Articles written by Nancy Marie Spears


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  • "We are still here": Tribes reclaiming out-of-state ancestral homelands

    Nancy Marie Spears, Gaylord News|Updated Jun 23, 2022

    NORMAN, Okla.-Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen Galen Cloud complained about traffic during the 10-hour drive from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, to his tribe's homeland near Oxford, Alabama-before recalling how his ancestors had to walk that distance against their will. "You think about it and you're filled with madness, and then you just feel the pain and then you just hate to imagine what all they went through, just to get here," Cloud said. He was headed to Oxford, where city and...

  • Chickasaw woman gets USDA post, one in a string of Indigenous nominees

    Nancy Marie Spears, Gaylord News|Updated Oct 4, 2021

    WASHINGTON-For the first time in history, an Indigenous woman is overseeing U.S. agriculture law. Janie Simms Hipp, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, was confirmed July 30 by the Senate as general counsel for the Agriculture Department. She joins a list of successful Indigenous appointees. Pending nominations include Charles F. Sams III, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, who was nominated in August to oversee the National Park Service,...