Dawes Commission play set for Nov. 14 at NSU

(Tahlequah, Okla.)-- A free and open to the public theatrical play entitled The Dawes Commission is set forSaturday, Nov. 14from7 p.m. at the Center for Performing Arts on Northeastern State Universitys Tahlequah campus.

A 2015 Arts of Indigenous Cultures Series Theater Performance, the play is co-sponsored by the Center for Tribal Studies and the Indigenous Scholar Development Center at NSU and the Oklahoma Arts Council.

The Dawes Commission play depicts a Muscogee family living in Indian Territory in 1904 that is visited by a Dawes Commission agent persuading them to accept allotment of 160 acres.

The play shows the upheaval which followed, when a family did not want to take on the allotment offered by the government.

It will be performed in the Muscogee language, with English subtitles and runs under 40 minutes.

Sandra Denney, the plays producer, said it was important for the actors to speak in a Native American Indian language, to show how assimilation has destroyed the culture of tribes.

We are trying to show the nation that we support the value of learning our own culture. Language is the first place to start.

If we cant speak our own language, our history will go by the wayside, Denney said.

She is excited to work with NSU to bring this story to a wider and more inquisitive audience- the students.

We are working very hard to make sure it will be an event NSU will be proud of.

The commission was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1893, as a commission to negotiate agreements with the Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole and Cherokee Indian Tribes in Oklahoma.It became known as the Dawes Commission after its chairman Senator Henry Dawes.

The purpose of the commission was to exchange Indian tribal lands in southeastern United States for new land allotments in Oklahoma.

Published: 2015-11-10 11:43:40.587000