Laura Stewart

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation

Historic and Cultural Preservation Department

Oral History Program

“A Twenty-First Century Pandemic in Indian Country:

The Resilience of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Against Covid-19”

As Remembered by: Ms. Laura Stewart

Interview by: Ms. Midge Dellinger

Date: October 1, 2021

Transcription: The Audio Transcription Company

Edited by: Ms. Midge Dellinger

MIDGE DELLINGER: This is Midge Dellinger, Oral Historian for the Muscogee Nation. Today is October 1, 2021. And I’m at my home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, interviewing Muscogee citizen Ms. Laura Stewart, who is at her office in Ada, Oklahoma. This interview is being performed remotely due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. I’m performing this interview on behalf of the Muscogee Nation Historic and Cultural Preservation Department for the oral history project titled, “A Twenty-First Century Pandemic in Indian Country, The Resilience of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Against COVID-19.”

Ms. Stewart, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to participate in this project. And what we’re going to do, I’m going to start out asking some questions about your personal background. And I’d like to begin by asking you do you know what is your tribal town and clan? 00:01:00LAURA STEWART: I do know my tribal town. It’s Quassarte No. 1.

DELLINGER: And where were you born?

STEWART: I was born in Woodward, Oklahoma.

DELLINGER: Now, is this where you grew up, in Woodward?

STEWART: I was there till maybe I was five or six. And then my father accepted a different teaching position, and so we moved to Durant, Oklahoma. And so, I lived and grew up in Durant through my high school years and some college.

DELLINGER: Okay. And who are your parents? And what were their occupations?

STEWART: Both of my parents were educators. My mother taught elementary school, and my father taught—he was an art professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University there in Durant.

DELLINGER: 00:02:00Okay, now do you have any siblings?

STEWART: Yes, I do. There’s four of us. I have my oldest brother is Jim Barnette. Actually, his name is James Jerrel Barnette. He’s named after my father. And then my older sister, Paula Barnette. And then I have a younger brother John Barnette, and his name—he’s named after our grandfather, John Fuschata Barnette.

DELLINGER: Okay. Now, I was just getting ready to ask you—my next question was going to be who are your grandparents?

STEWART: Okay. John Fuschata Barnette is my grandfather. So, that would be the lineage for my Muscogee ancestry. And his wife was Eunice Barnette.

DELLINGER: And then what about on the other side?

STEWART: On the other side, my mother’s parents Morgan Burns and Julia Burns 00:03:00were there—

DELLINGER: Where were they from?

STEWART: They were from, I believe, Alabama area, too. So, both families really came from our homeland area. It’s kind of interesting.

DELLINGER: Right. Now, did you—were you able to as a child, and even into adulthood growing up, to have a relationship with your grandparents?

STEWART: My grandparents, I was fairly young when they passed, but I can remember them. I especially remember my grandfather, John Fuschata Barnette. We would travel up to Muskogee as a family from Durant. It would take about two-and-a-half hours in the station wagon. And we would go up and visit our grandparents. And my grandmother was just a sweetheart, just lively, lots of talking. My grandfather was totally different. (laughs) He was always very quiet, you know?

DELLINGER: Um-hm.

STEWART: (laughs)

DELLINGER: 00:04:00 Right.

STEWART: But I remember that. And he passed in the sixties, so I was probably—oh, I might have been seven or eight.

DELLINGER: What was life like growing up in Durant?

STEWART: Oh, it was a regular growing up in a rural small town. I had my friends I went to school with, and just enjoyed the experience. But, you know, as a young person, I think I enjoyed my college life more than the other schooling. So, it was a good experience growing up in Durant. Durant’s changed a lot over the years. It’s really growing. Um-hm.

DELLINGER: So, where did life lead you immediately after high school?

STEWART: Well, after high school I married young. My husband was in the military, and he couldn’t live without me, 00:05:00I guess. And so, we got married and went off to California. So, that was quite an experience for me to live away from my home, my parents. And so, there was some growing up then, and then ended up coming back to Oklahoma. And I remember that feeling of coming back because Oklahoma was my home. And yeah, I was just so overjoyed to be back.

