Te Ata: Chickasaw Storyteller, American Treasure

by Richard Green

In 1987, Te Ata (1895-1995) became the first person ever declared an Oklahoma Treasure. Throughout a sixty-year career, her performances of American Indian folklore enchanted a wide variety of audiences, from European royalty to Americans of all ages, and Indians across the American continents from Canada to Peru.Richard Green sets the inspiring story of Te Ata against the historical, political, economic, and social upheavals of the Dawes Act, the federal government's allotment program designed to abolish tribal governments and assimilate the Chickasaw and other Indian tribes into the American mainstream. Although Te Ata grew up in Tishomingo and Bloomfield, a tribal boarding school, rather than on a reservation, she was raised on her father's Chickasaw stories. In time, Te Ata recognized the wit and wisdom of her father's stories and found she had a special talent for collecting and adapting them and other American Indian folktales into dramatic performances.

Green's research is extensive, drawing on his position as tribal historian for the Chickasaw Nation and the support of Te Ata's family to access Te Ata's personal papers, memorabilia, and the letters and photographs exchanged between Te Ata and her husband, Clyde Fisher, founding director of the Hayden Planetarium.

Genres: Biography, History, Native American, Nonfiction

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to learn more about the Chickasaw people and I was pleasantly surprised by the way this book flowed and the amazing story of Te Ata. To write the details of someone’s life while educating and bringing awareness to a long ago lived world, is not easy and this book did it beautifully. I loved learning all the details of Te Ata and I loved that she would retreat to “Loon island.” This isn’t a quick read but it’s a beautiful one. I recommend it to all.

[Anjalica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful woman with a mission to tell the story. Tears of sadness, tears of joy but most of all tears of gratefulness for telling the story of our people.

Thank you

[Kathleen Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was captivated by this amazing woman and her remarkable life. Te Ata cultivated her career as a performing folklorist to share her culture with audiences here and abroad. The seriousness and integrity with which she undertook her art is a credit to the Chickasaw Nation. The times, her experiences and the people she met - it was all so fascinating.

[Resa Boydston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I read this book as an assignment for my upper level sociology class, it has been a thrill reading of Te Ata's life and her many experiences. I had another reason for reading this book; My g-g-g-grandmother was Chickasaw, and reading Te Ata's experiences helped fit a few pieces in my life's puzzle. The flow of the writer's style was brilliant and easy-to-read.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This remarkable book about an amazing woman will stay on my mind for quite some time. Te Ata gracefully accepted her heritage and moved to share it with school children and politicians. She travelled abroad and across the nation with aplomb. Her life was unbelievable for anyone, much less for an Indian woman from Oklahoma.

[Rachel Renbarger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is not great, and it’s far far longer than it should’ve been BUT it’s an important story. Even as an Oklahoman, I hadn’t heard much about tribal history or any of the famous folklorists. I learned a great deal about how different life was...

[Ranette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book about a treasure among the people, a young woman who fought against the banning of Indian culture through her dazzling singing and dancing.

[Drew]

Te Ata did what my friends and I do at VSA. We're artists. I do both the visual arts and the performing arts, but mainly I'm a performer. It was great to read about a woman I have that in common with.