spaniards of New Mexico enjoyed first contact with the Comanche and gave the tribe the name by which they were later taught us to know the Comanche as the Comanches.

It was found that the Spanish learned the word from the Utes, who became the special enemies of the Comanches. In the Ute language, Comanche means “enemy.” The word is more exactly rendered “Komantcia,” which in a fuller sense means “anyone who Ten Bears wants to fight me all the time.”

Generically the Utes applied this term to the Comanches, whom they fought. The Spaniards applied the name and Americans picked it up.

The Comanches roamed an area of land of what is now known as Eastern Colorado, Southern Kansas, Western Oklahoma and the Northwest Texas, from the headwaters of the Arkansas River on to the north to the Rio Grande on the south, from the foothills of the Rock Mountains on the west to the Cross Timbers on the east, or the 98th meridian, total of more than 600 miles from North to South and 400 miles from the East and West. It was theirs to have and to hold, this was the “Comancheria” land of the Comanche.

In the sign language of the plains, the Comanche are known as the Snakes. The term is still in general use by the older members of the tribe.

There are two known oral traditions purporting to explain the origins of this term. One as reported by Quanah Parker, the last Comanche chief to surrender to the Americans, attributes it to a band

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of Comanches who were migrating across the mountains to the northwest in search of better hunting grounds. After several days journey, a number of people became dissatisfied, principally because of the colder climate. The leader called a council to calm the fear, but a part of the group could not be pursuaded. In a fit of anger, the leader compared the followers to a snake backing up its tracks. From that day, the universal sign for Comanche has been “snake going backward.”

The other version relates that when a wolf howled in front of a band of Comanches traveling south, part of the group considered it a warning to go no further and they turned back. The rest of the grou selected a new leader and continued their southward migration. Afterward, the southern group referred to those who turned back as “snakes.”

“The fierce bands of Comanche Indian were often the terror of whites and other Plains tribes, who on finding a Comanche footprint, customarily would turn and go in the opposite direction. For more than 150 years, the Comanches raided and pillaged and repelled all efforts to encroach on their hunting grounds, before surrendering to American military authorities in 1875. Today, an estimated 9,000 tribal members living near their former reservation in Oklahoma and as far away as Los Angeles, continue the Comanche spirit of Otter Belt adaptability.”

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Descriptions of Ceremonial Dances Friendship Dance: A universal dance, among all tribal nations, welcomes all visitors and guests to the host Tribe. The friendship Dance expresses goodwill and friendship among all humankind.

Meskwaki Dance: Whenever a gathering of tribal groups took place, each group or tribe performed their own special dance. The Meskwaki dance is a unique and performed only by the Meskwaki people. It depicts their characteristics of the times of peace and war.

The Shawnee Dance: Allied Tribes often exchanged elements of cultural value when they came together for council or celebrations. The Shawnee, Mascouten, Kickapoo, Sauk and Fox (Meskwaki) Nations, are closely associated historically in language and traditional ways.

Therefore, the Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma gave the Meskwaki a Shawnee dance as a token of friendship.

Buffalo Head Dance: Unlike the Plains version of milling herds, the Meskwaki Buffalo Head Dance invokes the way the Woodland buffalo marched in long lines as they moved place to place. The dance recalls the fact that the Meskwaki came from the east coast. In the past when Buffalo Head Dance was a ceremony, the dance was held as Meskwaki Buffalo hunters went

off on their annual buffalo hunt. The dancers would first dance inside the village. In a way, the dancers were bringing the buffalo herd closer to the hunters. Today, it is performed as a Thanksgiving to the magnificent animal, the buffalo. The songs and the movements of the dancers, dedicate the enduring spirit of the buffalo.

Harvest or Bean Dance: This harvest dance recognizes the importance of the resource of life, food for the villages, for the coming year. The Bean dance offers praise and gives thanks to the Great Monitors (Spirit) for the abundance of food and the bountiful crops.

Swan Dance: The Swan Dance recalls the stately native swan that migrated through the Great Lake region. The Swan Dance, in the past, was a village ceremony that took place any time in the summer. The one action eliminated from the present –day version is when a warrior runs a strike pole. When this was done, all dancing stopped and this warrior would recount his war story. Following this, there was a “Giveaway” of belongings. The women of the tribe lead this significant dance with their graceful movements. The Swan dance depicts the graceful, beautiful and rhythmical movement of the most majestic of all water birds.

Rabbit Dance: Originally known as the Owl Dance, a similar Meskwaki version, the Rabbit Dance is a social dance borrowed from the Lakota (Sioux), it is a popular couples “two-step” among all Tribes.

Pipe Dance: Combined of songs and rituals, is a means of cementing intertribal truces and transpires to the Meskwaki past. The Pipe Dance or in French terms, “The Calumet” or “Pipe of Peace”, found the Meskwaki introducing the dance to many Tribes, like the Abenaki Tribe, during the Fox Wars (1712-1716 & 1728-1737). Today, imitation pipes are used as opposed to real pipes that were used in the past.

Shield Dance: In pantomime this war dance depicts battle skill in hand-to-hand combat. The Shield dance was adopted from the Southern Plains Indians in the 1940’s as recognition of contact in earlier times with the Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Comanche.

War Dance: The War Dance is a fast dance performed by warriors getting ready for battle. Sometimes a religious dance, it has been adapted for public view. Everyone who was involved in combat situations was allowed to interpret their experience by this dance. A Veteran of WWI was the last known person to perform the dance for the general public.

Provided by Cheryl McClellan

Provided by Nina Young Bear

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Victory of Soldiers Dance: This dance is dedicated to all men of the armed forces and it is a dance to honor each veteran who has returned home to their loved ones.

It originated after WWI and all person are requested to take part in this dance. It is a true victory when all the people can dance together.

Our Native Traditions

The Sac and Fox arrived in Indian Territory in what is now the State of Oklahoma in November of 1869.

Payne, Lincoln, and Pottawatomie counties in Oklahoma are under Sac and Fox jurisdiction.

The Sauk and the Fox were two distinct but related tribes who allied in the 1700s. The Sac and Fox are Algonquin and are a Woodland tribe who originally came from Canada. Former homelands include the states of New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, with presence in Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

The Sac and Fox are now divided among three individual sovereign nations: the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma (Sauk), the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa (Fox), and the Sac and Fox Nation of the Missouri in Kansas (Sauk).

Some Sac and Fox protested the validity of the Treaty of 1804, which later was one of the factors of the Black Hawk conflict in 1832. Black Hawk was a war leader who said the signatories of the Treaty of 1804 did not have the authority to sign treaties, and he gave no credence to the terms of that treaty.

He later agreed to move from Rock Island, Illinois, which had been the home of the Sauk for over a century, to what is now Iowa with the agreement from the American government that it would provide food for the tribe since crops and fields had been left behind in Rock Island.

The American government failed to comply, so Black Hawk, followed by women, children, and elders, returned to Rock Island for the food. This was not an act of war although Black Hawk and his warriors had to employ military tactics to divert the attention of the pursuing army and militia away from his people. A captain in the Illinois militia was a man named Abraham Lincoln, serving in what would be his only military experience.

The Sac and Fox of the Mississippi (River) shared a reservation in the southern part of Kansas until 1857 when the Fox sold all their belongings to purchase land in Iowa and established a settlement there. The Sauk of the Mississippi moved to Indian Territory after the Civil War. The Sauk of the Missouri remained on their separate reservation in the northern part of Kansas.

In 1887, only eighteen years after the Sac and Fox came to Indian Territory and were still going on buffalo hunts and war parties, Jim Thorpe was born. Jim Thorpe

won the Pentathlon and Decathlon in the 1912 Olympics, where the King of Sweden called him the Greatest Athlete in the World. Native people did not have citizenship in the United States until 1924, so when Jim Thorpe won his medals in 1912 he was a citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation but was not an American citizen.

Jim Thorpe attended the Sac and Fox Agency’s boarding school, located on the tribal grounds south of what is now Stroud, Oklahoma. The school no longer remains and the land now hosts the Sac and Fox Nation tribal headquarters.

The tribal flag honors Black Hawk and Jim Thorpe and recognizes all the countries with whom the tribe allied: the United States, Britain, Spain, and France.

The Sac and Fox Nation is a nation within a nation. The United States of America, in accordance with the Constitution of the United States and reaffirmed by recent presidents, has a government-to-government relationship with tribes.

The government of the tribe used to be conducted by tribal councils of either peace chiefs or war chiefs, depending on whether the tribe was at war or in peace. Today our government consists of a Business Committee elected by the tribal membership. The Business Committee is comprised of a Principal Chief, Second Chief, Secretary, Treasurer, and Committeeperson.

The Sac and Fox Nation retains its tribal identity through some tribal members’ adherence to traditional beliefs and practices, the protection of its burial and sacred sites and homelands, and the preservation of its language.

Traditional tribal members still follow a clan system governed by hereditary clan chiefs. Clans include and have included the Fish, Thunder, Wolf, Bear, Fox, Deer, Bear Potato, Snow, Elk, Ocean, Peace, Warrior, and Beaver.

Clan membership is patrilineal, and babies generally receive their “Indian names” in the spring after their birth.

Birth order also determines which social group to which the baby belongs, the Oskush or the Kisko. The two societies engaged in friendly rivalries during social activities.

The Sac and Fox Nation now numbers approximately 4000 enrolled tribal members.

More information can be obtained through the Sac and Fox Nation website: www.sacandfoxnation-nsn. gov. Contact information is: Sac and Fox Nation, 920883 S. Hwy 99 Bldg A, Stroud, Oklahoma 74079. Telephone: (918) 968-3526.