DELLINGER: You and I talked about your college years, and I’d like for you to share just a little bit about that and what you studied.

STEWART: Oh, when I first went to college, of course I was a little bit older. I was probably twenty-one, I guess, when I started college. And I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to go into. You know, I just wanted to try things. And I took a lot of music classes. Piano, I loved to play the piano. And so, I had a lot of music. 00:06:00But I also had some art classes. And I had an art teacher that encouraged me and said, “Why don’t you take some more art classes?” Just was really encouraging for me. And so, as I continued to take courses, I thought that maybe a field I’d want to go into was the arts. And I spent a couple of years learning at Southeastern there in Durant. And then with life and changes, I ended up graduating at East Central there in Ada.

So, with my degree in art education and eventually my master’s in art education. So, right now I’m a certified public art instructor K-12. I could go teach right now.

DELLINGER: That’s great, if you wanted to.

STEWART: If I wanted to. (laughs)

DELLINGER: So, what influence did your 00:07:00dad—and even your mom as an educator, but your dad as an artist—what influence did he have on your decision to study art?

STEWART: Well, he was always—I guess he didn’t want to tell us, you know? He wanted us to make decisions on our life, which was great, you know, for what we’d want to do. But we were always surrounded with art and creativity. And he and my mother would take us on trips to museums. And we would go out to Santa Fe and all different places. And I remember going to gallery upon gallery. And when you’re young, you’re like, Oh, no! Another gallery? But oh, my gosh. What a fantastic experience that was I had (overlapping dialogue; unintelligible) —

DELLINGER: Yes.

STEWART: And so, I think it was just always around me. The arts were always around me. And my dad was the biggest kid. He just created and was making something all the time. 00:08:00I mean, we used to joke about how, “Why would you go buy something when you could just make it yourself?” (laughter) I had a great growing up.

DELLINGER: Yeah, that does sound great. Now, you’re down there in Ada in the Chickasaw Nation. How many years have you lived in Ada?

STEWART: Let’s see. I’ve been here since 1984. So, if I could think real fast and do some math, I could tell you. (laughs) It’s been a while.

DELLINGER: Thirty-some years?

STEWART: (laughs) Yeah. It’s a great community.

DELLINGER: Yeah, so what’s your family life like there in Ada? Talk a little bit about your family.

STEWART: Well, I’m an empty nester. All three of my boys are nice young men, and independent lives, and they check on me every now and then. (laughs) But no, life here in Ada, it’s really comfortable. I enjoy 00:09:00my work, what I do. I feel like I can help other artists with my job. I don’t have time to do my own artwork right now, but I’m hoping that’s something that I will change and be able to do more of my own painting.

DELLINGER: So, who—do you mind sharing the names of your family there? Your sons and your husband?

STEWART: My husband’s name is Mike Cox. And we both had experienced some losses with our spouses and found each other. And so, we have a great life here together. My three boys: I have Ben Coffey, and he lives in Durant. And then my middle son is Blake Stewart. And my youngest son is Lane Stewart.

And you know what? I want to say something about 00:10:00my boys. They are all such nice young men, and they all had an inclination for the arts, a talent for the arts. And I don’t know. I think maybe if they had time, they would do that as well. But I think it was something that’s just—it’s genetic (laughs) in the family. They just love to create and make things with their hands. And so, I’m really, really glad that they have those talents. And it comes from their grandfather.

DELLINGER: Yeah, I mean what a gift.

STEWART: Um-hm.

DELLINGER: Yeah, that’s amazing. That’s fantastic. Now, do you have family in the Muscogee Nation?

STEWART: I, let’s see, I have my aunt that still lives there. That would be my father’s sister. She still lives there. 00:11:00There are some cousins that live there. And we’ve had some reunions in the past, but you know how that goes. It seems like some of the older family members get us together and would be the glue. And then as they get older and can’t carry the torch, it’s got to be someone younger doing it. And we just haven’t gotten together. And that’s sad, but I think that’s kind of a common thing that happens with some families.

