Otoe-Missouria News Archive

by James S. Tyree

Tracey Moore is a member of the Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee and Sac & Fox tribes who aims to help keep their disappearing languages alive by learning, speaking and teaching them. She learned how recently during the Breath of Life workshop at the University of Oklahoma’s Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

The May 24-28 program taught participants how to conduct linguistic research on tribal languages, starting with archival materials at the museum. The program is designed for people from tribes that lack fluent speakers of their language who want to help preserve the language for future generations. Moore was eager to return home to Fairfax, where she would study even further and share that knowledge with her students in the Osage Nation’s Language Program. “It’s just inspiring; I can’t wait to go back and dig in,” she said. “With the linguistics part, I will have the ability to learn all my languages.”

» Read the complete article on NewsOK.com.

by Lorraine Jessepe

Jessica Moore’s passion for art, mathematics and culture has taken her across the world. Moore (Osage/Otoe-Missouria/Sac and Fox/Pawnee) is a 24-year-old Oklahoma State University student in her final year of the landscape architecture program.

“I have been fortunate to travel abroad to a number of countries, which created a new passion for me – a love for other cultures and other societies of this world,” said Moore, a 2009 National Center for American Indian Enterprise 40 Under 40 honoree. So far, her studies have taken her to France, Italy, Thailand, Japan and Peru.

As a young girl, Moore always wanted to be a doctor, but her interest in art and math eventually led her to architecture. Later, an interest in environmentalism led her to change her field to landscape architecture. “I actually didn’t know what landscape architecture was until my sophomore year at OSU.” It’s a multidisciplinary field involving the planning and design of natural and built environments. “My design philosophy as a landscape architect is to make space animate, special and memorable in a way that invokes the emotions that the owner wishes to express or feels,” Moore said.

» Read the complete article on Indian Country Today.

The Cherokee Nation recently provided $25,000 in funding to assist in the restoration project at Chilocco School, a former Native American boarding school located in the old Cherokee Strip of Kay County.

“We are pleased to be a partner in this restoration effort,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.  “During its operation, Chilocco School brought together thousands of Indian students from more than 120 tribes across the country.  It is the duty of all tribes to participate in preserving this common ground for future generations to remember the Indian boarding school era.”

After 96 years of service, operation of the school ended in 1980.  Today, the campus has approximately 70 buildings and is governed by the Council of Confederated Chilocco Tribes, consisting of the Kaw, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Ponca and Tonkawa Nations.  The Cherokee Nation owns thousands of acres of land surrounding the campus, including the entrance to the school.

» Read the complete article on NativeTimes.com.

by Wesley Mahan

An Oklahoma couple will be honored as the National Indian Education Association Parents of the Year. Brent and Kennetha Greenwood of Edmond were nominated for the award after winning the Oklahoma version last November. “We won the Parents of the Year at the state level and we were nominated by Sydna Yellowfish, who is the head of Edmond Indian Education. She nominated us for helping out with her Indian education program. We get together handgames for them and do workshops, since both my husband and I are artist,” said Kennetha…

Kennetha is a member of the Otoe Missouria Tribe and Brent is of Ponca and Chickasaw heritage. They have two children and will travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in October to accept their award.

» Read the complete article on NativeTimes.com.

The National Indian Education Association will be honoring eight Native individuals and one school who have had a large impact on the world of education during their 40th annual convention to be held in Milwaukee, Wisc., Oct. 22-25. Since 1977, the membership association has honored Native leaders who have changed and improved the lives of their schoolchildren and affected dialog concerning Native education issues, both locally and nationally…

Elaine Peters, Menominee Indian Tribe, and Joseph Medicine Crow, Crow Nation, will be honored as Elder of the Year. Brent (Ponca/Chickasaw) and Kennetha Greenwood (Otoe Missouria) will be honored as Parents of the Year, Dr. Cornel Pewewardy, Comanche Nation, is the Teacher of the Year and Denise M. Juneau (Mandan/Hidatsa Tribe) is the Educator of the Year.

» Read the complete article on Indian Country Today.

