The Caddo Nation Today
Howdy folks from the great state of Texas, formerly the home of the
First Nations people of Caddo.
I have been writing about the history of the Caddo people and I've
gotten you to the point where the nation was moved to Oklahoma
and that is where they are now, in Caddo County near Binger.
They do have some land but unfortunately the land that the federal
government gave them doesn't have good soil for farming so after
being farmers for centuries they were forced to give that up. Our
loss as a nation because they were gifted farmers and would be
some of the best farmers in American today if allowed to continue.
The Caddo people have been extremely strong, resilient and
determined to keep their history, culture and language alive and
they have done just that.
They have preserved their language on CD's and books but they
no longer teach their children conversational Caddo, I haven't been
able to determine why. They do use their language in songs and
ceremonies though.
In 2009 there were only 25 of them who spoke the Caddo
language in conversational form.
They have a school on the Caddo Nation headquarters or complex
and the people have regular jobs like anyone else and are not
plagued with epidemic rates of suicide, alcoholism and extreme
poverty like so many of the other tribes.
So they have adjusted very very well and have managed to both
thrive in the modern culture outside of their reservation but
have also maintained their identity as Caddoans and they continue
to hold ceremonies and events like they have for centuries.
The nation has grown to over 6,000 strong now with about half that
number living on the reservation.
Caddo women doing a traditional dance at their cultural center.
These people are thriving and in fact they just opened a casino close
to home. They can't go back and recover everything that was stolen
from them but at least they can get some money from the stupid
white man. I hope their casino is a raging success.
In fact, I think they should have this Caddo man guarding the exit
door of the casino. "No leave until you lose $500!" lol. Oh sorry, am I
being racist?(this is Phillip Smith the administrator of the Caddo
County Jail, photo is from his fb page)
photos are from texasbeyondhistory.net except Phillip Smith's fb.
I gotta close this out now but in the next post I'm going to show you
some of the most beautiful pottery that you've seen(in my humble
opinion) which the Caddo revived and are making again. Their
pottery was one of the trade items which they were famous for way
back.
Thanks for reading folks and God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- you might just be a redneck if:
your neighbors think you might be a detective because the cops
bring you home every night!
Fascinating and informative, as always, my friend. Upvoted and resteemed.