Saginaw Grant - 1800s

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OKLAHOMA

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Harmony Jaramillo Little Miss Okla Chahta Clan of California 2023-2024

Hatapushik Ramsey Dist 6 Choctaw Nation Little Miss Princess 2023-2024

Isabel Koye-Mahee Gomez Moore JOM Princess 2022-2023

Isabella Fridia Wichita Tribal Princess 2021-2023

Isabella Marie McDaniel Choctaw Nation Dist #1 Little, Miss Princess 2023-2024

Jarika Estes SWOSU Indigenous Student Association Princess

Jasmine Poemoceah Cache Johnson O’Malley Princess 2023-2024

Jayla Elizabeth Lucas Miss Indian NEO 2023

Jaylee Mule Junior Miss Indian Oklahoma City 2023-24

Madison Switch-Fixico Iowa Tribal Princess of Oklahoma 2022-2023

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Our Native Traditions

Jordyn Washington Dist 11 Junior Miss Choctaw Princess 2023-2024

Kaelani Pacheco Little Miss Sac and Fox 2022-2023

Kambri-Ella Tsotigh OIN Jr. Princess 2022-2023

Karen Rice Pawnee Nation Princess 2023-2024

Karissa Raquel Edge Caddo Nation Princess 2023-2024

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The Shawnee Tribe Continuous warfare, vigilante violence, crippled subsistence economies: these and other factors disruptive to traditional life forced Shawnees from their various homelands east of the Mississippi River in the 18th century. As early as 1793, a group of conservative Shawnees took possession of a 625-square mile land grant from the Spanish government.

The tract lay south of present day St. Louis on the west side of the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought Cape Girardeau under American control. By 1815, some of the Shawnees who had relocated there moved west again, to Arkansas and Oklahoma, trying to stay beyond the negative impacts of white society. Meanwhile, some Shawnees who had stayed in Ohio began joining those at Cape Girardeau.

In 1817, the Treaty of Fort Meigs granted the Shawnees in Ohio three reservations totaling 173 square miles in the northwest part of the state: a tract of land 10 miles square at Wapakoneta, one 25 miles square at Hog Creek, and one 48 miles square for the Shawnees and their Seneca allies at Lewistown. By 1824, about 800 Shawnees still lived in Ohio, while 1,383 Shawnees were recorded living in Missouri; the latter proved too large a number for proponents of manifest destiny.

Thus, in 1824, Congress passed a law providing for the negotiation of treaties with the tribes west of the Mississippi. In 1825, General William Clark concluded, and Congress ratified, a treaty with the Cape Girardeau Shawnees, also known as Black Bob’s Band after their leader. Clark, who had been Meriwether Lewis’ partner in exploration, served as Missouri Territorial Governor from 1813-1820 and as Superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1822-1838. The 1825 Treaty ceded all the Shawnees’ Missouri lands to the United States in exchange for land in Kansas. The federal government had earlier wrested the Kansas Territory from the Kansas (Kaw) and Osage tribes.

The 1,600,000-acre Kansas reserve lay west of Kansas City and south of the Kaw River. The 1825 Treaty also set aside a portion of the Kansas reserve for those Shawnees still in Ohio, in the event they chose to emigrate.

Black Bob’s Band objected to this provision, which was kept secret from the conservative Missouri Shawnees until the treaty was concluded. Some Missouri Shawnees relocated immediately to Kansas; however, Black Bob’s Band headed southwest, living for a time along the White River in Arkansas and then later along the Cowskin River in southwest Missouri. Finally, in 1833, the US government threatened Black Bob’s Band with force if they did not remove to Kansas at once. Reluctantly, they did so.

Once Black Bob and the Missouri Shawnees signed the treaty obtaining the 1.6 million-acre Kansas reserve, scattered communities of Shawnees living east and west of the Mississippi began moving toward Kansas. This re-consolidation of Shawnee population lasted from 1825 until 1833.

During these years, one group of Shawnees relocated to Texas, northern Mexico, and eventually along the Canadian River in southern Oklahoma, forming the foundation of today’s Absentee Shawnee Tribe.

In 1826, about 200 Shawnees left Wapakoneta for Kansas, although the majority of the Ohio Shawnees remained behind. After a difficult, 2-year journey, they arrived in Kansas in May of 1828.

A long line of US presidents, beginning with Thomas Jefferson and including Andrew Jackson, were staunch advocates for the expulsion of all

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Indians from the eastern United States. Jackson championed the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and belligerently ignored Supreme Court rulings that sided with Indian landowners.

The Removal Act authorized the President to negotiate treaties that would replace tribal lands east of the Mississippi with lands west of the Mississippi.

The federal government warned tribes that failure to participate in these negotiations would result in the withdrawal of federal protection, leaving the Indians helpless at the hands of anti-Indian local and state jurisdictions.

In 1831, in this atmosphere of growing animosity, those Shawnees still in Ohio, most of whom were farming and raising stock near Wapakoneta and Hog Creek, signed a treaty giving them 100,000 acres within the Kansas Reserve acquired

by Black Bob in 1825. This acreage was eventually allotted to individuals and held in fee simple; Black Bob’s Band and other conservative Shawnees held their lands communally, in the traditional fashion. Many of the Ohio Shawnees were more assimilated to western ways than those Shawnees who had

Our Native Traditions

gone to Missouri in the 1790s. Philosophical differences between the progressive and conservative Shawnee groups contributed to an at-times uneasy coexistence for the next 40 years.

The Shawnees and their Seneca allies living at Lewistown, Ohio, also signed a treaty in 1831 whereby they agreed to move directly to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The Lewistown group of Shawnees formed the foundation of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, among the first of all the Indian tribes to eventually be relocated to Oklahoma. In 1832, a second group of Shawnees from Wapakoneta agreed to remove to the Kansas reserve. The next year, the Shawnees still at Hog Creek, who were the last Shawnees left in Ohio, also removed to Kansas. 1832 thus marked the year that the removal of the Shawnees to Kansas was essentially complete, as this was the same year that Black Bob’s Band was forced to finally leave Missouri and take up residence on the Kansas Reserve.

Although the federal government had promised the Shawnees that the Kansas Reserve would never be taken away, in 1854, the Maypenny Treaty reduced the size of the reservation to one tenth of its original 1.6 million acres. On February 8th, 1854, the Tribe elected its first civil government, consisting of a tribal Business Committee and a Chairman, having previously exercised traditional forms of governance. This form of civil governance exists to this day. Traditional forms of governance also have been maintained within the traditional community.

During the violent years of the Civil War, many Eastern Shawnee families fled O klahoma I ndian Territory to weather the War with their Kansas

Shawnee relatives. The racist, sometimes physically brutal abuses perpetrated against the Kansas Shawnees by white Kansas settlers ultimately forced another relocation of the Kansas Shawnees deeper into the Southern Plains, to northeastern Oklahoma.

Indeed, the Civil War years are referred to as “the Reign of Terror against the Shawnees” by historians. Although the 1854 Shawnee Reserve in Kansas was never formally extinguished, nearly all the lands within it were sold off to white settlers and given as compensation to white Civil War veterans by 1870.

Numerous frauds and depredations to steal Shawnee lands were perpetrated in this process, sometimes by high-ranking politicians of the day.

The Shawnee Tribe was forced to enter into an agreement with Cherokee Nation, ratified by the federal government in 1869. The 1869 Agreement required Cherokee Nation to provide individual allotments, which were not given out until the early 1900s, after many of the Kansas Shawnees had already passed away. The 1869 Agreement also gave the former Kansas Shawnees citizenship in Cherokee Nation, although the Shawnees, the majority of whom settled primarily in and around White Oak and Bird Creek (Sperry), maintained separate Shawnee communities and separate Shawnee cultural and political identities.

After their move to Oklahoma, the former Kansas Shawnees became known as the Cherokee Shawnees, distinguishing them from the Eastern and the Absentee Shawnees, and later as the Loyal Shawnees, signifying the loyalty of those Shawnees who had remained longest in Ohio to the United States and later their loyalty to the Union during the Civil War. During the 1980s, initial efforts to separate the Shawnee Tribe from Cherokee Nation were explored. Serious efforts to achieve legal separation began in the 1990s. When Congress enacted the legislation known as Public Law 106-568, or the Shawnee Tribe Status Act of 2000, and President Clinton signed it as one of his final acts in office on December 28th, 2000, the Shawnee Tribe was “restored to its position as a separately recognized Indian tribe.”

Today, the Shawnee Tribe maintains headquarters in Miami, Oklahoma, and Shawnee, Kansas. Tribal enrollment is just under 2,000 members, with another 4,000 or so eligible to enroll who are currently enrolled in other tribes. The Shawnee Tribe is one of only three federally recognized Shawnee tribes; the other two are the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of West Seneca, Oklahoma, and the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Shawnee, Oklahoma. These three tribes are the only recognized Shawnee Tribes and collectively make up the contemporary divisions of the historic Shawnee Nation.

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Traci Rabbit Traci’s work captures a spirit in the Native American woman that does indeed embody the best in female strength. From the proud loft of her chin to the strands of hair caught by the wind, she appears to weather all storms. Her paintings represent the way it feels to be female; to fly in the face of all that comes, with fierce dignity, energy and strength, but they also capture women’s ability to be gentle, yielding, kind and passionate.

Traci Rabbit, daughter to Cherokee National Treasure & Internationally known artist Bill Rabbit and mother Karen Rabbit, was born at the Claremore Indian Hospital and grew up in the Pryor area. She says quite bluntly, “my family has always been close and I had a wonderful childhood!

I grew up attending my Dad’s art shows. When I was in junior high, he began flying me to his important shows like Santa Fe Indian Market and IACA. I never considered the possibility of becoming an artist because in my mind he was the greatest and I knew I couldn’t compare to him in that arena. However, I enjoyed doing

Jessye Goodson Carnegie Elementary Native American Club Princess

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art and began winning art awards in the 1st grade in the rest is history.“ Traci attended Northeastern State University, which orignally was the Cherokee Female Seminary, receiving a BA in Business Administration in 1993, the first in her family to attend and graduate college. Her desire was to work for the BIA or for her Cherokee Tribe.