DELLINGER: Yes, yes. Who’s your aunt?

STEWART: My aunt is Bonnie Counts that lives there in Muskogee.

DELLINGER: She’s in Muskogee?

STEWART: Um-hm.

DELLINGER: Okay. Now, I want to get to your occupation and what you do there in the Chickasaw Nation. I’m not going to say anything; I’m going to let you talk about that. What is your title there and your responsibilities? How long have you been there?

STEWART: 00:12:00It’s kind of an interesting story that, you know I told you I’m a certified art teacher. And I taught art at a rural school for a few years and really enjoyed that teaching. And while I was teaching at this small school, I would say half or more of the students were first American children. You know, they had that heritage. Although what I noticed is that, really, they didn’t have a lot of knowledge about their own culture. And that was something that was really important to me growing up. I always had that feeling my parents had instilled in me that to be proud of, you know, our heritage of being Muscogee people. And I always had that feeling. And so, 00:13:00I thought as I was teaching these young students that, You know, I’m wanting to learn more about my culture. And maybe we can learn together.

And so, I would make sure—I was the art teacher. So, we did a lot of projects that had to do with learning about culture, and of course, you know, all the different tribal members. I might have Choctaw students or Seminole or Cherokee or, you know, different tribes. And, of course, we know how diverse the tribes are. But there are some things that you can do that relate to the culture. And so, we would learn together. And we would do some beadwork, and weaving, and just enjoy the arts and learning about culture through the arts.

And so, I’m saying all that because that thought process 00:14:00got me to thinking about, you know, how can I help students in the public school system that they don’t really ha—you know, the arts seem to be lacking a lot of times in public schools. You don’t always have that opportunity to take art class. And so, as I was teaching at a rural school, and then also a little bit concerned about if I would have a teaching position the next year, and the next year because the art teacher, it’s too bad, but if sometimes we have to make a cut in a small school, the art teacher’s probably the one (laughs) that’s going to go. So, I was raising my boys, and that security, you know, I needed.

So, here in Ada, Oklahoma, we’re really blessed that we have the Chickasaw Nation here. 00:15:00And so, I was thinking about this, and I wrote a proposal that I thought that the Chickasaw Nation could really use an art teacher. (laughs) You know, someone that could go out, do some outreach to our schools in the area. And maybe by doing that I could reach out and serve those Chickasaws that didn’t have art. And so, I wrote the proposal. And you know, things happened. Miracles happened. And so, I’ve been here for quite a while working at the nation and just feel really blessed to be able to do that. And like I said, I feel like with our work we do here, we’re able to help our citizens and other first American artists and help enhance their lives.

You know, artists need nurturing. They need help. It’s not easy to make a career in the arts. 00:16:00And it’s—you know, the artists are our worst critics. We’re so hard on ourselves. We think, My goodness, I don’t know if I can do this. Is my art, is my skill, is it up to par? Will anybody like me? (laughs) You know, there’s all those questions that you have. And we shouldn’t feel that way because I think every artist, every person, every human has a story to tell. And we need to tell that story because by telling those stories, we can help others. And there’s a way to do that through the arts. So, I guess that’s the main thing, is that I feel like, you know, if you have a job, or you feel like you’re productive and you’re giving something to help someone else, that’s worth everything.

DELLINGER: Right. Now, I’m sure in all the years that you’ve been there, you’ve had many highlights throughout your career. But what are just a couple of highlights 00:17:00from your career there at the Chickasaw Nation? You know, things that you’re really proud of?

STEWART: Oh, my. (laughs) There’s so much. I think I’m really proud of the fact that how, you know, our team works together, and we’re able to create, and we’re able to build and do these services. I guess from starting out as an art instructor, which was an amazing—I love teaching. You know, I love teaching. And I don’t teach now, really, with the job that I have. But at the same time, I feel like we’re able to help others to teach and to give. And so, I guess it’s a support system. 00:18:00That’s the biggest thing that’s really important.

