Alex Posey, Creek Bard
People enjoy the exhibits of the Five Civilized Tribes. This museum on top of Agency Hill sits next to the Jack Montgomery Veterans Administration Hospital.
Researchers like museums for an entirely different reason. Oh, don't get me wrong. They like to look at exhibits. After all, one purpose of museums is to teach. Museum exhibits allow the visual transfer of information about a subject.
Researchers appreciate this educational effort. But when a researcher enters a museum, they often are seeking a more intense education. This is where museums perform a second function of importance, i.e., preservation.
When I walked into the Five Civilized Tribes, I wanted to learn more about Alex Posey. Next May marks the 100th anniversary of Posey's untimely death.
His passing serves as a milestone in measuring railroad progress. Posey was taking the train to Eufaula on business. However, the rain-swollen North Canadian River had washed over the bridge and the engineer knew the damaged embankment would not hold the engine's weight. In 1908 railroad companies were still working on bridge designs because washouts were a common problem.
Persisting in reaching Eufaula, Posey found a boat and two men who would row Alex and a friend across the turbulent water. As you might imagine, the trip did not go well. His body was found a month later.
Alexander Lawrence Posey began thinking about words almost as soon as he entered the world in 1873. His mother was a Creek Indian while his father was Scots-Irish. To his last days, Posey was the embodiment of the conflict over which identity was strongest.
He began speaking his mother's Creek language because of her childrearing. This was the language of his youth. As he was growing up, he learned English less well. Then one day his father insisted Alex tell a story in English even though he began in his mother's tongue. Thereafter, Alex studied his father's language in earnest.
The commencement speech Alex wrote in 1895 at Bacone Indian University attests to the success of his endeavor. This speech is still presented to entering students as a model of accomplishment.
It was as editor of two newspapers that Posey's penmanship became widely recognized. His voice was in favor of change then rapidly occurring all around him. The Dawes Commission was in its last days of breaking up tribal customs. Because he saw the same happen in his own family as he was growing up, Alex understood some of the coming consequences.
In the Indian Journal newspaper, Posey wrote 72 letters under the Fus Fixico pseudonym. With humor and sarcasm he helped readers grapple with those days of change. His prose was straight forward even if he used a faux Indian voice.
By the time of his death, his dynamic style was fading. He ceased writing poetry years earlier. When asked to compile his Fus Fixico work for book publication he declined. Yet, he was hailed as the "Creek Bard" within a quarter of a century.
What did I find in the Five Civilized Tribes Museum that gave me a hint about the man?
The museum's collection of Posey documents only spans a year and a half of Alex's life. The Posey family donated these surviving papers in the 1960's. For forty years the Five Civilized Museum preserved these documents for researchers. One letter caught my eye. Posey was writing in reply to a letter from George Hall of Senora, IT. George's letter, that Alex had just opened, was full of details about the Hall family's activities.
Alex enjoyed George's long letter. He wrote George on November 8th, 1899, "In fine, I like to hear the heart beat between the lines." Alexander Posey declared in this sentence his love of words. That is why Alex Posey is remembered as the Creek Bard.
Researchers like museums for an entirely different reason. Oh, don't get me wrong. They like to look at exhibits. After all, one purpose of museums is to teach. Museum exhibits allow the visual transfer of information about a subject.
Researchers appreciate this educational effort. But when a researcher enters a museum, they often are seeking a more intense education. This is where museums perform a second function of importance, i.e., preservation.
When I walked into the Five Civilized Tribes, I wanted to learn more about Alex Posey. Next May marks the 100th anniversary of Posey's untimely death.
His passing serves as a milestone in measuring railroad progress. Posey was taking the train to Eufaula on business. However, the rain-swollen North Canadian River had washed over the bridge and the engineer knew the damaged embankment would not hold the engine's weight. In 1908 railroad companies were still working on bridge designs because washouts were a common problem.
Persisting in reaching Eufaula, Posey found a boat and two men who would row Alex and a friend across the turbulent water. As you might imagine, the trip did not go well. His body was found a month later.
Alexander Lawrence Posey began thinking about words almost as soon as he entered the world in 1873. His mother was a Creek Indian while his father was Scots-Irish. To his last days, Posey was the embodiment of the conflict over which identity was strongest.
He began speaking his mother's Creek language because of her childrearing. This was the language of his youth. As he was growing up, he learned English less well. Then one day his father insisted Alex tell a story in English even though he began in his mother's tongue. Thereafter, Alex studied his father's language in earnest.
The commencement speech Alex wrote in 1895 at Bacone Indian University attests to the success of his endeavor. This speech is still presented to entering students as a model of accomplishment.
It was as editor of two newspapers that Posey's penmanship became widely recognized. His voice was in favor of change then rapidly occurring all around him. The Dawes Commission was in its last days of breaking up tribal customs. Because he saw the same happen in his own family as he was growing up, Alex understood some of the coming consequences.
In the Indian Journal newspaper, Posey wrote 72 letters under the Fus Fixico pseudonym. With humor and sarcasm he helped readers grapple with those days of change. His prose was straight forward even if he used a faux Indian voice.
By the time of his death, his dynamic style was fading. He ceased writing poetry years earlier. When asked to compile his Fus Fixico work for book publication he declined. Yet, he was hailed as the "Creek Bard" within a quarter of a century.
What did I find in the Five Civilized Tribes Museum that gave me a hint about the man?
The museum's collection of Posey documents only spans a year and a half of Alex's life. The Posey family donated these surviving papers in the 1960's. For forty years the Five Civilized Museum preserved these documents for researchers. One letter caught my eye. Posey was writing in reply to a letter from George Hall of Senora, IT. George's letter, that Alex had just opened, was full of details about the Hall family's activities.
Alex enjoyed George's long letter. He wrote George on November 8th, 1899, "In fine, I like to hear the heart beat between the lines." Alexander Posey declared in this sentence his love of words. That is why Alex Posey is remembered as the Creek Bard.
Labels: Alex Posey, Five Civilized Tribes Museum, George Hall
posted by Wally Waits at
6:37 AM
2 Comments:
In Pictures of Our Nobler Selves Mark N. Trahant reproduces a poem of Alex Posey's called "Ode to Sequoyah" which was an homage to the inventor of the Chreokee alphabet:
The names of Watie and Boudinot -
The valiant warrior and gifted sage -
And other Cherokees may be forgot,
but thy name shall descend to every age ...
Trahant's book is mostly about early native American journalists: Stand Watie, John Rollin Ridge and Colonel Elias C. Boudinot, Tanna Beebe and many, many others who made important contributions to the journalism profession. He calls Muskogee's own Ora Eddleman Reed "the first Native American talk show host"---sort of an Indian Oprah. (She would have found that very amusing.)
Ora Eddleman Reed is, as you point out, truely worthy of recognition. Several years ago a history professor wrote seeking information about her.
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