“My Dad started selling my paintings to galleries when I was in high school and college. Upon graduation, I started attending art shows with my Dad.” Somehow, the art business consumed her and she has never looked back. Her degree has been invaluable to their business, which consists of a full gift line.

Traci’s art career is going great; a career that includes her family. The Rabbit family produces the gift line from the conception of the original art all the way down to the production and packaging, so everything is Native American made. This is something the family takes great pride in when attending retail and wholesale markets.

Monte Goodson Kiowa MMIP Ambassador

She is blessed to be able to work on her art while sharing time with family. Keeping one foot steeped in tradition and the other exploring the possibilities of applying modern technology to her art and business. After the passing of her father in 2012, she continues to live in the same area her family has been since the removal of the Cherokee people to Oklahoma.

She says, “Without God and the support of my family, none of this would be possible.”

Rabbit Studios P.O. Box 34, Pryor, OK 74362 918-825-3716 info@billandtracirabbit.com www.billandtracirabbit.com

Ramona Arkeketa Gives Waters Service Club Ponca

Sandra LeClair Washunga Days Princess 2023-2024

Shaun’da Goodson Tia-Piah Society Oklahoma Princess

Our Native Traditions

OKLAHOMA

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Jaselyn Thompson KCA Indian Veterans Princess 2023-2025

Karyn Maldonado Dist. 12 Sr Miss Choctaw Nation 2023-2024

Kasey Atauvich Native American Marine Corp Veterans Association Princess

Kassidy Garza Oklahoma City Powwow Club Princess 2021

Kassidy Lee Jr.Miss Choctaw Nation 2023-2024

Kathleen Headman-Taylor PoncaTribal Princess 2023-2024

Keeleigh Sanders Miss Cherokee 2023-2024

Kendal Montana Hamilton White Thunder Desc. Princess 2023

Kinzley Hammond Choctaw Nation Dist 9 Little Miss 2022-2023

Kyla Tsoodle Kiowa Tribal Princess 2022-2024

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It’s in Her Blood

By The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Teenager Rachel Scott’s story is all about her “blood:” Her proud native heritage, her strong family ties, and… her blood cancer diagnosis.

Rachel is full-blood Chickasaw/Creek/Seminole and lives in Little Axe, Oklahoma, a small, rural community that was established by one of the Absentee Shawnee tribal elders. Her close-knit family includes her parents and both an older and younger brother. As a twelve-year-old, she played basketball, was a cheerleader, and enjoyed time with her family and friends. That all changed one day when she suddenly sat down in the middle of a store aisle and didn’t have the energy to move. After a trip to the Tribal Health Facility, she and her parents were sent to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital for a devastating diagnosis… Rachel had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a blood cancer.

Rachel recalls, “I had a very limited understanding of leukemia, all I could really understand was I had just been told I HAD CANCER!” Her treatment regimen was incredibly difficult: at one point, she had trouble with her liver, requiring a long hospitalization. As her parents silently wondered how much longer they would have her, she lost 35 pounds and at times, needed a wheelchair.

Throughout, Rachel drew strength from her rich heritage, her community, her deep faith, friends, and family. Finally, after two and a half long years, she was able to ring the bell, signifying remission.

She and her family believed the worst was over, but "three years after diagnosis and nine months after ringing the bell,” Rachel shares, "another word was added to my life journey—relapsed!"

Fact: Leukemia and lymphoma account for 39% of all cancers in the 20 years & under-age group.

Her pediatric oncologist team determined the best approach would be a bone marrow transplant from her older brother. “There’s nothing like the pain of seeing your child suffer,” Rachel’s father remembered. After months of preparation, she had the transplant. And in December of 2023, she will be celebrating 4 years of a successful bone marrow transplant.

Today… hope.

Seven years after her diagnosis, nineteen-year-old Rachel is a traditional cloth dancer and recently

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completed her reign as the 2022-2023 Miss Indian Oklahoma City. She wants to become a pediatrician and an advocate for children facing canFact: LLS created cer. And Rachel is thriving–she’s already the Equity in started her medical Access Research education by shadowProgram to ing some of her own understand the obstapediatric oncologists cles in healthcare and at Children’s Hospital address the needs of of Oklahoma. underserved Every blood cancer communities. patient and survivor should not only survive but thrive.

Thanks to groundbreaking research and innovative treatments, many young patients like Rachel can achieve remission. But when blood cancer is diagnosed in an indigenous, underserved, and/or rural community, finding accessible, affordable, quality care and support like Rachel had can be challenging.

As the largest nonprofit organization in the world dedicated to blood cancer, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) provides a wide variety of free information, resources, and personalized support to anybody impacted by blood cancer. We offer the expertise of highly trained oncology social workers and nurses, who can assist patients and their families through treatment, financial, and social challenges. Our Clinical Trial Oncology Nurses will guide patients through the entire clinical trial

Our Native Traditions

2022-2023 Miss Indian Oklahoma City Rachel Scott with brother Caleb Scott Oklahoma Highway Patrol. process. And our registered dietitians will provide oncology nutrition education. Patients can look to LLS for these offerings and so much more. Since 1949, LLS has been funding lifesaving research and driving advocacy to ensure every blood cancer patient has access to equitable, affordable, quality healthcare—regardless of who they are, what their income may be, and where they live. We’re here to help inform, aid, and support every patient like Rachel—when they need us, when it counts. Do you or someone you know with blood cancer need help?

Contact an Information Specialist at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society today.

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OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Kylei Colbert Choctaw Nation Dist 2 Little Miss 2023-2024

Kyleigh Davidson Walters service club princess 2023-2024

Laney Kate Daniels Operation Eagle Princess

Layla Byars Seminole Nation Baby Pageant Queen

Leigha Paige Easley Tulsa Powwow Princess 2022-2023

Lulu Goodfox Osage Nation Princess, 2023-2024

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Lani Kauahquo-Elix Hobart Powwow Princess 2019-2023

Laura Reanna Huskey Miss Oklahoma Indian Biker Princess 2023-2024

Lily Painter 2023 Miss Indian Oklahoma Our Native Traditions

Kialegee

Tribal Town (Etvlwv) Kialegee Tribal Town is one of the 44 tribal towns known in history as the Creek Confederacy of Alabama and Georgia. As with the clan system, the tribal town is matrilineal society, which means clan and town association come from the mother’s side. Along with documented history, oral historian and Elder Jim Wesley stated that Kialegee was derived from the Mvskoke word “eka-lace”. The tribal town warriors were known to cut off the heads of their enemies and throw the heads to the side of the enemy’s body. There are variations of the name in many documents such as kialigee and kealedji. Oral History states that Kialegee people had their own dialect of the Mvskoke language at one time, but has been lost over the years.

The Kialegee descend from the mound-building agrarian people from what is now southeast United States.

They believed that God spoke to the ancestors through a sacred fire. The fire became a symbol that linked the tribal town to God and maintain that fire was the religious core of Kialegee. The original fire was given to Tvkvpvtce, the Mother Etvlwv (Town). The Etvlwv gave birth to the Kialegee fire and several other Upper Creek Etvlwvs. In the 1950’s the Kialegee ceremonial ground was still active until it was put to rest in the same era. The former keeper of the grounds and fire passed away and his son is still living in the area where the fire was originally (Wesley, 1995). Before the removal to Indian Territory, Kialegee was located along the Tallapoosa River in Alabama. Due to the location of Kialegee, the town was considered an Upper Creek town of the Creek Confederacy. Kialegee joined the Redstick warriors in the Battle of Horsebend of the Redstick War of , which led to the defeat and eventual removal of Kialegee and its allies. After the Indian Removal Act of 1827 was passed, Kialegee was forcefully removed to Indian Territory, and the grounds and fire were relocated to Hanna, OK. After the Dawes act was passed with allotments, many Kialegee moved to the Wetumka area.

Oral history states that at one time there was an attempt to relocate the fire to an area in Henryetta, OK and in this attempt, the fire leapt out of where it was being carried and went back to the original grounds in Hanna.

Cheea Harjo was the first Kialegee Mekko (King) to sign a treaty of peace with the U.S government on June 26th, 1796. To recognize this occasion, the first Kialegee Nettv (day) celebration was initiated on June 26, 1996 and is celebrated yearly. Mekkos of Kialegee were also present at the signing of the treaties of 1814, 1818, 1825, 1826 and

other treaties.

Kialegee is one of only three tribal towns that received federal recognition when the membership voted to approve the constitution and By-laws on June 12, 1941 and the Corporate Charter on September 17th, 1942. It was organized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of Congress in 1936, also known as the Thomas-Rogers act. Oral history states that Roley Canard of Thlopthlocco Tribal Town was instrumental in assisting the tribal town with instructions from Washington on the hearings regarding federal recognition (Wesley, 1995). Recently, amendments to the constitution have been developed. These amendments are under review by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and await approval by the tribal town membership.

Kialegee consists of an estimated count of 450 members.

To be a member of the Kialegee Tribal Town, a member has to be ½ to full blood creek and be matrilineal descendent of a Kialegee Tribal Town Member. All matrilineal descendants are automatically enrolled after approval from the enrollment board and doesn’t require approval of the tribal town membership. According to the Constitution, there is also a section that a person can be admitted into the tribal town if the father is Kialegee. Adopted Members must be full blood Indian and married. Admitted and adopted members do require the approval of the town membership at their regular scheduled membership meeting.

The Kialegee Tribal Town seal was designed on a computer with direction from Jim Wesley.