And as far as a highlight, there have just been so many opportunities. Just speaking personally for me, that so many things I’ve been able to—you know, the connections, and opportunities, and experiences, and meeting so many different talented people—those are those highlights, I think, for me personally. So, it would be hard to say just one thing. I think it’s an overall feeling of being able to meet such talented people. There are amazing people that are creative. And I guess that’s what it is. That’s a hard question. (laughter)

DELLINGER: Okay. Well, you answered it great. So, I want to ask you 00:19:00who are you as an artist? You know, what’s your forte? What do you enjoy? When you are creating for you, who are you?

STEWART: You know, art teachers have to learn a little bit about a lot. So, I’ve been able to dabble in a lot of different things and learned a lot of different media. But I think probably where I tend to focus on is painting, color, how light affects objects, shadows. I mean, I will tell you the best part of the day is either the first morning light or the evening light. And it affects, you know, nature. And that’s what I’m drawn to. If there’s anything I’m inspired about, it’s that. 00:20:00And I don’t know why. I think that it’s almost when you see that light in nature, that’s just life to me, and it’s what I want to express. So, when I have time, (laughs) I’m going to do that.

DELLINGER: Okay. All right. (laughter) That sounds great.

STEWART: Yeah. Now, when I tell you—one thing that I wanted to add is that, you know, I had an experience. And you may ask this question later on, and I may be jumping the gun, but—

DELLINGER: I think it’s going to be my next question, if I know where you’re going.

STEWART: Okay. (laughter; unintelligible) You know, when we had an opportunity—I had an opportunity to travel out to the homeland. And when I went out to the homeland, I thought about this as an artist and had my sketchbook in hand. And when we were out on the land, and that feeling of being, you know, on the Mississippi [River] and seeing that expanse of water, 00:21:00and so I’d start sketching. And so, not just with the Mississippi but then the mounds and the areas, you know I was just—the trees, and the plants, everything—I was sketching. And I came home with those inspirations. And here it is nature again; that’s what I’m drawn to, and that light. And so, I started doing some studies off of that.

And it was really important for me to do this because I’d never been back to that area where I know that was a place where my ancestors had come through. I have not been back to my tribal town area. And that is a goal in my life to be able to do. Both my husband and I would like to be able to go back to those areas and visit because I think it would be really special to be on the same land that the ancestors were on.

DELLINGER: Absolutely. And 00:22:00yeah, so I was going to ask you about that, and just what the experience of being on Muscogee homelands was like for you, not just as a Muscogee, but as an artist. And so, you’ve answered that I think here and touched on that. Was it a spiritual experience for you?

STEWART: Yes, it was. And almost it was a responsibility I felt, you know?

DELLINGER: Um-hm.

STEWART: As an artist, having that in me to do is a responsibility. And not to do it, there would be an emptiness in a way. And so, I wanted that connection. I needed that connection. And that’s how I could best connect with the land (overlapping dialogue; unintelligible)—

DELLINGER: Right, that’s fantastic. That’s fantastic. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for sharing a little bit about your personal background and a little bit about who you are. What I’d like to do now is transition. 00:23:00And I’m going to ask you some questions about your experiences with this ongoing pandemic that we’ve been in now for, I think, almost twenty-one months with COVID-19. Do you remember when in 2020 you first heard about the virus?

STEWART: I can’t remember the exact date, but I can remember someone coming into my office and saying, “They’ve just called this a pandemic.” And we looked at each other. And, you know, that was serious.

DELLINGER: Um-hm.

