Native ChocTalk

The year was 1830. Up to 6,000 Choctaws gathered each day. White observers also decided to come along. Cattle was butchered to feed the masses, supplies were set up in tents and all were anxious to observe what was to come. Gambling tables were provided - an activity that opened the door to brawls. Tables were knocked over amongst the fights and many were bullied by trigger-happy troublemakers. On...

Enchanting historic roads wind through the miles of evergreen trees in the Kiamichi Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. The shaky autumn leaves tinted in colors of gold and rust drift to the earth with the Oklahoma wind, whispering the tales of those who have come and gone. The Caddo Indians would be pushed out of their region by those Choctaw who had survived the Trail of Tears, removed from thei...

I was recently asked to speak with some inspiring 6th through 12th graders - young ladies of an Oklahoma Native American boarding school that’s near and dear to my heart. After eating dinner with these intelligent (and fun) gals, many of them eager for their next steps and about to head into the adult world, I talked about Women’s History Month and what it means for us as Native American women. “H...

“Be proud of who you are because your existence is a resistance against cultural genocide.” - Jake Tiger, Seminole He’s the Seminole from Seminole, Oklahoma who works for the Seminole Nation. Can he even get more Seminole? Meet Jake Tiger, y’all! In addition to being a Seminole Jake is also: • A subject matter expert on and creates/sews/crafts Seminole textiles and traditional garments: o Did you...

“Chickasaw legend tells of a girl who is teased by other children and named Loksi’—Turtle—for her slowness. Upon the counsel of a river, she goes to live in the forest. There, she finds hospitality among the turtle people. One day, the god of the turtles asks her to tell her fellow humans to treat turtles with respect and kindness, and gives her a gift of turtle shells filled with pebbles and seed...

Although she’s Choctaw, my guest, Nancy Tecumseh Mason is immersed within her husband and children’s tribe (Muscogee Nation). And for years now, Nancy has relentlessly poured her time and energy into supporting the youth of the tribe as Director of the Mvskoke Nation Youth Services. In this episode, you’ll hear about Mvskoke Nation Youth Services: • This program is created by youth for youth, and...

Prior to non-Natives settling in what is now the United States, Native American spirituality had solidified over centuries, differing within each tribe. That spirituality included rituals and inner meditations around nature, harmony, community and more. But it wasn’t long after the settlers arrived that missionaries felt called (or were sometimes appointed) to spread the gospel of Jesus to the Ind...

“Despite our wealth, our lives were cheap.  - Jim Gray discussing his Osage people in “Indian Country Today” magazine, Sept 13, 2019 On February 6th, 1923, hunters came upon a Buick that had crashed into a slope in Fairfax, Oklahoma. The 40-year-old driver was found slumped over the steering wheel, a bullet in the back of his head. He was an Osage man, lured into a dangerous trap by a white man -...

“Despite our wealth, our lives were cheap. - Jim Gray discussing his Osage people in “Indian Country Today” magazine, Sept 13, 2019 On February 6th, 1923, hunters came upon a Buick that had crashed into a slope in Fairfax, Oklahoma. The 40-year-old driver was found slumped over the steering wheel, a bullet in the back of his head. He was an Osage man, lured into a dangerous trap by a white man - s...

He happened to look down at what his counselor had jotted down on a piece of paper in his school file. He couldn’t help but take a peek. What did it say? The 3 words could’ve set his destiny in stone forever. “Not college material.” The phrase sank into his mind, solidifying what his future may entail – anything but college, he concluded, based on his counselor’s findings. After all, a counselor w...

“If you wanna see women go to war, I would say come to Choctaw, Mississippi!” – Chalena Marcus Billy from the Pearl River Ohoyo Team 2021 Stickball Champions Welcome to a new episode of Native ChocTalk’s Part 2 of “Stickball, Little Brother of War: Mississippi Choctaws, Mark Williams & Chalena Marcus Billy Listen to the episode here! https://tinyurl.com/ybbkdhvy In part 1, stickball player, expert...

When you think of certain sports like football, you think rough, tough and full of injuries. But that’s nothing compared to say, rugby. Now THAT’s a dangerous sport. But have you heard of a sport that involved a goal to settle disputes between tribes, and sometimes so fierce that it ended in death? The players of this game prepared by painting their bodies and limiting their diet, drinking Spanish...

