(Theme music) JENNIFER LOREN>> Coming up... Metal smithing cowboy, John David Israel, creates original horse bits and spurs that are in high demand.

JOHN DAVID ISRAEL>> I like to make things for people that's gonna use it.

That's what flatters me is when I get somethin' back that needs to be restored.

JENNIFER>> And... LILY DRYWATER>> I think it's important just to keep our culture going to teach kids to have a sense of self, to have a sense of culture.

JENNIFER>> For Lily Drywater, finger weaving is a vital connection to our culture; one that she shares with her community by passing on her craft.

Plus... AUSTIN MARKHAM>> (Singing with woman to piano music) I wanna feel your every move.

WOMAN>> Wow JENNIFER>> Recording artist, Austin Markham, chasing his dreams from small-town Oklahoma to Nashville, Tennessee, and beyond.

AUSTIN MARKHAM>> It's not just about making a song that sounds good.

It's about saying what I believe I'm supposed to say.

(Theme music begins) MAN 1>> The Cherokees.

WOMAN 1>> A thriving American Indian tribe.

MAN 2>> Our history... WOMAN 2>> our culture... WOMAN 3>> our people... MAN 1>> our future.

MAN 3>> The principles of a historic nation MAN 1>> sewn into the fabric of the modern world.

WOMAN 2>> Hundreds of thousands strong... WOMAN 3>> learning... WOMAN 1>> growing... MAN 1>> succeeding... MAN 3>> and steadfast.

WOMAN 1>> In the past, we have persevered through struggle, WOMAN 2>> but the future is ours to write.

MAN 1>> Osiyo!

WOMAN 2>> Osiyo.

WOMAN 1>> Osiyo!

MAN 1>> These are the voices of the Cherokee people.

(Theme music fades out) CHUCK HOSKIN JR.>> Osiyo.

Welcome to the Cherokee Nation.

I'm Principal Chief, Chuck Hoskin, Jr.

For generations others have told the Cherokee story.

But now, through this groundbreaking series, we're taking ownership of our own story and telling it as authentically and beautifully as possible.

I hope you enjoy these profiles of Cherokee people, language, history, and culture.

Wado.

JENNIFER LOREN>> Osiyo.

It' how we say 'Hello' in Cherokee.

I'm your host, Jennifer Loren at the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where you can visit and learn about Oklahoma's oldest government building still standing today.

The Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum houses the original printing press of The Cherokee Advocate newspaper.

In this episode, (Music plays) you'll learn more about The Cherokee Advocate and its role in our tumultuous history.

DR.

JULIE REED>> We can't forget for a moment that The Cherokee Phoenix and The Advocate were this country's first bilingual Indigenous led newspaper.

JENNIFER>> Learn how the Cherokee Advocate has evolved to keep the world informed about our people.

We'll have more on that a little bit later in our Cherokee Almanac.

But first, (Music ends) Cherokee Nation citizen John David Israel is a man of metal.

He's worked for more than 50 years to perfect some of the world's best horse bits and spurs.

His craftsmanship is unparalleled.

And those fortunate enough to possess an Israel original know it's something to treasure.

(Upbeat music plays) JOHN DAVID ISRAEL>> I imagine everybody when they start they make themselves one or two to use.

That's the way I started.

People got to seein' 'em and they got to orderin' from me.

And I even sent like a dozen pair to stores when I started.

After about the first five years I made 'em, I never have been caught up since.

I'm John David Israel, Wynona, Oklahoma.

Well, I've been here for 52 years, right here on this place.

Can't see it for the foliage.

I kinda like that, I guess, because I'm Indian.

My dad was good at makin' things, and my mother was a seamstress.

So, I guess I kinda inherited a lot of it.

When I started makin' these spurs, I'd make them in evenings.

And I'm not really a night person either, but I might stay in here till 10 o'clock.

Ride horses all day and then make bits of evenings.

(Squeaking sound of chute) I was goin' to them cuttings and they're really the ones that got me off the ground.

People that's won world championships, and had my bits on, and I never did; that's the only way I advertised.

WAYNE ROACH>> I think a lot of it is his reputation as a horseman, of what he's done in the horse industry.

There's a lot of bit and spur makers that are good at it.

But they haven't won in the horse world.

JOHN DAVID>> Well, if I could just get right after it and get it done, a lot of times I can make 'em and mail 'em out that evening.

I turn the mouthpiece first.

Then I weld the ends on, which is 1-5/8 inches long, little quarter inch pipe.

And then if I put solid shanks on 'em, I don't use the, the little ends.

I just weld the mouth piece into the solid shanks.

Then I put the rings on.

Then kinda rub around on 'em a little bit and finish 'em a little bit.

I'm so far behind, the only place I get mine slick is where they really need to be, around the mouthpiece.

I've had three ponies I rode a lifetime with that colt bit.

But they have to be pretty nice horses.

They gotta be light and pretty snorty.

When you're makin' things like this, I tell people, well what flatters me is when they bring somethin' back for me to repair.

I know they've been usin' it.

RALPH WILLIAMS, JR.>> So, it's all about comfort.

Snoopy loves these Israel bits.

How about that?

Shoot, he's taught us everything.

