{"id":36732,"date":"2024-04-29T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T04:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=36732"},"modified":"2024-04-29T17:53:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T21:53:37","slug":"chuck-hoskin-tell-the-whole-story-about-the-theft-of-tribal-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/04\/29\/chuck-hoskin-tell-the-whole-story-about-the-theft-of-tribal-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"Chuck Hoskin: Tell the whole story about the theft of tribal lands"},"content":{"rendered":" <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/04\/29\/chuck-hoskin-tell-the-whole-story-about-the-theft-of-tribal-lands\/chuckhoskin-39\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-36739\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" data-attachment-id=\"36739\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/04\/29\/chuck-hoskin-tell-the-whole-story-about-the-theft-of-tribal-lands\/chuckhoskin-39\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/29\/ChuckHoskin.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2048,1365\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"Chuck Hoskin\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Chuck Hoskin&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Cherokee Nation Chief addresses the general session of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes in Thackerville, Oklahoma, on  April 19, 2024. Photo: &lt;a href=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheCherokeeNation\/posts\/pfbid0t8J2NHrY1Cgd8LVCbtkNxKKpvL8pVMfx7sNwQ7qcuK53a7wULLT7QhHohPRjqG1Dl&gt;Cherokee Nation&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/29\/ChuckHoskin-1024x683.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/29\/ChuckHoskin.jpg\" alt=\"Chuck Hoskin\" class=\"size-full wp-image-36739\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Cherokee Nation Chief addresses the general session of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes in Thackerville, Oklahoma, on  April 19, 2024. Photo: <a href=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheCherokeeNation\/posts\/pfbid0t8J2NHrY1Cgd8LVCbtkNxKKpvL8pVMfx7sNwQ7qcuK53a7wULLT7QhHohPRjqG1Dl>Cherokee Nation<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Teach kids about the Oklahoma Land Run, but don\u2019t glorify it<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, April 29, 2024<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. <A href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChuckHoskin_Jr\"><I aria-hidden=true class=\"fab fa-twitter\"><\/I><\/A><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">Cherokee Nation<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source-links\"><A \r\nhref=\"https:\/\/www.cherokee.org\/\">cherokee.org<\/A><\/div>\r\n<P><\/P> \r\nIn the early 1980s, one of my favorite times at Hall-Halsell elementary in Vinita was the day we re-enacted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.okhistory.org\/publications\/enc\/entry?entry=LA014\">Oklahoma Land Run of 1889<\/a>.\r\n<P><\/P> \r\nI look back now and cringe that the Land Run was a celebratory event but glad Vinita schools abandoned the celebration years ago.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nEven with the passage of time \u2014 four decades \u2014 I can remember how excited my classmates and I were. Basically, it was a fun race. We ran and we planted flags. Some teachers mentioned something or other about how Oklahoma was founded, with a focus on some land run.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nIf most of my classmates were like me, they paid little attention to the history lesson.  We were outside. It was sunny. We were running! But whatever feelings we had about the Land Run as a historic event was not only positive; we were downright joyful about it.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nForty years later, public school celebrations of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Land_Rush_of_1889\">1889 Oklahoma Land Run<\/a> are less prevalent. When the last one is held, I say good riddance.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nPublic school celebrations of the Land Run should end.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\n<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<div class=\" content_cards_card content_cards_domain_youtu-be\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content_cards_image\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_image_link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xR-aRB8dHZM\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/09\/maxresdefault-627.jpg\" alt=\"Cherokee Almanac: The Cherokee Outlet and Land Rush of 1893\">\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_title\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_title_link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xR-aRB8dHZM\">\n\t\t\tCherokee Almanac: The Cherokee Outlet and Land Rush of 1893\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_description\">\n\t\t<a class=\"content_cards_description_link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xR-aRB8dHZM\">\n\t\t\t<p>Learn how the federal government bought the land it had granted to the Cherokee Nation and then gave it away as part of the largest land run in U.S. history&#8230;.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"content_cards_site_name\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/s\/desktop\/4b4754d9\/img\/favicon.ico\" alt=\"YouTube\" class=\"content_cards_favicon\"\/>\t\tYouTube\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Osiyo TV &#8211; <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/xR-aRB8dHZM>Cherokee Almanac: The Cherokee Outlet and Land Rush of 1893<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nWhat should not end is teaching kids about the Land Run. The Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 and the other land runs in the region of the late 19th century are indispensable to understanding the formation of the state they call home. \r\n <P><\/P>\r\nTeaching about the Oklahoma land runs is also indispensable to understanding the <a href=\"https:\/\/visitcherokeenation.com\/blog\/the-cost-of-free-land\">brutal federal Indian policy<\/a> that ushered in the land run era in the first place.