You’ve heard the heartbreaking stories of the American Indian boarding schools from years past. And the accounts continue to unfold – children of all ages being removed from their homes, a government intent on “killing the man, saving the Indian”, and innocent kids being taught to forsake their language, customs, traditions and all they’ve ever known. But what about the boarding schools that were...

There’s an incredibly powerful book that changed the way we understand and “feel” the journeys of those who walked the Trail of Tears. It’s called Tushpa's Story (Touch My Tears: Tales from the Trail of Tears Collection), and January 28, 2022, is the 6th anniversary of its release! What better way to celebrate this anniversary than by hearing more about the book, directly from Choctaw Author, Sara...

Buckle up, y’all. Because today you’re going to study with me and my guest about a time in history when the entire future of our Indigeneous people had come to a crossroads that depended upon crucial decisions. Would each tribe fight for the right to stay in the land of their ancestors? Or would they succumb to the pressures of colonization and the removal to the new, unknown lands of Indian Terri...

WELCOME to Season 2 of Native Choctalk, A Podcast by Natives For All! My Producer and friend, Bee will be interviewing me in this 2nd of a 2 part series. I am honored to openly share about my ancestral stories, following the lineage of my great grandmother Ella, starting with her mother, Rosa Coley. I say “openly share”, because for too long, our ancestors were told to “be quiet”, to not speak the...

WELCOME to Season 2 of Native Choctalk, A Podcast by Natives For All! I’d like to thank each and every one of you who listened in Season 1 and supported this effort to preserve our American Indian stories, history, culture and traditions! And, in order to take my own advice about preserving stories, today’s episode is in 2 parts and it’s a bit of my own story as well as that of my own ancestors. M...

Public Service Announcement: Y’all have to check out the Choctaw Powwow, coming up Dec 4th and 5th, 2021 in Durant, Oklahoma! You’ll get to experience the Dancer Contest, Drum Contest, Pow Wow Stickball Exhibition games and good fellowship. Feel free to post photos to my Native ChocTalk Facebook page if you get to go! https://www.choctawnation.com/powwow My guests, Dr. Steven Aicinena and Dr. Seba...

Life did not set him up for success. He didn’t have a wealthy upbringing, he suffered great loss many times over, he didn’t come from a long line of famous athletes. In fact, he was an American Indian - the most despised and discarded race in America. What turned this despised Indian into a super star athlete (or who I consider to be a Native “superhero”)? How did he go from discarded, to receivin...

In this episode, my sister and I traveled to beautiful eastern Oklahoma to visit a friend of mine, Patrick Moore, Superintendent of the Choctaw Nation’s boarding school, Jones Academy in Hartshorne, Oklahoma. Jones Academy is located at the base of the beautiful Pocahontas Mountains, surrounded by rolling hills and trees as far as the eye can see – a perfect place for this boarding school. This es...

“The most impactful part of this decision was Justice Gorsuch saying, ‘On the far end of the Trail of Tears there was a promise’. And I think every Native that read that felt like, hey it’s about time. The US government is now going to be held to the treaties they made with our First Nations when they removed our people from their homelands”. – Kara Bacon Friends, on July 9th, 2020, THE single mos...

Moment of Silence - Stacy Williams flute

“Cicero shot him”, Ella stated, as her declining 91-year-old mind recalled memories aloud from her childhood. She was near death now, preparing to go home to her Creator, but not without first reliving the event that had occurred when she was just 7 years old. She was a child, too young to comprehend why Cicero would shoot “him". But who was Cicero? And who was the “him” of which she spoke? Ella e...

It’s time to turn off the t.v., turn the lights down low and settle in for a creeeeepy episode of Native ChocTalk. But be sure to keep a blanket close by in case you need to hide underneath.  He’s said to have claws like the eagle – sharp talons in the shape of a teardrop. Natives in the U.S. say the babies alone can get up to 8 feet tall and some Canadian tribes say 15-20 feet is the norm. Some e...

Have you visited the new First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City? If not, it’s a must-see! Welana Queton, Curatorial Specialist, was kind enough to walk us through the meaningful layout of the museum and the story around the precious artifacts of our Indigenous past. My sister, Stacy and I visited FAM on opening day and were in awe of the many beautiful colors – from regalia to art to feathe...