The Gravy Had no Lumps

A Gravy Reunion is to be held July 4th in Pawnee, Okla. at the former Pawnee Boarding School once a Bureau of Indian Affairs, (BIA) institution, Most alumni remember the institution by the less bureaucratic label of “Gravy”; however during the institution’s 80 years existence, an unknown student whose fame is forever etched in the annals of anonymity christened the government school with its infamous name “Gravy”. The nickname probably surfaced from the savory chipped-beef gravy that was a limitless breakfast staple. Another student pundit tacked on “U”, and the institution fast became “Gravy U”, remaining so even after the schools closure in 1958.

» Read the full article on NativeTimes.com.

When Elwood Ott walks across the stage Friday morning during Haskell Indian Nations University’s commencement ceremony in the basketball gym, he said he would feel a sense of pride. He’s a 29-year-old father who’s been attending Haskell — off and on — for more than 10 years.

Originally from Tulsa, Okla., and a member of the Otoe-Missouria tribe, Ott is the first in his family to obtain a college degree. He said he kept at it once he realized early on that a degree would be necessary for career advancement. Later, he gained another motivation. “I’m trying to show my kids the importance of it,” he said. “I’m just trying to pave the way forward.”

» Read the complete article in the Lawrence Journal-World.

by Jesse Olivarez

The Oklahoma Council for Indian Education named Sydna Yellowfish, a teacher at Edmond’s Boulevard Academy, the Indian Educator of the Year. Yellowfish received the award at a banquet the council held Dec. 9 in Tulsa. She said the honor filled her with pride. “I’m very pleased to be the recipient of it,” Yellowfish said. “To be selected makes me happy and as others would say it validates some of the work I did here with the Indian Education program.”

Yellowfish, a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, has worked as the district’s Indian Education Coordinator for the last 24 years. She said she became a teacher so she could teach others about her heritage.

» Read the complete article on NewsOK.com.

Nearly a half century has passed since the Pawnee Industrial School, also known as the Pawnee Indian Boarding School, was closed in 1958 after eighty years of operation.

But, the school’s influence lives on in the hearts and lives of the hundreds of students drawn from the Pawnee, Otoe-Missouria, Kaw, Ponca, Tonkawa, Shawnee and other tribes who attended the government run school. Many former students affectionately call the school “Gravy U” in memory of the watery gravy served at most meals.

Former students, employees and relatives will gather near the site of the old school on Saturday, Aug. 11 for the 18th reunion gathering and homecoming. Organizers are asking those attending to bring old school photos and memorabilia to share with others. Souvenir booklets will be available for participants.

The gathering will take place beginning at 1 p.m. at the Pawnee Tribal Community Hall located on the Pawnee Tribal Reserve, two blocks north of the tribal casino on Morris Road. Soft drinks, coffee and donuts will be available from 1-2 p.m., with an afternoon visitation scheduled from 2-5 p.m. Supper will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. Visitors are encouraged to tour the former school’s campus, part of which is being used by the new Pawnee Nation College.

Originally published in the Ponca City News.

A ceremony next month at the former Chilocco Indian School will commemorate the listing of the school’s campus on the National Register of Historic Places, an official of the Chilocco National Alumni Association announced today. The brief ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. March 4 on the Chilocco campus. It is open to the public.

“Hopefully, a lot of former students, employees and friends of Chilocco will attend,” said Jim Baker, of Stillwater, the president of the Chilocco National Alumni Association. Event coordinators are trying to get the Oklahoma governor to attend, Baker said.

A certificate issued by the Department of Interior designating the campus as on the national register will be issued to the Council of Confederated Chilocco Tribes. The five tribal chairmen or presidents will receive the certificate. The confederated tribes are the Kaw, Ponca, Tonkawa, Otoe Missouria and Pawnee. The Chilocco Alumni Association was an integral component of group efforts to have the campus listed on the National Register, and is invited to participate, Baker said. Chilocco received the official listing on Sept. 9.

The former Indian school is located a few miles across the Oklahoma border south of Arkansas City. It was founded in 1884 and had a long history of educating thousands of Native Americans of various tribes from throughout the country. The school grounds included 10,000 acres. It closed in 1980.

» Originally published in the Arkansas City Traveler.