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nPublic school students should be taught that, earlier in the 19th century, tribes were promised various areas of what would later become the state of Oklahoma. These promises were embedded in various treaties, with language protecting the rights of tribes into perpetuity. \r\n <P><\/P>\r\nStudents should be taught that these pre-land run promises were themselves on the heels of the loss of land, life and resources by these same tribes at the hands of the United States as well as earlier broken promises to these tribes by the federal government. A retelling of deadly and destructive forced removal of Native people from their homelands is appropriate context for all of this.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nStudents should be taught that in the late 19th century, years after all these promises were made in treaties, the United States changed course. It did so for a variety of reasons, including familiar pressures on tribes: the quest of American settlers for more land and other resources.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nNext was a series of new treaties and new mandates from Congress. Gone was the promise of land held in common by each tribe \u201cforever.\u201d Land allotment and pressured land sales gave rise to \u201cunassigned lands.\u201d It was on these lands \u2014 once promised forever to the tribes \u2014 that land-rushing settlers would stake their claims.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/04\/29\/chuck-hoskin-tell-the-whole-story-about-the-theft-of-tribal-lands\/oklahomalandrun\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-36743\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" data-attachment-id=\"36743\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/04\/29\/chuck-hoskin-tell-the-whole-story-about-the-theft-of-tribal-lands\/oklahomalandrun\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/29\/OklahomaLandRun-scaled.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1920\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"Oklahoma Land Run\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Oklahoma Land Run&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;A photo titled &amp;#8220;Land Rush&amp;#8221; shows non-Indian settlers waiting to claim land in Oklahoma. Photo: &lt;a href=https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/pictures\/item\/2014682281\/&gt;Grantham Bain Collection \/ U.S. Library of Congress&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/29\/OklahomaLandRun-1024x768.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/29\/OklahomaLandRun-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Oklahoma Land Run\"  class=\"size-full wp-image-36743\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">A photo titled &#8220;Land Rush&#8221; shows non-Indian settlers waiting to claim land in Oklahoma. Photo: <a href=https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/pictures\/item\/2014682281\/>Grantham Bain Collection \/ U.S. Library of Congress<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nThe destruction of traditional Indian land title and the divvying up of the land that was left among tribal members of the late 19th century mark a grim milestone in the history of U.S. tribal relations: the near destruction of all the affected tribes. Beyond land, the era ushered in a policy of suppressing tribal sovereignty and tribal governments so that we could not fight back. All of that must be taught.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nWhat followed must also be taught. The affected tribes would struggle for much of the 20th century to regain as much as possible of what was lost. The struggle continues to this day, as evidenced by the policies and legal debates stemming from the McGirt case.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nAnd, the resilience of the tribes, the triumphs of the tribes and the present-day leadership of the tribes must also be taught. All of this happened despite the Land Run, allotment and Oklahoma statehood. \r\n <P><\/P>\r\nOklahoma\u2019s creation must be taught alongside all the grim and dark history of U.S. tribal relations prior to 1907. How it is taught, of course, varies by the students\u2019 age. But no child is too young to receive an honest, if difficult to hear, recitation of our shared history. Our public educators must also have the freedom to teach it.\r\n <P><\/P><div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nWhat we should end, though, is glorifying the Oklahoma Land Run. Land Run celebrations \u2014 like the one I participated in as a boy in Vinita \u2014 hide the factual backdrop of the Land Run itself. Obscuring the backdrop of broken promises and destructive federal Indian policies whitewashes the larger subject of what led to the land runs in the first place.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nSo, to the few schools left who hold \u201cLand Run celebrations,\u201d I ask that you end those once and for all.\r\n <P><\/P>\r\nLet the kids go outside. Take the time on a sunny spring day to talk about Oklahoma history, including the Land Run. But tell them the whole story.\r\n\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<HR><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/23\/chuckhoskinavatar.jpg\" alt=\"Chuck Hoskin Jr\" width=\"140\" height=\"140\" class=\"rounded-circle\" \/><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"col-md-9\"><EM><A href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChuckHoskin_Jr\">Chuck Hoskin Jr.<\/A> \r\nis the 18th elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the largest Indian \r\ntribe in the United States. He is only the second elected Principal Chief of the \r\nCherokee Nation from Vinita, the first being Thomas Buffington, who served from \r\n1899-1903. Prior to being elected Principal Chief, Hoskin served as the tribe\u2019s \r\nSecretary of State. He also formerly served as a member of the Council of the \r\nCherokee Nation, representing District 11 for six years.<\/EM><\/div><\/div><HR>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oklahoma\u2019s creation must be taught alongside all the grim and dark history of U.S. tribal relations.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,9],"tags":[77,76,170,127,220,154,102],"class_list":["post-36732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-opinion","tag-cherokee","tag-chuck-hoskin","tag-congress","tag-oklahoma","tag-sovereignty","tag-treaties","tag-youth","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-9ys","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/29\/ChuckHoskin.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36732"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36745,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36732\/revisions\/36745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}