On behalf of the ancestors
Joy Harjo inside the Library of Congress building. (Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress)
We humans are story makers. We become part of a matrix of stories when we accept breath. We are connected to the stories of every creature, plant, and other beings. We are each given the task to bring understanding and vnokeckvor harmony of deep caring to all that we do. In this manner of consideration, I have a story, a story of cultural assault. It is not just my story but the story of family, of a ceremonial ground, of a tribal nation, of people who were exiled from their homelands just a few generations before. On that over 800-mile walk away from our origin story, the grounds leaders kept fire alive in their hands to replant the circle so that the descendants would have a place to come home to, to remember who they are, who they were, and who they will become.
I am a member of Hickory Ground Ceremonial Grounds, or Oce Vpofv. We are part of the Muscogee Creek Nation (or the Mvskoke Nation), long before there was a United States or a state of Alabama. Our nation is made up of many tribes who came together to form a political entity to deal with other nations, including the Spanish, France, Great Britain, and the United States. We are culturally rich made up of many tribal towns and ceremonial grounds who are connected by language, land, customs, or history.
One of the first acts of President George Washington after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, to affirm sovereignty of the new government, was to execute a treaty with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. This was the first treaty the U.S. signed under the new constitution. The head of the Muscogee treaty delegation was from Hickory Ground. Hickory Ground served as the capital of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation which was then one of the largest civilizations in existence in the Western Hemisphere.
With the Indian Removal Act of 1830 under the direction of Andrew Jackson, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation was illegally moved west by the United States government to what was known as Indian Territory. We reestablished our capitol in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and have continued, a body politic, as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in what is now the state of Oklahoma. We have continued to maintain our cultures and languages as a sovereign nation. The 2020 McGirt decision by the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed our status as a reservation in the state of Oklahoma.
Hickory Ground, one of the many ceremonial grounds that make up the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a living, active ceremonial ground in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation under the leadership of Mekko George Thompson. The story roots of Hickory Ground, or Oce Vpofv, continue to be directly connected to the lands in Wetumpka, Alabama. Despite the distance imposed by the injustice of history we continue to know the stories that assert continuance. We know the original names of important places, the names and relationships with plants and animals and how they relate to us and how we relate to them. They are inherent in our cultural practices. We know the names of our families who were buried there in our homelands. We carry their memories in our bodies and in our stories, just as they carry us in their bones.
Because of the prominence and historical importance of Hickory Ground in Wetumpka, Alabama, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as it was an historic place worthy of preservation. The National Register of Historic Places is “…part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.” This status conferred a public awareness of the cultural value of Hickory Ground and inferred guardianship.
In 1980 the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, an incorporated entity, not a federally recognized tribal nation, requested, and was given the Hickory Ground property using federal preservation funds. They were given care of the lands to preserve them and to prevent development, by the federal government.
In 1984 Poarch Band obtained federal recognition though they did not have a body politic and did not meet basic qualifications for federal recognition. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation did not have bands. There was no Poarch Band of Creek Indians before removal. This organization began long after removal by descendants of two families who were allotted land as spoils of war in Alabama from assisting Andrew Jackson in the massacre of Muscogee Creek Nation citizens. To stay in Alabama, they gave up their citizenship in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and became American citizens. Their allotted lands are a small area of sixteen square miles located near Atmore and (Tensaw). They are not the lands of Oce Vpofv or Hickory Ground.
In 2012 the Poarch Band of Creek Indians exhumed and removed 57 bodies of Hickory Ground family members and proceeded to build a casino on top of the lands in Wetumpka, Alabama, lands they had promised to protect. This was also against the policies of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act guidelines that essentially state, “that human remains of any ancestry ‘must at all times be treated with dignity and respect’. Congress also acknowledged that human remains and other cultural items removed from Federal or tribal lands belong in the first instance, to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations.” Under the guidance of an Auburn University anthropologist, the remains and grave items were put into plastic buckets then stacked and stored at Auburn University, where they remain to this day.
In the fall of 2023, I was invited to Auburn University by the Southern Humanities Review on behalf of the Witness Prize, a prize I juried. I requested a meeting with the NAGPRA officer of the university in charge of the Hickory Ground and other remains held on campus from other digs. When we met in his office on campus, he informed me that because of the appeal he could not speak directly about the Hickory Ground case. We spoke generally about NAGPRA. He offered to allow me into the room where the remains and items were being held on campus along with remains from other digs. I had been properly cautioned about going into the presence of the remains, which I took seriously. What I have been taught by elders is that our remains carry memory. Each cell contains a spiral of stories that belong to ancestors and to descendants. What is buried is meant to remain buried. There is no word or concept in the Mvskoke language for what the Poarch Band did when they unearthed that which was never be returned to the surface.
When I went into the room in which our relatives’ bones were stored, I turned immediately to flee. I almost couldn’t breathe. I paused though because I wanted to be a witness to help tell the story. I heard the roar of disturbance, the voices of the ancestors, and understood how they needed to be reinterred, for harmony. When graves are disturbed, there can be widespread disturbance that can cause illness, societal upset, and other disruption. I promised I would help them return home, to restore harmony by telling the story.
It is up to the court now to decide how this story will end. Oce Vpofv or Hickory Ground, and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation are appealing for justice. This is not an issue of tribal nation versus tribal nation. This is about what is moral and just, about what is an ethical decision here when it comes to the respect of human life. The care of our Oce Vpofv ancestors must remain with their descendants, so we can ensure that they are returned correctly to their burial place. Only then will the story be restored, a restoration story that includes all the participants in this appeal.
ICT originally published this article. ICT is an an independent, nonprofit, multimedia news enterprise. ICT covers Indigenous peoples.
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