Tribal elder recalls Otoe predecessors (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Tribal elder recalls Otoe predecessors 
 Speaker gives lesson in culture, language.

     By JASON ROSENBAUM of the Tribune’s staff   Published Sunday, July 3,
2005

	 Jenna Isaacson photo 		 
	 Truman Black, a full-blooded Otoe Indian, tries to recall the Otoe word for
“mama” while discussing tribal culture and language yesterday at Van Meter
State Park. “If you don’t speak it, you lose it,” Black said. 		 

  MIAMI, Mo. - After taking a sip of water, Truman Black placed the tips of his
fingers against his chest and closed his eyes. He swayed slightly as he sang a
soft, deeply powerful melody.

   "The Flag Song," as Black called it, honors Otoe predecessors who fought for
their culture at home as well as for the United States abroad.

   "Our tribe, many a tribe, have great honor in their warriors," said Black,
who calls himself one of the last full-blooded Otoe American Indians.

   Black, 68, of Oklahoma City, spoke about the Otoes’ history, language and
culture yesterday at Van Meter State Park, some 75 miles west of Columbia.
About a dozen people came to the event, which was sponsored by the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources.

   The Otoes originated in what is now the Upper Midwest in the 1300s or 1400s.
They moved west in the 1500s to 1600s before settling in the 1750s with the
Missouri and Ioway American Indians in what are now Nebraska and Iowa.

   Connie Winfrey, historical site administrator for Van Meter State Park, said
that after the Missouri, Ioway and Otoe tribes migrated from the Great Lakes,
the Missouri Indians stayed near the Missouri River in what is now Saline
County, and the Otoes went up the river to Nebraska.

   In the late 1700s, when the Sauk and Fox tribes defeated the Missouri
Indians, they went up the river and joined the Otoes.

   "When Lewis and Clark came through here, the Missouri Indians weren’t
living here. They found them with the Otoe," Winfrey said. "The Missouri
Indians and the Otoe were the first tribes Lewis and Clark encountered on their
trek west."

   Black said the Missouri, Ioway and Otoes share similar languages. The Ioway
language, he said, has only a handful of words with meanings that differ from
the Otoe language. The Missouri Indians spoke the same language but at a
quicker pace, he said.

   "If we got the people to slow down enough, we could understand them," Black
said.

   At its peak, Black said, the Otoe tribe had about 2,300 members. Today, he
said, there are a little more than a dozen "full-blooded" Otoes.

   Language is the key to the preservation of culture, Black said. "You lose
your language, you lose your culture," he said.

   Black said that because the Otoes do not have a written language, he learned
the tribe’s customs and language from Arthur Lightfoot, an uncle of Ioway and
Otoe descent. Black said he is among only a handful of people who know how to
speak the language.

   Black said descendants of the Otoe tribe don’t know American Indian history
because their parents no longer talk about it. "They are no longer told stories
as I was when I was growing up," he said.

   During a question-and-answer session, Black explained how to say the word
"daughter" in Otoe but struggled to recall the word for "mama." "If you don’t
speak it, you lose it," he said.

   Black also discussed his confrontations with bigotry. He told how he was
refused service in 1957 at a Ponca City, Okla., bar while wearing his Navy
uniform. The server told him that because he was an American Indian, he could
not buy beer.

   Black said he once was confined to a segregated portion of a cafe.But he
said he’s never been ashamed of his heritage. "I have never had a reason not
to be prideful of my heritage." 

   He said that it was emotional remembering his past because many of the
people who know the Otoe culture are dying off.

   "I’m of an age where I knew the elders that lived the culture, still spoke
the language and were still in the cultural customs of our Indian history," he
said. "There are many people of my age today who don’t have that spiritual
feeling that I have because of knowing of the language and the customs."

-------------------------
_Reach Jason Rosenbaum at (573) 815-1723 or jrosenbaum at tribmail.com[1]._

Links:
------
[1] mailto:jrosenbaum at tribmail.com
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