Skip to content

Chapter 1 | Overview Indigenous Lands, Past and Present

Print Chapter

Key Terms

Jump to a term…
Cooper Bison Kill Site Three Sisters Planting Method Spiro Mounds Arkansas River Sovereignty Matrilineal Sedentary Diaspora Red River Black Mesa

Chapter Objectives

Learning Outcomes:

The learner will be able to…

  • Summarize the accomplishments of the Spiro Mound Builders in early Oklahoma.
  • Compare and contrast the lifestyles of Caddo, Wichita, Apache, and Comanche tribes in early Oklahoma.
  • Identify and describe the major waterways, ecological regions and natural resources of Oklahoma.
  • Describe how the environment and natural resources shape Oklahoma today.

Compelling Questions:

  • How does the land shape who we are?
  • How do people shape the lands on which we live?

Chapter Overview

Oklahoma history is Native history. Wichitas, Caddos, and other Indigenous tribes resided in the area long before Oklahoma became a state, and their cultures continue today. Oklahoma has ten geographical regions and abundant natural resources. 

“My contribution, ceramic art of the Caddo pre-colonization,” artist Jeri Redcorn explains, “is a tribute to Enah wah-dut, Mother Earth. I use the simple gifts from Ah-ah hiyo, Father Above—the clay, water, and fire—to create beautiful vessels in the tradition of my ancestral Caddo people. To honor the Caddo, original inhabitants of Oklahoma, gives me a sense of bringing the past forward.”

<em>Three Sistern of the Supreme Court</em>
FIG. 1.1

Three Sistern of the Supreme Court

by Jeri Redcorn (Caddo/Potawatomi)

Three Sistern of the Supreme Court by Jeri Redcorn (Caddo/Potawatomi) is dedicated to the women justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court: Justice Alma Wilson, Justice Yvonne Kauger, and Justice Noma Gurich. The three pots are inspired by engraved pieces found at the Spiro Mounds site, and each pot has a dancing figure on it representing corn, beans, and squash, known as the “three sisters” in Indigenous agriculture. The seeds Caddo women carried allowed Spiro and other sites to become centers of commerce and society for Caddos and other tribes.

Courtesy of the Oklahoma Judicial Center, Oklahoma Supreme Court.
FIG. 1.1

Three Sistern of the Supreme Court by Jeri Redcorn (Caddo/Potawatomi) is dedicated to the women justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court: Justice Alma Wilson, Justice Yvonne Kauger, and Justice Noma Gurich. The three pots are inspired by engraved pieces found at the Spiro Mounds site, and each pot has a dancing figure on it representing corn, beans, and squash, known as the “three sisters” in Indigenous agriculture. The seeds Caddo women carried allowed Spiro and other sites to become centers of commerce and society for Caddos and other tribes.

Courtesy of the Oklahoma Judicial Center, Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Redcorn, a Caddo and Potawatomi potter, has studied pottery made by Caddoans before Europeans arrived, and she has worked to revive the Caddo traditions. She grew up on her grandmother’s Caddo land allotment near Colony, south of Weatherford, Oklahoma. An educator, she studied math and earned a master’s degree in educational administration from Penn State University. In June 1991, she saw pottery made by her Caddo ancestors in an exhibit at the Museum of the Red River in Idabel. Inspired by what she saw, she began working with clay, reading archaeology books, and visiting other museums. The defining characteristics of Caddo pottery include a thin, highly polished body with a design of swirling scrolls, tick marks, and bands. Redcorn’s work—and the way it links past and present—is a reminder of the importance of understanding the relationship of the present to the past in the making of what became the state of Oklahoma.