Honoring the Freedmen Elders Among Us

This page is devoted to honoring the elders among the Freedmen, who were children of original Dawes Enrollees. Most are Choctaw & Chickasaw Freedmen on this list, but there are some from other nations, for their struggle represents the struggle of all of the Disenfranchised Freedmen of Indian Territory.  It is the elders from whom we receive encouragement,  wisdom and guidance. It is also the elders who initiated the struggles of the Freedmen since the disenfranchisement from the tribes in the 1970s, and it is the elders who have continued to remind us, that their history occurred on the same identical landscape of the Five Nations.

There are still elders among us, who hold the keys to our family history and some who have shared their knowledge and history with us in recent years.  They are leaving us quickly, and some have already departed, but we must acknowledge that they were here, that they have left a legacy and they deserve to be honored. 

We have developed this page to say that  we appreciate them, and we honor them, for if it were not for their strength, our knowledge of ourselves would be limited.

Honored Elders

Lucy Allen

Bernice Riggs

Rev. Roger Nero

Victoria Fields

* Persons who names in italics are now deceased.