STEWART: And we knew things were going to change, that we were going to have to be careful. So, yeah, that was March of 2020, early on in March. And we had just finished an activity, one of our service programs. And it was in person. We had just finished it; it was successful and everything. And you know, come to find out that was really the last in-person thing we were able to do 00:24:00and didn’t realize it at the time, you know. Yeah, that was—I can remember thinking—But you know, I was thinking, This may last, you know, a little while. And then it’ll be over. But (laughs) it’s not. It’s—

DELLINGER: Right. So, initially, you did have thoughts then about it making its way into Oklahoma and Chickasaw Nation?

STEWART: Um-hm. Yeah.

DELLINGER: Do you remember any specifics about conversations that you had with your family and friends and co-workers?

STEWART: I do because when—especially with family. I’m really going to focus on that because we had just been together for Christmas in December. And we had planned to get together in March—that would be a few months later—and get together with family again. And when 00:25:00early March happened and we started hearing about this pandemic, we thought, Well, you know, maybe we shouldn’t get together as a family. Let’s just put it off. Maybe we can put it off for a while, and maybe get together a little later. That’ll probably be the safest thing.

And, you know, I have an older—my mother is an elder. She’s eighty-nine years old now. And so, that was a concern for her wellbeing. Well, all of us, you know, we’re not young. (laughs) None of us are real young anymore. So, it already started affecting the family then. And to not have those celebrations for a year? You know, we didn’t have our family get-together that we do at Easter. We didn’t get together July fourth. We didn’t do Thanksgiving. Then we didn’t do Christmas. You know, that was— 00:26:00it was like a pass-through year. No celebrations, it was just like a year that was just gone.

DELLINGER: Yeah. So now, when the lockdowns and the shelter-in-place measures were enacted by local and state governments, it sounds like you and your family followed those safety measures. What was that like, though, to hear those words “lockdown” and “shelter in place?”

STEWART: I’m kind of a homebody anyway, so (laughter) that wasn’t too bad. But you know what we ended up learning was all this technical—you know, being able to go virtual. That was new. And we actually did do that for Thanksgiving, a few of us did. The family got together on virtual so at least we could see one another. And that helped. It wasn’t the same, but at least it helped, 00:27:00you know, to be able to do that.

But it just changed everything. When we went into that mode of—we had to be careful of everywhere you went. And we made sure we were wearing masks. And I remember thinking how I’ve got to be so careful about everything I do because I don’t want to bring this to my husband. He’s retired, and he was at home. But I was still getting out and about, doing what I had to do with work because I wasn’t retired. So, I knew I had to be really careful. And of course, you know, the safest place we could be probably was at work because it was very—there wasn’t hardly anyone allowed to be in the offices at all. So, we were very safe.

DELLINGER: Right. So, before the vaccines rolled out at the beginning of this year, 2021, other than the masks, what other types of safety measures did you take both at home and 00:28:00when you left the house?

STEWART: I’ll tell you what, when we would go—my husband would take me grocery shopping. We would go early, like as soon as the doors opened. We’d have on our masks; we’d have on our gloves. We’d go in, get whatever we had to get, then we would come home, unload, and I would wipe down every single item. I would disinfect it. I remember that. And I felt like that was something I really needed to do. And I did it consistently for months on end.

DELLINGER: Um-hm.

STEWART: I can remember that change. That was very different to have to shop that way and to wipe everything down. And I can remember weekends spending most of the weekend sanitizing my house, mopping my floors, and making sure everything was clean, you know, sanitizing doorknobs, and yeah. 00:29:00That was very different.

DELLINGER: What was shopping like down there in Ada in the early part of the pandemic?

STEWART: It would be—I remember when it first started and we—the store would open. There’d be a line of people; they’d be all standing six feet apart from each other with masks on. And I remember there being a police officer there just watching to make sure everybody conducted themselves and nobody got out of hand. It seems like that was only at the very beginning. It didn’t last. I mean, the police officer didn’t come all the time but was there just at the beginning. I think people just sure how everybody was going to behave.

DELLINGER: Right, yeah. So, how have you kept your mother safe from the pandemic because she’s in another town, 00:30:00 right?

