Unbeknownst to me, I was born into two worlds on September 21, 1938 in Kenton County, Kentucky to Charles White and Sarah Hastings White. We lived in Covington at that time but I soon learned I had two homes. One in the city because my father worked at the steel mill in Newport and one in rural Clay and Clark counties, where our families lived. We eventually move to rural Campbell County where we rented a large farmhouse. This is where I would live, with no electricity or running water, until I went to college.
Our American Indian heritage was never mentioned, it was just assumed. The 1940’s was not an era of finding your roots. Instead, embarrassment led my family to hide our ancestry. I remember my grandfather and even my father, getting into fights. When I was older I came to know that the reason for these fights was our heritage. That was why we usually went home every weekend to be with our people. Three generations lived together in our house. I can remember my Grandmother White putting me to bed at night and singing songs with strange sounding words. Sometimes she would sing what I would later come to know was chanting. These were mostly prayer songs. On walks with my grandfather we collected paw-paws, nuts and sassafras root. He also would tell me stories about the Little People that lived in the woods. Our family used all the old remedies like herbs, turpentine and sulfur to cure ailments. The knowledge has not been lost to me because I still pursue the extensive use of herbal medicine today. My Grandmother Hastings and my Mother taught me to sew. We were poor people and even scissors were a luxury. Hence, I was taught how to tear the material properly to make my dresses, skirts and blouses. My first projects, however, were dishtowels, aprons and tablecloths. Of course, all sewing was done by hand for a long time until we acquired a treadle sewing machine.
Having attended Eastern State University during 1956-1958 under a grant from Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati where I had gone to work out of high school. Due to the shortage of teachers in 1965, I was certified to teach under an emergency teaching certificate after a call from my alma mater, Campbell County High School. It was during my tenure there that I realized my love of teaching and working with students.
It wasn’t until 1971, after relocating to Florida, that I felt something was missing, even though I was living the “American Dream”. The love of the American Indian culture kept tugging at me. After extensive research and with the help of family records I was able to trace my lineage to Creek on my mother’s side and Cherokee on my father’s side. With this information in hand I was able to seek tribal enrollment. My association with Creek Indians led to acquiring land on the Withlacoochee River in central Florida that had once been the site of a Muskogee Indian village. We rebuilt the structures, restored the area to a working village and that was where I made my home. It was there I celebrated my 50th birthday and received my final name, Nak’ah hothlv (maker of clothing), from an Elder Creek woman, Etta Mae Fixico.
Tours were conducted at the village every weekend for the public and during the week for school children. It was my responsibility to create authentic attire for these programs and to research the language and dance of the Creek people. This led to the formation of a dance troupe that performed at State parks, as well as numerous other events in Florida and South Georgia. I also coordinated “Walk Through Time” programs and festivals throughout the state.
A visit to our village by a Seminole gentleman, Alan Jumper, in 1990 led to me being asked to take the position of Cultural Project Coordinator for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. In January of 1992 I coordinated the first gathering of American Indians in the Southeast since the removals of 1838. The purpose was to celebrate the 500 years of Native people from 1492 to 1992. Approximately 100 tribes were represented at the Ancient People Cultural Project and public attendance was about 40,000 for each of the four days of the festival. During this time my office was located in the Seminole museum, which gave me access to a wealth of information from which to further develop my programs. It would prove to be the opportunity of a lifetime to delve into the culture of the Muskogee people (Creek and Seminole).
Upon the death of my father later in 1992, I returned to Clay County to be with my Mother. There I pursued teaching the Indian culture to 4H groups, Girl Scouts and meetings of the historical society. For my endeavors there I was honored to be named a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Patton. It is my desire to continue with the education of our young people to dispel a lot of myths about the Indian people of this area. Children are important conduits to the truth in history so we must start by educating them.