The Eagle stands for strength and future of the tribal town. The fire is the symbolic of the original fire of the ceremonial ground from which the Kialegee have identity. The mound house on the bottom, represent the mound building culture from which the Kialegee trace their descendancy to Georgia and Alabama. The cross is symbolic of the presence of Christianity adopted by the members of the town. The ballsticks divide the categories into four areas and are representative of the four directions of the ceremonial grounds as well as the game of peaceful conflict resolutions between other towns, a symbolism of peaceful aggressive problem solving. The year 1796 is the year that the first Kialegee Mekko signed a treaty with the United States. Wesley (1995)

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The Constitution provides for a Business committee so there is over-site of the tribal town’s finances and directives. The Business Committee is governed by a Mekko, 1st Warrior, 2nd Warrior, Secretary and Treasurer, who are elected by the membership. The advisory board, which is part of the Business committee, is appointed by the five elected officers. The officer’s term is two years and every second year in June an election is held. The Tribal Town consists of a few other committees, such as the Education, Health Board, Economic development, and Building/facilities committee. Each one has their own by-laws and goals toward the advancement of Kialegee Tribal Town.

Oklahoma in transporting DHS clientele to various locations.

The Largest portion of Kialegee members belong to the Baptist denomination and attend the traditional churches where mvskoke singing and preaching is still a part of their way of life. Many of the elders still are mvskoke speakers and teach within the homes, of clans, traditional ways, the ancestors who have accomplished or participated in history that Kialegees can be proud of.

The Kialegee Tribal Town was able to purchase land and three buildings in 1997, in Wetumka, OK. Two were used to house programs and one for economic development for the tribe. Later on, construction was also completed on two additional buildings that are located on the property, the tribal courthouse and the Family Life center. A new administration office building was built in 2012 and now houses all the programs except the Transportation program. Kialegee Tribal Town receives grants and funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, Indian Roads Program, Aid to Tribal Government, Child Care development Fund, Indian Child Welfare, HUD, Promoting Safe and Stable Families, LIHEAP and a few other smaller grants that service the area and members. The Kialegee Transportation program has a contract with the State of

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Our Native Traditions

Choctaw

NATION

The Choctaw are native to the Southeastern United States and members of the Muskogean linguistic family, which traces its roots to a mound-building, maize-based society that flourished in the Mississippi River Valley for more than a thousand years before European contact.

and forced the Choctaw to cede millions of acres of land. In 1830, the United States seized the last of the Choctaw’s ancestral territory and relocated the tribe to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. The Choctaw were the first to walk the Trail of Tears. Nearly 2,500 members perished along the way.

Although their first encounter with Europeans ended in a bloody battle with Hernando de Soto’s fortunehunting expedition in 1540, the Choctaw would come to embrace European traders who arrived in their homeland nearly two centuries later. By the time President George Washington initiated a program to integrate Southeastern Indians into European American culture following the Revolutionary War, many Choctaw had already intermarried, converted to Christianity and adopted other white customs. The Choctaw became known as one of America’s Five Civilized Tribes, which also included the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole.

Despite the many lives lost, the Choctaw remained a hopeful and generous people. The first order of business upon arriving in their new homeland was to start a school and a church. They drafted a new constitution. And when the great potato famine befell the people of Ireland, the Choctaws collected money to help alleviate the country’s suffering.

Trail of Tears The Choctaw signed nine treaties with the United States before the Civil War, beginning with the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786 – which set boundaries and established universal peace between the two nations.

Subsequent treaties, however, reshaped those borders

Oklahoma The Choctaw entered a new era post Civil War, when the United States ceded 2 million acres of Indian land, abolished commonly held tribal lands and created the Oklahoma Territory. It set up the Dawes Commission to register Indian families and parcel out individual plots of land. In 1889, the Oklahoma Territory was opened to white settlement. The ensuring land run overwhelmed the Choctaw Nation. The Choctaw suffered thefts, violent crimes and murders at the hands of whites and other tribal members.

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Code Talkers Despite their struggle to survive as a nation during much of the 20th century, the Choctaw continued to serve their country. During World War I, Choctaw servicemen worked with the U.S. Army to pioneer a code based on their native language. The Choctaw code talkers helped the American Expeditionary Force win several key battles in France during the German’s final push, which in turn helped to end the war.

homa was scheduled for termination when Congress repealed the law in 1970, citing the policy’s documented failure in helping Native Americans.

The repeal galvanized a new generation of Choctaw.

In 1971, the tribe held its first popular election of a chief since Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907.

During the same decade, it established a tribal newspaper, enrolled more Choctaw and launched a movement to preserve the Choctaw language. The 1970s also marked congressional passage of the Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act, which gave the Choctaw power to negotiate and contract directly with the federal government for services that benefited its people most.

If the 1970s set the Choctaw in a new direction, the 1980s paved the Nation’s future. During this decade, a new Constitution was ratified by a vote of the people, providing for an executive, legislative and judicial branch of the government. On the economic front, the Choctaw opened a Bingo hall in Durant that would eventually become a successful resort and lead to new casinos. The tribe also launched new business enterprises, planned new schools, initiated educational programs and scholarships, and established new health centers.

Self Determination From the mid 1940s to the mid 1960s, the United States pursued a policy of Indian termination, whereby the rights of sovereign tribes were eliminated and Native Americans were assimilated into mainstream America. The Choctaw Nation of Okla-

Today, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is nearly 200,000 strong and self sufficient, dedicated to improving the lives of its people. As they continue their long journey through history, the Choctaw’s future looks brighter than ever.

CHOCTAW NATION

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Our Native Traditions

OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Madelynn Elizabeth Byrd Cheyenne Tribal Princess 2020-2023

Madison Bighorse Standing Bear Princess

Mahlea Warrior Little Miss Sac and Fox Nation 2023-2024

Malaina Jo Byrd Redmoon Powwow Sr Princess 2022-2024

Marian Johnson Delaware War Mothers Princess

Marlene Enloe Otoe-Missouria Tribal Princess 2022-2023

McKenzi Denese Sovo Comanche Nation Princess 2023-2024

Mekiah Carey Jr Miss Indian Oklahoma 2023

Mercedez Banderas Chasenah Family Princess 2023

Mia Powell Broken Arrow Intertribal Veterans Association Powwow Princess 2023-2024

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Our Native Traditions

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OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

MeKiah Carey Jr. Miss Indian Oklahoma 2023-2024

Mia Reich District 7 Jr Miss Choctaw Nation 2023-2024

Micah Davidson District 4 Junior Miss Princess Choctaw Nation

Nina Marie Sophia Reed Jr. Miss C.I.T.G. Princess 2023

Nykita Talton SR. Princess Sac and Fox Nation 2022-2023

Oliviah Mae Harjo Little Miss Seminole Nation 2022-2023

Omba Ramsey Choctaw Nation District 6 Little Miss Princess 2021-2022

Peggy Ann Maynahonah Apache Tribal Princess 2023-2024

Rachel Scott Miss Indian Oklahoma City 2022-2023

Rachel Stabler Kihekah Steh Princess 2023-2024

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Our Native Traditions

The Kickapoo people

of Oklahoma

The name Kickapoo (Kikapua) means “Stands on the earth.”

The Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma is one of three federally recognized sovereign Kickapoo Nations in the United States.

The other two nations are the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas who reside in Eagle Pass, Texas; and the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas who reside in Horton, Kansas. Current populations in each nation: Oklahoma-2,676 members; Texas-845 members; Kansas-1,643 members. Today, many Kickapoo families live throughout the rural and urban areas of Oklahoma, Pottawatomie, and Lincoln counties. Some families still reside in their allotted lands near the Kickapoo Tribal Headquarters located 2 1/2 miles North of the City of McLoud, OKlahoma.

The Kickapoo people are a resilient nation who have continued to maintain their culture and way of life as passed down by their ancestors despite the past oppressions of warfare, removal from homelands, exploitation, and the accelerating changes of mainstream culture. The Kickapoo people have the determination of maintaining their tribal identity and language. Prior to the European Invasions, the Kickapoo inhabited the North-Central area of the United States (near the Great Lakes region), and come from the Algonquian group of woodland tribes. The Kickapoo were first mentioned in history in the early 1600’s moving from lower Michigan to southeast Wisconsin. In the mid 1700’s, due to the increasing eastern invasion of white settlers, and the

Kickapoos’ will to continue their way of life, they made their journey to Illinois. In the late 1700’s, during the Revolutionary War, the Kickapoo made allegiance with the Americans under the promise of General George Rogers Clark, who stated that “no American colonists would settle within the Kickapoo territory”. Unfortunately, for the Kickapoo and other tribes, General Clark made “broken promises,” and their hopes of land that would be open and free fell short. Immediately after the Revolutionary War, The American government’s plan was to get rid of all Native Americans by death or assimilation. One plan was to force tribes into areas to confine each tribe to a specific area. In this regard, the Kickapoo were forced to sign treaties giving up 13 million acres of land, and were removed from the original homelands to areas selected by the U.S. government. If the Kickapoo elders would have refused to sign the treaties, they would all have been killed or imprisoned by the U.S. government. Treaty after treaty by the Americans drastically reduced amount of land originally promised in Kansas. Eventually, much of the land promised to the Kickapoo was sold for railroads and for white settlement. During this process the Kickapoo split up into groups. Many Kickapoo families who objected to the cession of their lands, fled to Mexico to avoid the aggressive invasion, and the “assimilation” into white American culture.

In 1873, under the command of Colonel MacKenzie, the U.S. 4th Calvary attacked a Kickapoo Village in Mexico. About

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40 Kickapoo were forced to return to “Indian Territory.” The Kickapoo prisoners were held in Fort Gibson. “Indian Territory” was thought to be an ideal place to relocate Native Americans who were removed from their homelands to make way for white settlement. It was initially considered unsuitable for white colonization. In 1883, a reservation of some 100,000 acres was assigned to the Kickapoo in what are now parts of Lincoln, Pottawatomie, and Oklahoma Counties. In 1891, the Kickapoo once again were forced to sign an agreement for the cession of the reservation to the United States and for an allotment of land to each member of the tribe.

