Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1. Growing Up Indian in a Southern Context
The Ballad of the Choctawhatchee River: Ripples from Our Past
Nanette Sconiers Pupalaikis
Muscogee Lifeways in Central Georgia
Stan Cartwright
My Family’s Legacy
Patricia Easterwood
Hiding My Indian Identity
Wanda Light Tully
Growing up MOWA Choctaw
Framon Weaver
The Sacrifices We Made for Our Education
Kenneth Adams
Showdown at Bayou Pointe-aux-Chien
Charles “Chuckie” Verdin
Racism in New Brockton, Alabama
Nancy Wright Carnley
One Poarch Creek Family’s Educational Journey over Three Generations
Otha, Marie, Pauline, Nathan, Karla, and Kaci Martin
We Will Forever Remain Coushatta and We Will Always Be Here
Ernest Sickey
Part 2. The Politics of History and Identity
A Rebirth on the Chowan
Marvin T. Jones
Speaking for My Ancestors
Shoshone Peguese-Elmardi
From Cherokee to Chowanoke: Discovering the North Carolina Algonquians
Lars Adams
The Chowanoke Indian Resurgence
Doug Patterson
Jamestown 2007: A Native American Perspective
Kenneth Adams
Eastern Creeks and the Persistence of Identity
Hodalee Scott Sewell
To Be or Not to Be a “Wannabe”
Tony Mack McClure
Jim Crowfeather in Indian Country
Cedric Sunray
Part 3. Cultural Grounding
In My Mother’s Hands
Brooke Bauer
Nerataya: Spirit of the Deer and Passing the Gifts of the Tunica-Biloxi
Donna Pierite, Jean-Luc Pierite, and Elisabeth Pierite-Mora
Reawakening Our Warrior Tradition
Harold Comby
Te-lah-nay’s Wall
Tom Hendrix
In the Eye of Isaac
Michael “T. Mayheart” Dardar
Being the Indians We Were Made to Be
Marcus Briggs-Cloud
Generations within the Circle
Marvin “Marty” Richardson
Putting the “Community” Back into My Jena Choctaw Community
Dana Chapman Masters
Finding My Sense of Place in My Ancestral Homeland
Robert Jumper
Native People Should Tell Their Own Stories
Robert Caldwell
Vpuecetv (To Dream): My Journey to Becoming Tribal Royalty
Megan Young
At War with Herself: Artistic Reflections of Culture and Identity
Jessica Osceola
Part 4. Moving Forward
A Reflection on a Lifetime of Leadership
Ernest Sickey
Initiating Intertribal Efforts in Louisiana
Jeanette Alcon
The Oil Companies Stole Our Land
Charles “Chuckie” Verdin
Finishing What I Started
Framon Weaver
Looking South
Michael “T. Mayheart” Dardar
Inauguration Speech, First Woman Chief of the Mississippi Choctaw
Phyliss J. Anderson
Building an Entrepreneurial Spirit within Tribal Nations
David Sickey
Seeking Prosperity and Self-Determination
Stephanie Bryan
Defining Moments
Malinda Maynor Lowery
Working Toward a Healthy Future for the Cherokee Nation
Ahli-sha Stephens
Native Youth in Agriculture
Elliott Nichols
Notes
Bibliography
Index