STEWART: Yeah, that’s a whole other thing because when the pandemic started, it was March. And she was still living independently at that time. But we had already visited some assisted living centers. She had already said, “Let’s just go visit. I feel like when it’s that time, I want to be ready. I want to know what they’re like and which one I would like.” So, she was very good to want to go ahead and be looking. And so, we did. And we visited and got to know the people and all, which that was a really good thing we had done that preparation. Because after the pandemic hit in March, then she had an incident where she fell and then ended up having struggles with that. And then it wasn’t maybe 00:31:00very long after that a decision was made that she needed to go to assisted living. So, in the interim, while she was still living alone, she had some really good neighbors that would help, you know? And I was really fortunate for that, that they would check on her.

But the assisted center would send a daily meal to her. They would drop it off, and she’d get a fresh, hot meal every day. And they would do that to help. And like I said, in a couple more months she was in the assisted living. And moving into assisted living during a pandemic is very interesting. (laughs) It was.

DELLINGER: Yeah.

STEWART: We had to get a moving company. Of course, they wore masks, too. We had to secure my mother some place, so she wasn’t around the moving people. And then I packed her for probably about a— 00:32:00I stayed with her for probably about a week and packed all of her belongings. And then we moved her. We had to go in a back door and right into a room that she would be moved into. And they sanitized everything that went into that room. So—and then she had to be quarantined for two weeks.

DELLINGER: Oh, wow.

STEWART: Um-hm. So, you know the assisted living centers had protocols, too. And they were having to follow those. And she was new to the center, and they have to protect all the residents. So, I mean we understood. But that was hard on her.

DELLINGER: Yeah, because it sounds like you did that at the time when the nursing homes and those types of facilities had to shut down to visitors.

STEWART: Um-hm.

DELLINGER: So, you-all put her in there, and then you couldn’t even go to visit her.

STEWART: Unh-uh.

DELLINGER: Wow.

STEWART: No. That first day we moved in, though, I spent the whole day with her and 00:33:00got her room all set up. I got it decorated for her—I mean (laughs) it looked almost exactly like a little version of what she had before—and stayed with her until, oh, it was late. And then I finally left. And, you know, we could come by and visit, you know, through the window and drop off things for her. But that was a hard time during the pandemic not to be able to really go in and actually see the room, see how the room was kept, if everything was going right. I mean, you had to put a lot of trust in those workers and the director in how they were serving her. So—

DELLINGER: Right.

STEWART: And I did feel good; I did feel good about how they were taking care of her. And during the pandemic, you know, she really had a hard year. Well, the pandemic’s still going on, but at least the center is open now, 00:34:00and I can go in and visit. That’s huge. But during that time when it was locked down, she ended up falling a couple of times, things happened, she had to go into a hospital setting. So, every time she went into a skilled nursing or a hospital setting, I thought, Oh my gosh. Please, I don’t want her to catch COVID while she’s—

DELLINGER: Yeah, that’s so stressful. So stressful.

STEWART: So, angels were about her. She was protected every time and came out of that just fine. So, pretty amazing.

DELLINGER: Yeah.

STEWART: Not everybody was so lucky, you know. But I remember one time the center had to separate hallways. They had to have a negative hallway and a positive hallway. Now that was hard.

DELLINGER: Oh.

STEWART: Yeah, that was hard.

DELLINGER: Wow.

STEWART: Yeah, so now it’s better. The center’s open; visitors can come in. You still wear a mask 00:35:00when you go in, but things are better than they were.

DELLINGER: That’s good. That’s good. I want to ask you now if you would share a little about what is your knowledge and understanding about the COVID-19 virus including, if you can, where it came from and its effect on the human body.

STEWART: Oh, well I know it’s scary. That’s how I feel about it. And I know, you know, when the vaccines came out, I thought, Oh, I’m getting one for sure. And my husband did. So, I was so glad when the vaccines did start because then there was hope. Because I have a friend that also works in the medical field and was dealing with patients and trying to help them, too. And I knew what she was going through. It was so hard on our 00:36:00frontline workers. But having that vaccination really did give me a lot of hope again that things would get better. Pandemics do end. And I do have that hope, and I rest assured in that, that this will end. It may just take a while. It’s just been difficult. Did I answer your question?