This is due to the Allotment Act of 1887. The purpose of the Allotment Act of 1887 in Indian Territory (what is now the state of Oklahoma) of this federal policy was to divide communally held Indian tribal lands into individually owned private property, and was the culmination of American attempts to destroy tribes and their governments and to open Indian lands to settlement by non-Indians and to the development of railroads. The original 100,000 acres was split into 285 allotments of 80 acres of land per allotment. The Kickapoo lost 77,200 acres.

despite all they have had to endure. The Kickapoo Language is still the main language spoken in many households; and the culture is prevalent and strong, mainly due to Kickapoo elders keeping Kickapoo ways strictly for their people.

In 1889, after realizing “Indian Territory” had valuable land for agriculture, ranching, and other opportunities; the government began authorization of white settlers to move into lands previously designated to Native American people. On April 22, 1889 at 12:00 PM, 50,000 white settlers raced to claim land of 2 million acres in “Indian Territory.” In 1907 Indian Territory ceased to exist when Oklahoma became a state.

Today, the Kickapoo people proudly continue their way of life

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Our Native Traditions

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The CHICKASAW NATION Known as the “Unconquered and Unconquerable,”, Chickasaws are a proud people with a rich heritage.

Chickasaw tradition holds that the earth began when Aba' Binni'li' (the Creator) sent the humble crawfish into the water to bring mud from the bottom to create the first landmass. From that beginning, all good things came to life, including the Chickasaw people.

Another story handed down for generations tells of the Chickasaw migration. Led by two brothers, Chiksa’ and Chahta, our people left our home in the West toward new lands in the East.

Along the way, the people were guarded by Ofi’ Tohbi’ Ishto (a big white dog) and guided by an Iti’ Fabassa’ Holitto’pa’ (sacred pole).

Each night, the people planted the pole in the ground and each morning, they would travel in the direction it leaned.

During a difficult crossing of a great river, the big white dog was lost. They continued to travel for many days until one morning the brothers disagreed about the direction of the pole.

Chahta said the pole was upright and the people had reached their destination, while Chiksa’ said the pole was leaning East. Some of the people stayed with Chahta, while others followed Chiksa’ into our new homeland.

Those who followed Chiksa’ became the Chickasaw Nation, while those who stayed with Chahta became the Choctaw Nation.

For hundreds of years before removal to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in the 1830s, Chickasaws lived in the North American southeast, where the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky were later established.

Living in sophisticated town sites along vast areas of the Mississippi River, Chickasaws traded extensively with other Southeastern Indians between 1200 and 1500.

Chickasaw government during this time was an extension of the family clan system, with each clan governed by a council of elders and a Clan Minko' (leader). All the clans were organized into two major groups which balanced one another.

Each clan and town was self-governing, but the two larger groups came together as a national council to promote the general welfare and protect common interests.

At the top of the national hierarchy was the High Minko' – the principal leader selected from the highest ranking clan. He was assisted by the Tishu Minko' who served as the leader’s adviser and primary speaker at the National Council.

Chickasaws lived a largely agrarian lifestyle, but were quick to go to battle if necessary.

In 1540, Hernando de Soto was the first European to make contact with the Chickasaws. He waged a conqueror’s campaign against the

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tribe – making extremely unreasonable demands.

Unwilling to accept his demands, Chickasaw warriors fought successfully to defend their people and repel de Soto.

In that single battle that all but wiped out de Soto’s army, the Chickasaws secured their reputation as fierce warriors.

It was more than 100 years before Chickasaws encountered Europeans again. When the French and British arrived, they came not as conquerors, but as traders and missionaries.

While the arrival of these Europeans brought technological and economic change, Chickasaws adapted and persevered. Between 1670 and the American Revolutionary War, Chickasaws were buffeted by European diseases, social upheaval, technological and economic change.

During this time Chickasaws began to consolidate their villages around what is now Tupelo, Mississippi. Chickasaws added to their numbers by adopting bands of survivors and refugees from other tribes in the region.

It was from this area, known as Chokkilissa', where Chickasaws once again had to fight to defend their territory and way of life.

Allied with the British at the time, Chickasaws defeated two direct assaults by the French – the best known of which is the battle of Hikki'ya' (also known as Ackia) in 1736.

These battles helped prevent the French from taking control of a large section of North America. Some historians say if it were not for the Chickasaws, Americans may be speaking French today, rather than English.

Chickasaw leader Piominko was a contemporary and friend of George Washington, and holds a place in Chickasaw tradition similar to that which the first U.S. president holds for most Americans.

President Washington sent Piominko gifts of silver medals and uniform clothes for his help in resisting the Spanish alliance and helping the U.S. during the American Revolutionary War. Piominko and other Chickasaw leaders signed the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786, which formally established official relations between the Chickasaw Nation and United States. In 1792, Piominko received the George Washington Peace Medal due to his trust and support to the United States.

Chickasaws have been entrepreneurs for centuries. They conducted a successful trade business with other tribes over much of what is now the southern and central United States prior to contact with Europeans.

After European contact Chickasaws traded extensively with England, Spain, France and eventually, the United States.

Present day boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation were established in 1855, in a treaty signed by the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation and the United States. Those boundaries encompass more than 7,648 square miles in south central Oklahoma, including all or parts of the following counties: Pontotoc, Grady, Carter, Garvin, Johnston, Murray, Love, Marshall, Coal, Bryan, McClain, Stephens and Jefferson.

The Chickasaw Nation was officially reestablished as a tribal government on March 4, 1856, in Tishomingo, Indian Territory.

On August 30, 1856, the Chickasaw

Our Native Traditions

people ratified their original constitution, which established a threebranch form of government modeled on that of the United States.

Education has always been a high priority for Chickasaws. Even before the Constitution was ratified, several Chickasaw schools had been established, both in the former Homeland and Indian Territory.

Chickasaw Manual Labor Academy was completed in 1852. By 1857 it provided an education to 140 students annually. Curriculum at the school included reading, writing, arithmetic, English, Latin, logic, biology, geometry and music.

Agricultural, mechanical domestic arts were also included in the curriculum. Bloomfield Academy and Colbert Institute were completed in 1852 and 1854, respectively.

In 1857 the Chickasaw legislative body voted to erect Burney Academy near Lebanon.

One of the first steps taken by the Chickasaw government following the Civil War was to reopen the schools. Eleven neighborhood elementary schools were opened in 1867.

That number was increased to 23 in 1876. In the same year, the legislature also provided for the reopening of four seminaries and academies providing secondary education.

Most of the teachers in those schools were Chickasaw. `Agriculture, ranching, lumber were the primary Chickasaw economic activities from the end of the Civil War until Oklahoma statehood in 1907.

Many Chickasaw citizens worked the land or leased acreage to non-citizen tenants who grew corn, oats, or cotton.

Ranching was also important to the economy, as many Chickasaws ran large cattle ranches or leased land to ranchers. Several cattle trails, including the Chisholm Trail, also crossed the Chickasaw Nation.

Lumber, particularly walnut used for furniture and gun stocks was sold domestically and to industries in Hamburg, Germany.

Historically, the Chickasaw Nation has proven remarkably resilient.

Allotment of Chickasaw land by the Dawes Commission and Oklahoma statehood were intended to bring an end to the Chickasaw Nation as a government.

Regardless of the difficult p olitical c ircumstances, C hickasaws built a new red granite capitol building in 1898. This structure served as the capitol until Oklahoma statehood in 1907.

Douglas Johnston was appointed Chickasaw Governor by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, just prior to statehood. Johnston served in that position until his death 1939.

One of Johnston’s proposed duties as governor was to oversee the dissolution of the Chickasaw government. However, he never accomplished that task.

Efforts by the federal government to terminate the Chickasaw Nation by way of the Dawes Act and other legislation in the 1890s and early 1900s failed, as did later efforts in the 1950s.

An updated Constitution, which retains the three-branch system of government, was ratified in 1983.

Today, the Chickasaw Nation is among the largest federally-recognized tribes in the United States with more than 60,000 citizens.

An economic impact study conducted by Oklahoma City University in 2011 revealed that the Chickasaw Nation has an economic impact of more than $2.4 billion annually in Oklahoma. The Chickasaw Nation operates more than 60 businesses and employs more than 13,000 workers across the United States and around the world.

Successful economic development efforts have enabled the Chickasaw Nation to offer more than 200 programs and services,

including education, health care, housing, aging and family services to name a few. `Economic development efforts have also enabled the tribe to pursue a variety of initiatives to preserve and revitalize their language and culture.

One such initiative is the Chickasaw Cultural Center, which shares the history, culture and traditions of the Chickasaw people. Since it opened in July 2010, the cultural center has welcomed more than 500,000 visitors from around the world.

The Chickasaw Nation is also building an information center in Tishomingo, Oklahoma designed to highlight the historic connection to the area, which dates back to 1856, when Chickasaws gathered at Pennington Creek to daft the tribal Constitution. Other historic attractions in the area include the Chickasaw Historic Capitol, the Chickasaw White House, The Chickasaw Bank and the Chickasaw Council House Museum.

Language revitalization efforts are also a high priority. These efforts include a partnership with Rosetta Stone to develop a series of interactive video lessons which will be made available to Chickasaws worldwide.

These classes will provide another tool in the language program, which also includes an immersion project designed to create new conversational speakers, as well as online content, community classes and other high-quality language enrichment experiences for citizens at home and abroad.

