Academy Award-winning actor Wes Studi narrates a locally produced film that explores the life journeys of several Oklahoma Native American flute makers and players and soon will premiere on OETA
Melissa Rosenfelt
Special to Oklahoman
When a Native American woman realizes the power of her voice and her passion, she can never be silenced.
Although Native American women represent 6% of Oklahoma’s population, this small group of women carry generations of traditions, culture and knowledge that have ensured the survival of Native American identities since the beginning of colonization.
At the heart of Native American communities is the drum, which represents the supple, strong heartbeat that flows through Indigenous people. The drum is the heartline that connects the people to the land we reside on today.
Much like the drum, here are four Native American women who radiate as the heart of Indigenous families and also their communities as they’ve used their voices to stand up for Native American issues like Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People, against colonized curriculum in the public-school systems, for Black Freedmen Bands no longer federally recognized, a