DELLINGER: I was asking—what I was asking was for you to share what you know about COVID-19 as far as what it does to the human body when people contract it?

STEWART: Yeah. See, I’m not a health professional, so I don’t know a whole lot about it. But I do know that it does affect people—some people it affects worse than others for some reason. And I don’t know if the doctors know, you know, 00:37:00why it does that. It seems to affect some people more adversely than others. And you don’t know who you are. (laughs) And I just really don’t know a whole lot about it. I don’t know. I mean, viruses come up all the time. We’ve had to have vaccinations in the past for a lot of different things as a people. And this is something else that we have to fight. And we’re fighting with these vaccinations. You know, now it’s the question of the booster—you know, whether to get the booster. And so, I’m kind of waiting to see when or if I need to do that as well.

DELLINGER: Right. So, has anyone in your family or any of your friends been infected with COVID?

STEWART: I know of people that have been. And I know of people that have 00:38:00passed from it. And it just makes you think that, you know, life is really fragile. And every day that we have we really need to treasure and need to be doing what we want to do in this life because we don’t know. Life is short.

DELLINGER: Yes, it is. Now, you’ve already shared that you have been vaccinated. And which vaccine did you receive?

STEWART: The Pfizer.

DELLINGER: Did you have any side effects?

STEWART: I had a sore arm, (laughs) you know, that first shot, the second one. I really didn’t have any adverse reactions to them. Guess I was lucky.

DELLINGER: Yes, you were. So, why was it important to you to get vaccinated?

STEWART: To protect myself and my family. 00:39:00DELLINGER: Yeah. How has the pandemic, especially last year, impacted your work and the programs that you offer there in the Chickasaw Nation?

STEWART: (sighs) Well, we’ve enjoyed being able to serve in person, you know, all the different activities that we have done. And we enjoy that, working with people. And it’s changed. Like I said, we’ve learned a lot about using virtual means now. And (laughs) going from the in-person activities to learning how to film and edit and be a presenter and do all those things, it’s been a huge learning curve for everyone. But I think, My goodness! You know? People are up to the challenge. And they meet the challenge because they know the importance of the work that we do. So, I’m really proud of how—been able to handle doing the virtual. But there’s, I think, maybe sometimes you have to look at a silver lining on really even the darkest and hardest challenges in life. And the silver lining is that, you know, I’m finding that virtual—(sighs) my goodness—you can reach so many more people. And it’s a time saver. And you can reach people that maybe have never been able to, you know, come to an event. And so, that’s huge, really. It’s not the same as in-person, but yet there is that silver lining that the outreach is greater.

DELLINGER: Right.

STEWART: You know, I think virtual’s probably here to stay in some respects.

DELLINGER: Yes. So, last year though, when the pandemic was new and it was doing its thing 00:40:00, the Chickasaw Nation—I mean, they did close down for a period of time, didn’t they?

STEWART: Well, —

DELLINGER: Not totally, but did they keep employees home at all? Like some of the employees, did they telework and work from home?

STEWART: Oh yeah, there was a lot of that to keep people safe. That’s like a lot of the businesses, and organizations, and a lot of people across the United States had to do to keep people safe. And that was good mediation. Really smart.

DELLINGER: Um-hm.

STEWART: I think it saved a lot of lives.

DELLINGER: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

STEWART: You know, before the vaccine was ready, I mean, there was such potential of loss of life there. You know, if we’d continued to be around everyone? That community transmission was just—it was just raging. And so, 00:41:00mediation had to happen just for the safety of everyone. Everyone in the United States—the world—has had to do this. So, it’s affected the whole world in the same way.

DELLINGER: How do you think the Chickasaw Nation as a whole—so meaning administration and citizenship—how do you think as a whole they’ve been handling the pandemic?