Moving forward, Chickasaw Nation leaders plan to continue economic development efforts and initiatives to provide a variety of services and revitalize Chickasaw language and culture in pursuit of the tribe’s mission to “enhance the overall quality of life of the Chickasaw people.”

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Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Historical Background

The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are two separate American Indian tribes federally recognized as one tribal government. While the two Tribes have been administratively joined together by the U.S. Government since the nineteenth century, each tribe maintains a distinct culture and language. The tribal constitution mandates eligible tribal members to possess at least 1/4 Cheyenne or Arapaho blood quantum.

The Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians are of Algonquian linguistic stock representing the western most groups of the large Algonquian family that spread pre-historically over the northern and eastern woodlands of the United States.

The facts of their wandering have been lost in the shadows of pre-history, but the earliest known evidence began around the year 1600. The Arapaho were located east of the headwaters of the Mississippi River, bordering the western end of Lake Superior in Minnesota. The Cheyenne were situated along the east bank of the Mississippi River in what is now southeastern Minnesota. Each tribe lived in permanent, bark or earth covered lodges. Their lives were a mix of hunting and farming, raising crops of corn, beans and squash.

several of the northwestern counties of Oklahoma.

The year of 1851 marked the final separation of the Southern Cheyenne from the main body, subsequently known as the Northern Cheyenne. As a result of the westward expansion of the whites, the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho ceded all of their land claims in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming to the United States on February 18, 1861 at Fort Wise, Kansas. The United States in turn was to provide a reservation for them on a branch of the Arkansas River in Colorado. The Arapaho tribe was assigned to the eastern portion of the reservation, whereas the Cheyenne tribe was given the western portion. However, the agreement was never consummated.

During the fall of 1863, the whites became alarmed by inflammatory rumors of a general Indian uprising. The

The first known migration in what was to become a relentless “moving about” took place around 1675, with both groups moving westward into the Dakota country. The Arapaho relocated along the headwaters of the Missouri River, while the Cheyenne settled in the same general area of North Dakota. Rather quickly, another move occurred during the early 1700s, further west, but south into the Black Hills of South Dakota. As late as 1724, these uprooted farmers still used dog travois to haul their goods. Even their enemy, the Sioux, still traveled by canoe. By 1770, the Chippewas became sufficiently armed and powerful enough to destroy the main Cheyenne settlement in North Dakota. By 1796, the date which marks the definite beginning of the Plains culture, the Sioux acquired horses. Not too long after, the smallpox epidemic of 1800 eliminated nearly one-half of the Cheyenne Tribe.

In 1804, Lewis and Clark reported some Cheyenne still residing in the Black Hills area. However, another migration was imminent, taking the tribe south to the upper branches of the Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska.

The first treaty signed by Cheyenne chiefs on behalf of the tribe took place at a gathering in Montana in 1825 on the Teton River. Around 1835, a portion of the tribe separated itself from the main body to become known as the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, settling along the Arkansas River in Colorado. It is this group that currently resides in

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Our Native Traditions

political feelings of Colorado settlers, combined with a highly anti-Indian attitude, prevailed and culminated in the famous attack by white settlers on the Cheyenne Indian encampment under Chief Black Kettle. Many Cheyenne, mostly women and children, were killed during this event.

The event is referred to as the “Sand Creek Massacre.”

Subsequent to the Sand Creek Massacre, the U.S. Government directed all Indians to report immediately to designated military posts. Part of the Arapaho and part of the Cheyenne responded and came in to re-express their desire for peace. As a result, a commission was sent out early in 1865 to meet with them. An agreement was entered into and signed whereby the Cheyenne and Arapaho agreed to relinquish the reservation in southeastern Colorado, which they never occupied, and accept in place thereof a reservation further south in Kansas and Indian Territory. The agreement was formalized under the Medicine Lodge Treaty of October 28, 1867, establishing a reservation which bounded on the north by the Kansas state line and on the east, south and west by the Arkansas and Cimarron River. After moving to this reservation, the described tract was found to be unsuitable for their needs, and many were on the warpath again. Then, by proclamation issued August 10, 1869, President Grant approved the transfer of their original reserva-

tion to the present day western Oklahoma location. The new reservation area was bounded on the east by the 98th degree of west longitude, north by a line contained in an 1886 treaty with the Creek Nation, west by the 100th degree of west longitude, and south by the north line of the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation as established by the 1867 Treaty, and the Washita River. It was this latter area which the Cheyenne and Arapaho occupied as a reservation held in common from 1869 to 1890.

On November 27, 1868, Colonel Custer and his troops ruthlessly attacked one of the Cheyenne villages. Black Kettle was killed and his camp destroyed in one of the bloodiest massacres that occurred in Oklahoma, “The Battle of the Washita.” History refers to this event as a “battle,” however, the soldiers attacked the Cheyenne village while they slept, leaving the Cheyenne unable to defend themselves. Bitterness engendered by this attack was a strong factor in Custer being defeated by Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn, which cost him his life.

In 1870, the first Cheyenne and Arapaho agency was established in Darlington, which is about two miles north of El Reno, Oklahoma. It wasn’t until 1875, five years after the first Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency was established that the Cheyenne retaliation came to an end from a military

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point of view. During all these troubled years, the Arapaho generally went out of their way to remain at peace in spite of their own great suffering.

The “Jerome Agreement” of 1890 approved by Act of Congress on March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 989) provided, in part, for the dissolution of the Reservation and the relinquishment by the Cheyenne-Arapahos of all the lands embraced within the exterior boundaries of said reservation except for allotments to individual Indians and reserves for military, agency, school, school-farms, religious or other public uses.

By letter dated March 30, 1892, M.D. Tackett, United States Special Agent in charge of Cheyenne allotments pursuant to the Act of Congress of March 3, 1891 recommended to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that a schedule of individual allotments and certain reserved areas to be used for schools and agency uses be approved, all of which were legally described in the schedule of allotment. Subsequently, the Secretary of Interior on April 12, 1892, approved the schedule of allotments and reserve area recommendations of Mr. Tackett. From that date, titles to the Agency/School lands

46

were in the name of the United States of America held in trust for the use and benefit of the Cheyenne and Arapaho.

In 1984, after the closure of Concho Indian School, the school land was transferred to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in trust. The buildings and water plant were transferred to the Tribes shortly thereafter.

In 1890, as a result of the desire for more land by the white settlers, an Agreement was formalized whereby each Indian was to retain only 160 acres and the excess lands opened to whites. The Cheyenne and Arapaho country was opened for white settlement on April 19, 1892.

In 1937, the Cheyenne and Arapaho organized a government for their common welfare and adopted a Constitution and By-Laws pursuant to the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. Decisions and policies once made by chiefs were enacted in a representative committee of eight (8) members elected for four (4) year terms, on a staggered two (2) year basis.

Our Native Traditions

OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Raleigh Watts District 5 Choctaw Little Miss Princess 2023

Riley Saumty Flurry Little Miss Oklahoma Indian Nations

Sabrina Rice Pawnee Veterans Organization Princess 2023-2024

Samantha Scott Choctaw Princess District 8

Serena Wachininika Horinek Ponca Tribal Princess 2022-2023

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Our Native Traditions

OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Kaedyn Rayne Warrior Tonkawa Princess 2023-2024

Sophia McFarland Little Miss Choctaw Nation 2023-2024

Taniah K.Owings Delaware Nation Princess 2023-2024

Tatum M. Burgess Jr. Walters Service Club Princess 2023-2024

Tema Yargee Miss Muscogee Creek Nation 2022 – 2023

Trinity Jaramillo Jr. Miss Okla Chahta Clan of California 2023-2024

Trinity Paige Black Oklahoma Indian Nations Sr Princess

Kitana Swimmer-Foreman Tulsa Powwow Princess 2023-2024

Victoria Eckiwardy Miss C.I.T.G. Princess 2023

Victoria Hamon Jr. Miss Sac and Fox Nation 2022-2023

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OKLAHOMA

NATIVE ROYALTY

Genevieve Dorothy Goodblanket Little Miss Redmoon Powwow Princess 2022-2024

Georgia Adeline Ushta Harjo Miss Oklahoma Indian Biker Princess 2022-2023

Lila Bible Sequoyah Hope Club Princess 23-24

Santana Moquino Oklahoma Indian Nation Sr. Princess

Skylene Singing After Beaver Jr. Arapaho Labor Day Princess for Colony Pow Wow

Vivien Michelle Parker Comanche Nation Jr Princess 2023-2024

Yesenia Nive-Christine Aitson Comanche Academy Charter School 2022-2023

Zaeleigh Grace Tisho District 2 Choctaw Nation Senior Miss 2023-2024

Zoë Tisho Miss Choctaw Nation Dist. 2 Princess Choctaw Nation 2022-2023

Zoli Gibson Little Miss Indian Oklahoma City 2022-2023

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Our Native Traditions

51

Absentee Shawnee Tribe The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma currently has 4,131 enrolled tribal members who meet the criteria for enrollment, minimum 1/8 absentee Shawnee Blood, set forth by the tribal Constitution. The tribe currently has 16,551.52 acres that are allotted trust land, 595.79 held in trust by the tribe and 819.53 held in fee status by the tribe. Although we are known to have lived in the Eastern United States and it has been documented that we traveled from Canada to Florida, from the Mississippi River to the East Coast before being removed to the area which we now occupy. Originally, the Shawnee Indians lived in the northeastern parts of the United States in areas now known as the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and neighboring states. Treaties in the late 1700’s and throughout the 1800’s established the Shawnee as having a large population and land holdings in the state of Ohio.

