Capturing Hope Through the Choctaw Stories Project
Nurtured by the family reunion-like atmosphere at the Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival, we invited elders to share their life stories. Inside the Bertram Bobb Chapel on the Choctaw Nation Capitol Grounds at Tvshka Homma, families settled in for a time of storytelling. From humor to tears, it gave them an opportunity to hear things from and about one another they didn’t know before.
“It gets a bit deeper than you think it will,” said Scott Wesley, Chahta Foundation Scholarship Specialist, who arranged and recorded the interviews.
At first, Katelyn Osteen didn’t want to do a storytelling session, but she was “voluntold” for it to interview her mother. “It ended up being more relaxed than I thought it would be,” Katelyn said, “though it got emotional.”
With sunlight casting beams through the glass wall behind them, cameras and sound equipment faded out as the mother and daughter sat across from one another for their storytelling session. Scott offered them a set of questions to choose from and let them begin when they were ready. In the quiet, peaceful setting, the stories flowed along with tears and laughter.
Sharon Dodson, Katelyn’s mother, shared about her faith and its impact on her life growing up. “There was always prayer, always acknowledgment of God as our Creator,” Sharon said. “That’s part of who we were as Christians, as Choctaw families.”
After the session, Sharon said, “We were raised up in church. It was big families and single parents doing what they had to do, sharing the stuff we had. What was common for all of us was that God was in it. To come back and work for the Choctaw Nation and to be able to talk about God is huge for me, to give people that hope.”
At a session the previous day, the Crosby family came in for storytelling that turned into song. In the middle of their questions, the family broke out singing Amazing Grace. Lauren and Karen — the two daughters who are former Choctaw princesses — started singing. The parents, Kenneth and Elizabeth, joined in.
“They’re preachers and youth ministers, so I expected something,” Scott said with a laugh. “I feel like location played a big part in the interviews this year. The chapel just made a very calming and spiritual setting.”
Scott has worked on capturing family stories since the Choctaw Stories project began in 2012. In a small room connected to his office at the Chahta Foundation, he created a sound studio where elders can come in to share their stories, sing songs, and preserve history and the legacy of faith passed down from their ancestors. That hope is captured on video for generations to come.
We would love to record your family stories. Please contact Scott to schedule an interview with a Choctaw elder in your life: swesley@choctawnation.com or 1-800-522-6170 x2546
Credit: Sarah Elizabeth Sawyer