STEWART: Oh, just like people in general? You know, I think all I can do is speak for myself, really. I know how I’ve handled it. (laughs) You know how it’s been such a huge challenge in a lot of ways, you know, when you’re bringing groceries home and having to sanitize everything that you put in your house. And I’m sure I’m not the only one that—you know, it changes your whole life when you have to think differently. Every place you go, you’re wiping things down, 00:42:00or you don’t go places.

I remember the first time I went into a restaurant, you know, after we’d been vaccinated even. I hadn’t been in a restaurant in a year. And we were vaccinated. We had gone finally to one of my doctor’s appointments. That was another thing that was missing over the year was making regular checkups, right? So, I went to the doctor’s appointment, and we decided to go to a restaurant because that restaurant made sure that they had plexiglass up between the booths, and everybody was wearing masks. And so, we felt pretty good about that first experience when we did that. Now we’re back to never going into a restaurant again right now. (laughs)

DELLINGER: Right, that’s unfortunate. Okay, so this next question—do you have any thoughts or opinions 00:43:00about how the Five Tribes here in Oklahoma have handled the pandemic in comparison to the state of Oklahoma?

STEWART: Hmm. (laughs) Well, the state of Oklahoma could have followed our lead. I could say that—

DELLINGER: Yes.

STEWART: —because I think our tribes care for our people, and they serve our people. That’s what they do. And I think our state government should do the same.

DELLINGER: Right. That’s a good answer. I want to go back to you as an artist real quick. And I want to ask you has the pandemic inspired either your personal artwork or what you bring to your department programming?

STEWART: Hmm. That’s an interesting question. And I have thought about this. 00:44:00, you know, about whether this would be maybe a theme or something we’d want to do as a project. And we may still do something like that. But you know, (sighs) the way I feel about artists and myself is that artists really do reflect what’s going on in the world, and they always have done that since the beginning of time. I mean, that’s how we know about our history is through our art, right? You know, through artifacts?

So, artists are going to continue to do that. They always have that voice and talk about, through their arts, what’s happening. Whether it’s a poem, or a song, or a painting, it’s all art. And that’s what they do. They talk about what’s happening, and how it makes them feel, or if they have 00:45:00thoughts about it. So, —

DELLINGER: Okay, so this next question is going to pertain to future generations of Muscogee, as well as other indigenous peoples, who may find themselves trying to survive a global health and economic event such as what we’ve been going through for the last twenty-one months. What words of wisdom or advice can you share with them about living with and surviving such a catastrophic event?

STEWART: I guess the advice would be to listen to science, to not give up hope, to keep loving each other and supporting each other through it. I mean, that’s the best we can do because we don’t know 00:46:00how things are going to end up. We don’t know, you know, from day to day what’s going to happen. We don’t know that any day, whether it’s a pandemic or not. But living through a pandemic, you just do it. People are resilient. You know, we find a way. And we’ll find our way out of this. And the main thing is yeah, trust your science and keep up the hope.

DELLINGER: That’s good. Yeah, that’s very good. Well so, in closing, is there anything that maybe I have missed that you would like to say or share about your experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic?

STEWART: (sighs) I really can’t think of anything else. You’ve done such a great job asking questions, and—

DELLINGER: (laughing) Okay.

STEWART: —you know, I can’t really think of anything else to add to it. I think this is really 00:47:00important work that you’re doing, though. I do want to say that. And thank you for doing the work you’re doing because I think oral history and, like I said, those stories—every human has a story. What you’re doing is really important work. And just to keep doing it, keep talking to our people and get those stories. And, you know, it helps them to talk about their stories, too. I think it’s healing.

DELLINGER: It is. It is; thank you so much for those encouraging words. And again, thank you for participating in this project. And you know, your words and your thoughts, your story, your experience, they’re all so important to this project. And to anyone who is going to sit and listen to your oral history here, so mvto. Thank you and please take care.

STEWART: Thank you. 00:48:00END OF INTERVIEW