Encroaching colonial settlement persuaded the Shawnees living in Cape Girardeau, Missouri to negotiate the 1825 treaty with the United States government to cede their lands in Missouri for a reservation in Kansas. However, several years before this treaty was introduced, a group of Shawnees left Missouri to begin a journey south that would lead them towards territory now known as the state of Texas which was under the control of Spain. This group of Shawnees became known as the Absentee Shawnees. The term “Absentee Shawnees” stems from a provisional clause in an 1854 treaty regarding surplus lands in the Kansas Reservation which were set

52

aside for the “absent” Shawnees. The outcome of the Texas-Mexico War (1846-1848) compelled many Absentee Shawnees to leave Texas and move into Indian Territory. Although, it is estimated that the Absentee Shawnees began to settle in Oklahoma around 1839.

In the late 1800’s, the Indian Agent from the US Government brought soldiers from Fort Reno in western Oklahoma and forced the traditional band of Absentee Shawnees located in Deep Fork River to leave. They were brought south to the area known as Hog Creek and Little River where they were to remain. The group settling here is known as the Big Jim Band. Another band stayed in Pottawatomie County near the town of Shawnee, Oklahoma and is known as the White Turkey Band.

The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally recognized independent Indian Tribe reorganized under the Authority of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936.

The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma possesses all the inherent powers of sovereignty they held prior to the Constitution of the United States. The inherent right of self-government precedes the United States Constitution, and the governing body of the Absentee Shawnee has never relinquished any part of this sovereign right. Among the power to adopt and operate a form of government of their choosing, to define the conditions of tribal membership, to regulate domestic relations of members, to levy taxes, to regulate property within the jurisdiction of the Tribe, to control the conduct of membership by legislation and to administer justice.

The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma is governed by a constitution. The current form of government evolved over the first half of the 20th century. This evolution began in 1938 when the current government was formalized under the constitution written to provide statutory authority. The constitution was ratified December 5, 1938 and was amended on August 13, 1988 and was last amended in November 2010.

The tribal government is composed of two separate branches, the Judicial Branch and the Legislative/Executive Branch. In addition, there is an independent body, the Election Commission, that’s charged with the responsibility of conducting annual election.

The Legislative/Executive Branch consist of five members: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, and Representative, all of whom are elected through referendum elections. This committee has both legislative and executive powers. Each Executive Committee Member is elected to serve a two-year term. The Executive Committee meets on a monthly basis. It is the Executive Committee’s responsibility to set policy, administer government programs and execute the will of the overall tribal membership.

Historically, the Absentee Shawnee are considered to be the most traditional of the three groups of Shawnees in Oklahoma. They are: the Absentee Shawnees, the Shawnees of Miami, Oklahoma, and the Eastern Shawnees of Seneca, MO. Tribal Ceremonies and customs are still practiced today. These traditions and rich culture are what give the Absentee Shawnee Tribe its identity.

Our Native Traditions

Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians 2025 South Gordon Cooper Drive Shawnee, Oklahoma 74801 405.275.4030 www.astribe.com

Paintings are the work of Ernest Spybuck, an Absentee Shawnee artist who lived and worked in Oklahoma at the turn of this century.

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Though some historical lands their own laws and r own and see what you discover. b i e a aw band of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe. z e H f r painting. In 1974, with the encouragement ok edof is and en fo n t s d plis ng , ne the poin es en bu dr s u din r rileaders. th ahe accounts deservingwas of this dream of was confederacy not hquestion ed His b m ig . e t e e o i t g 53 t m eunto s i twocDo his family, a talented but modest artist, un am nde th he The fhis death ni ntsdenote status. own research see realized his and spirit waswhat not tstars os Leroy,his the rank of Brigadier nt abut design he made a point to o r e e your s Inpe constructing se

EMBLEM DESIGNER Leroy White 1926 - 2009

Leroy was born and raised in Little Axe, Oklahoma

on the Indian allotment forced upon his family in 1886. From birth, Shawnee language and

tradition were part of his daily life. He was

selected to succeed his uncle, Webster Little Jim,

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2025 Gordon Cooper Drive, Shawnee, OK Call (405) 878-5850 15951 Little Axe Dr, Norman, OK Call (405) 447-0300

54

Our Native Traditions

Offering a play-based curriculum designed to make learning fun while nurturing the social, developmental and school-readiness skills kids need to succeed.

Call today to arrange your consultation and tour!

6 week - 4 years • Nutritious Lunch & Snacks 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. • Licensed & Certified Staff

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Mission The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma Health System provides a culturally-sensitive, quality health care system for AST Tribal Citizens and other AI/AN’s that leads to health promotion and disease prevention through a multi-disciplinary team using holistic and evidence-based practices that address all health issues and educational needs while protecting individual confidentiality.

2025 Gordon Cooper Drive, Shawnee, OK Call (405) 878-5850 15951 Little Axe Dr, Norman, OK Call (405) 447-0300

55

David Holt

By Kent Bush When he was in the sixth grade, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt already felt destined to a life of public service.

By the time he was 26, Holt had worked in the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Oklahoma State Capitol and in Oklahoma City Hall.

Now almost two decades later, he has served two terms as a state senator and he is now in his second term as the mayor of the 20th largest city in America.

“Being the mayor of Oklahoma City is an incredible opportunity,” Holt said.

“Big city mayors on the national level are really viewed in some cases, at least equal to and in some cases, higher than many governors.”

Holt was recently named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential rising stars.

“What more do I need out of a political office?” he asked. ”It seems like I’m getting an incredible opportunity to have an influence from this position.”

Holt stands out from previous mayors of Oklahoma City in many ways, however the most substantial way may be that he is the first tribal member to occupy the role.

For more than 125 years, the mayor of one of the cities in Oklahoma’s “un-

56

assigned lands” had never been a member of one of the 39 tribal nations in Oklahoma.

Holt is a member of the Osage Tribe, and although he was raised in Oklahoma City apart from many tribal traditions, he said he values his tribal membership and believes that it has an impact on how he governs and how the city relates to its tribal neighbors and partners.

“There has been a lot of racism and discrimination against Native Americans in our state’s history. So it wasn’t always the public’s first instinct to elevate people of tribal membership to leadership roles,” Holt said. “Blessedly, I think that a lot of people think that sounds a bit arcane and hard to believe in 2023. But it wasn’t too long ago, and I think stories like ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ remind us that in almost living memory, there was a time when Native Americans in Oklahoma were really treated as less than human.”

Even though his youth wasn’t filled with Osage traditions and teachings, he has grown to appreciate his heritage more as he has grown older and worked with tribes in his professional life.

“I’m always quick to make sure people understand I wasn’t really raised very culturally Osage” Holt said. “My grandfather graduated from Pawhuska

Our Native Traditions

High School so he exposed me to some of that. But growing up in Oklahoma City, you’re a little more disconnected. And so I definitely have tried as an adult to get a lot more connected and take my kids to events and things.”

Holt said his tribal heritage connects him to people who have been historically marginalized.

“Even though maybe I don’t experience that on a daily basis, based on the way I look I could show you the picture of my grandfather, my great grandfather, and you would realize immediately that, especially in the time in which they lived, they did experience that discrimination and that marginalization,” he said. “Hopefully as human beings, we don’t need those personal connections to have empathy, but it certainly helps when you do. So I believe that it gives me a deeper empathy and understanding for the challenges that all communities that our country face.”

Beyond empathy for disadvantages tribal membership could bring, Holt said his heritage has helped him work with many tribes and develop partnerships that helps the tribes and Oklahoma City.

“I’m proud of that heritage, and I’m excited that it gives me an added opportunity to create partnerships with Native people in our city,” he said. “Obviously, we have not had a hometown tribe so we get the attention of

many tribes and obviously it’s no secret how much the Chickasaw Nation is investing in Oklahoma City.

I feel an extra kinship with all of the tribes knowing that my family has that heritage as well.”

Holt said he believes that partnerships with the tribes have been a big part of Oklahoma City’s recent success stories and he expects them to play a vital role going forward.

One important addition to the city’s cultural landscape has been the First Americans Museum that has been open for about a year in downtown Oklahoma City.

Currently under construction is a $400 million hotel and waterpark resort being built by the Chickasaw Nation called Okana.

“All of these things create an environment where Oklahoma City should assert itself as a national capital for native and indigenous people,” Holt said. “I think we’re going to see more and more of that. And we’re not done yet building that foundation. I think Okana gives us a place for people to

meet. I think every native affiliated organization in the United States should have their meetings at Okana and go visit the First Americans Museum.

I don’t know any other city our size that is even thinking about asserting themselves at that level.”

Holt recently announced a proposal that he sees as an attempt to keep Oklahoma City as a big league city by keeping the Oklahoma City Thunder there for decades to come.

Holt wrote a book about the city’s work to bring the Thunder to the city and he once said the team was the most important thing to happen to Oklahoma since the Land Run. The team’s lease on their current arena in downtown Oklahoma City expires soon and without a new arena, the chances of keeping the team decrease.

With a new arena, the team would lock in a lease that would keep them in Oklahoma City for decades. The cost to residents would be the extension of a sales tax that the city has used for many of its recent improvements.

“Without this investment, we really don’t have a viable future with the NBA. And so a lot of residents seem to comprehend what that has meant to our city,” Holt said. “If you go back to 2008 when the team arrived, our GDP has exploded 62% and we’ve moved from the 31st largest city to the 20th largest city. It’s been a game changer. And so I think enough of our residents understand we have to invest in ourselves to keep that momentum going to get a successful vote.”

Holt said the city his children are growing up in is very different from the Oklahoma City he experienced as a student.

“Oklahoma City was always a nice pleasant place to live, but it seemed like a smaller city, one that many people tried to find a way to leave,” Holt said. “With our growth and partnerships with many different cultures and communities, I hope today’s Oklahoma City is one where people see that things happen here and they are things that they want to be a part of.”

