Our Culture Survives

Sharing Oral Stories

Host Lisa Billy sits around the fire with Chickasaw elders Quanah Nail, Sherry Nail, Walter Mullican, Sharon Leming and Raylee McGlocklin, as they share the history of their childhood education. As these elders grew up, education took many forms and occurred in many places: in the classrooms of Catholic schools and boarding schools; moving to new cities as part of the federal government relocation program; on the football field outside of the Chickasaw Traditional Capitol, which at the time was the county courthouse; and in the history shared by their families, to name a few. No matter the lessons, where they were learned or how they came to be in the lives of these elders, one theme held true: education was a foundation each of their parents and grandparents were adamant about giving them. As Leming's mother told her children, "I want every one of you to get an education. An education is something they can't take away from you."

Watch these Chickasaw elders share their oral stories and share your own traditions of education with us on Facebook, Instagram and X using #EldersSpeak.

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