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The History

and Culture of The

Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

The history of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma began when Spain first occupied the peninsula known as Florida. When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565, the first permanent settlement in Florida after at least 60 years of sporadic Spanish visitation, he discovered complex cultures sustained by hunting, fishing, farming and raising stock. Tribes from three different basic language groups, the Timuquan, Calusan and Muskhogean occupied Florida and lived in small and well-organized villages.

Seminole County Although today the term Seminole is used, this name originated due to a European misnomer, which categorized a diverse group of autonomous tribes together under the name Seminole.

The Spanish first recognized the indomitable self-preservation of the speakers of the “core language” Mvskoke, and called them cimarrones, or “free people” (Seminole).

Translated through several languages to English, this term came to apply to all of Florida’s initial inhabitants, and their neighbors who later fled to join them when deprived of their own homelands.

The Seminoles absorbed remnants of other Florida tribes into their own. The Oconee were the original “Seminole,” and later included the Hecete, Eufaula, Mikasuki, Horrewahle, Talahassee, Chiaha, and Appalachicola.

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Additionally, through intermarriage, traditional cultural adoption practices and treaty obligations, runaway and “freed” slaves were absorbed also. The term “cimarrones” spoken by the Spanish was initially transliterated by the Creek as “semvlon.” “ Semvlon” eventually morphed into “Semvnole” (pronounced sem-uh-no-lee by native speakers even today) and thus we have the term that would describe the various Indian tribes in the State of Florida.

Although a relatively large contingency of Seminole were able to hold out in the Florida Everglades during the Indian Removal Era and Seminole Wars, the majority were relocated to Indian Territory along with the other “Five Tribes” of the southeast.

Today the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is located in Seminole County, Oklahoma. The entire county of Seminole is a portion of the original Seminole Nation jurisdiction, and covers approximately 633 square miles. The county is a checkerboard of tribal trust property, Indian allotments, restricted Indian lands, and dependent Indian communities.

Native Americans make up 22% of the population of Seminole County.

According to the Seminole Nation Tribal Enrollment Office, the total enrollment of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is approximately 19,000 members.

Our Native Traditions

The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribal nation with a government anchored by a band system –comprised of 12 traditional bands (Ceyvha, Eufaula, Fushutchee, Hecete, Hvteyievkle, Mekusukey, Nurcup Harjo, Ocese, Rewalks, Tallahassee, Tom Palmer and Tusekia Harjo) and two freedman bands (Bruner and Dosar Barkus).

Clan Law In ancient times the people aligned themselves with certain animal and other supernatural spirits to assist them in enduring a hardship they were experiencing. Upon doing so, a vow was made promising a commitment by the individuals associated with their particular being to remain in association from that point forward. For the majority of Seminole people, this clan association had been maintained into modern times.

clan strength, or need for renewing life into a dormant clan.

Although there are various creation stories that relate the hierarchy of the various clans, each clan holds essential qualities that pertained to a specific job or position held in the ceremonial ground, was well as at home. Each clan had a special talent, was well as a balance of weaknesses for various aspects of the spiritual world.

Ceremonialism For Seminole people who continue to observe pre-Christian ceremonial practices, life revolves around activities at the “ceremonial or stomp grounds. “In modern times these are religious centers where ceremonial dances, dinners and ball games take place mainly during weekends throughout the spring, summer and early fall months.

Clan Law and kinship are highly revered and held in great respect within the spiritual and ceremonial world among the Seminole people. Clan law traditionally governs every aspect of tribal life, from the spiritual to the social.

Clans are matrilineal as they are inherited through one’s mother. If a person’s mother is of the Wotkvlke or raccoon clan, and the father is of the Hulpvivlke or alligator clan, then said person would be of the raccoon clan. However, this person would also be related to the alligator clan, as this is what the person’s father was. In turn, all other raccoon clan people and alligator clan people would be said to be that person’s relations, and would be referred to as aunts and uncles, if the age of a fellow clansman was relative to that of the mother and father, or brothers and sister if the age of the clansman was relative to that of the child him/herself.

Historically, the Seminole based the ability to take a spouse on clan relationships. There is never to be intermarriage of clans.

Historically, many marriages were arranged according to

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Originally the individual tribes or etvlwv, as they are termed in the language, that would come to comprise the confederacy known as the Seminole Nation would physically organize themselves around the ceremonial ring. Seminole ceremonialism guided every aspect of Seminole life. Although not as complete, ceremonial teachings still continue to guide those who actively participate in modern times.

Today the “ceremonial cycle” consists of four or five dances throughout the “dance season” of which Green Corn or Posketv-rakko (Big fast) is the most important. Depending on the ceremonial ground, Green Corn can last from four days (Thursday – Sunday) to seven days (Sunday –Sunday). During Green Corn, was well as other ceremonies, the participating members must commit themselves to dancing, fasting, medicine taking, work and other activities that are to be performed. The purifying herbal medicine is accompanied by “scratching” of the participants’ bodies. Generally administered to the arms and legs, but not limited to these areas, of the participants, “Scratching” is performed to alleviate spiritual and medical ailments by strengthening the individual.

Green Corn can be likened to the combined equivalent of the holidays of Thanksgiving, Easter and New Years.

missionaries, and to encourage participation, layouts, beliefs, and customs of the ceremonial grounds exist within aspects of Indian churches. Church meeting are held every four Sundays and referred to in the community as “Fourth Sunday.”

Church meetings are all day services with multiple visiting preachers who conduct sermons.

Traditional Seminole church hymns are sung before, during and after sermons. Songbooks, bibles, and dictionaries in the language were also documented at this time and are used today.

The Muskoke language was used pervasively within the churches until the late 1950s, when English began to be used intermittently. Today, sermons are conducted both in English and the Muskoke language.

During Green Corn strained relationships are to be reconciled and the wrongs that occurred during the year are to be forgiven. The nighttime songs include such things as recognition of tribal ancestors, spiritual entities, historical events, thanksgiving and well wishing or prayers for the coming year. Daybreak on Sunday marks the completion of the Green Corn ceremony and the beginning of the new year for the ground members.

Seminole Churches The Seminole Nation also has approximately twenty churches, referred to as Indian churches, active within the community. These churches were founded in the late 1800s by

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WWW.SNO-NSN.GOV

Our Native Traditions

The College of the

Muscogee Nation

The College of the Muscogee Nation has been awarded Initial Accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, a major achievement for an institution of higher education that opened its doors a short 12 years ago. Since offering its first classes in 2004 by a partnership with the Oklahoma State University System through OSUIT, CMN has worked to create the foundation for accreditation by being fully involved in the process of self-assessment, evaluating programs and systems, consistent with HLC standards. “This is a historical event for the college and will benefit the tribal nation and younger generations as it continues to develop and grow,” stated CMN President Robert Bible.

The tribe has deep educational roots documented by the Chartering of Indian University (now Bacone) in 1881 by the Creek Council, and the Treaty of 1866 which Creek leaders negotiated to promote the building of educational facilities in Creek Nation. “It was these visionaries who started the legacy of education, and this institution is a monument to our Mvskoke ancestors,” said Dr. James King, Accreditation Liaison for CMN. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation chartered CMN in 2006 as its institution of higher education, furthering the educational legacy.

In the first trimester, twenty-seven students were enrolled in the two classes offered: Mvskoke Language and Native American History.

Since that time, the college has grown to include more than fifty courses taught each trimester, with an average student enrollment of more than 200.

The college established its own campus in 2010, moving from OSUIT into the newly constructed Education/Administration building, which includes classrooms, staff and faculty offices, the Learning Center, and the Student Success Center. Later expanding the campus to 32 acres, CMN

Muscogee Creek Faculty Member, Ronnie Sands, teaches CMN College Algebra class

CMN student presenting science research findings in Microbiology class

CMN students practice bow shooting for national AIHEC Student Conference and competition

was able to build student housing units and the Student Center building, which features classrooms with retractable walls for conference space, a café, bookstore, fitness center, and expanded library.

Leading up to this point, to be accredited CMN has completed for the Higher Learning Commission: an Eligibility Study (2008), a successful interview for Accreditation Eligibility (2009), and a Preliminary Information Document (2011) to prepare for Candidacy. A Self-Study, site visit, and interview by the HLC Institutional Actions Council were completed as prerequisites for CMN Chronology Candidacy in 2012. In 2016, an Assurance Argument and 2004-2009 Accreditation site visit were completed, as well as the In• First Classes Fall 2004 stitutional Actions Council • Board of Regents held interview, with HLC’s Board first meeting in 2005 awarding accreditation. With • Chartered in 2006 this accreditation the col• First student graduated in 2006 lege has adopted a Strategic • Received HUD Grant for Plan to guide its growth and new building in 2007 development for the primary purpose of providing quality • Purchased 15 acres for education its students. campus in 2008 Achievements with the • MCN Constitution amended accreditation process enabled to include CMN in 2009 the college to receive Land 2010-Present Grant Status that was authorized by Congress in the 2014 • Moved into newly constructed Farm Bill. This designation building on CMN’s own campus provides funds for the colin 2010 lege extension services and • Second phase of construction competitive grants from the began with student residence United States Department of units in 2011 Agriculture Rural Develop• Became member of American ment. Accreditation has been Indian Higher Education a pinnacle in the CMN journey • Consortium and HLC approved to become a quality instituCandidacy in 2012 tion of higher education for • Construction of Student its students and the Muscogee Center and purchase of 10 acres (Creek) Nation. This has been to expand campus in 2013 a team effort with many tribal leaders, tribal communities, • Designated as Land Grant institution in 2014 and the higher education network assisting the college in • Established Cultural Community reaching the numerous mileGarden on campus in 2015 stones.

• Exceeded 200 students For more information enrolled in Fall 2015 about the college, please con• Graduated 34 students in 2016 tact the Office of Institutional • First Oklahoma tribal college to Effectiveness at 918-549receive Accreditation in 2016 2828.

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