Everything we learned, that we know we learn from him.

So, when it comes down to helpin' out in the shop or even takin' over the business, or whatever, he's slightly trained us all for this job.

So, he's, he's got a lot of back-up right there.

(Sound of cows mooing) WAYNE>> Well, he's taught me a lot about what bits need to do, how they need to look, and how to make 'em.

And he has taught me a lot on how to be a good person, 'cause I think he's an honorable man.

He's honest.

He respects everybody.

He never runs people down.

He's just a man that everybody would like to be.

I mean, people all over the United States, I've seen so many people come here to visit John, drive 500 miles or so to come just to visit John.

JOHN DAVID>> There's hardly a day goes by that somebody don't come by.

Sometimes there'll be three or four here.

I wondered myself how, how, how does so many people from way off get my phone number?

I guess it's just word of mouth.

I haven't been caught up for almost 50 years, when I could say I was really caught up.

I get so many people who call me.

They're usually willing to wait.

Some of 'em may think I've died, they've waited so long.

This one fella he called me and he said, John make me a bridle bit, and said, I'll probably never use it.

I thought to myself, You'll probably never get it either.

(Chuckling) There's a lot of work to makin' these things.

I, I like to make things for people that's gonna use it.

And that's what flatters me, when I get somethin' back that needs to be restored.

As far as the life I've had, I've had a real good life.

There's hardly a day goes by that I don't get an order.

Every day I get order, I get further behind.

But if they really want one to use, I'll get it to 'em.

(Upbeat music ends) (Theme music) JENNIFER>> Lily Drywater is a young Cherokee fingerweaver.

Using skills taught to her by her elders and community members, she is preserving this important art and passing on her knowledge to future generations of weavers.

(Soft music plays) LILY DRYWATER>> (Speaking in Cherokee) Hello everyone.

My name is Lily Drywater.

I'm from Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

I'm a fingerweaver.

I'm a student at Northeastern State University, and a co-founder of 4NEXT7.

Growing up in Tahlequah, I was surrounded by Cherokee culture a lot.

But most of what I learned was not from my family because my family is non-traditional.

So, the stuff that I have learned has been from like Camp Cherokee, workin' at the village at the Heritage Center.

I actually learned how to finger weave from Robert Lewis.

I took his Native American arts and crafts class at NSU when I was a sophomore.

Robert Lewis is a local storyteller.

He does all kinds of things.

He's a painter.

He's an artist.

He's, he knows all kinds of crafts, of course from the Native American arts and crafts class he taught us like everything.

(Chuckling).

The Heritage Center where I used to work where I learned most of what I know now, it's a, it's a little museum in Park Hill, Oklahoma.

I started working there as a summer youth in the village, in Diligwa Village.

A year or two after that, then I started working as a regular employee.

So, then I started doing all the fingerweaving, and stickball making, and basketry, and pottery, and stuff that I do now.

So, it's really thanks to the village I'm in this place that I'm at today.

After the Heritage Center, I just continued working on my crafts and started teaching it, as well.

This is how I learned fingerweaving from Robert Lewis.

Fingerweaving is kind of a forgotten craft in a lot of ways.

A lot of people don't really think about it, so I think it's important to keep it going.

And so, I try to teach as many people as I can.

The way that I usually describe fingerweaving to people, especially if I'm teaching, is that it's basically like a loom.

Like, if you imagine a loom, the strings kind of go like that, and then one string goes between them, and then you go back.

And it's just continuous motion of just going back and forth.

That's basically what we're doing, except it's just with our hands.

Yeah, people ask me sometimes what the hardest part of it is, and it's definitely just having the patience.

This has really helped me with patience throughout the rest of my life anyway.

People say I'm a patient person, and like literally, this is why, 'cause this just takes so long.

So yeah, there's like a lot of patterns.

The most traditional one would be the oblique pattern.

It's just kinda like a plaid pattern.

Diagonal is like the most basic.

And then usually after I teach diagonal I try to teach chevron 'cause that's just diagonal reversed.

So, it's just like a mirror of diagonal.

And then after that, I usually try to teach lightning bolts.

And then we have arrowhead design which kinda looks like an arrowhead without the notches.

We used to use fingerweaving to make belts and straps like for bags or gunpowder horns.

One way that fingerweaving is important in Cherokee culture is that we used to use it to make our wampum belts.

We would keep track of our history in weaving patterns and figures and images into the belts.

The wampum belts were pretty important because we didn't have a writing system before Sequoyah invented it in the 1800's.

So, the wampum belts was really a way that we could have a physical thing that shows our history rather than just storytelling, rather than just oral history.

I usually tell people that fingerweaving is my therapy.

It helps me work through whatever I'm going through just 'cause it's just, it's just relaxing, and just doing the same motion over and over.

And then after a while, you have something that you can look at, and that's what you've been working on this whole time.

Instead of just sittin' around thinkin' about whatever you were thinkin' about, you actually have something to show for it.

So, that's nice.

(Chuckling) I teach fingerweaving because I wanna be part of the revitalization effort.

I think it's important just to keep our culture going to teach kids to have a sense of self, to have a sense of culture.

Because of colonization, a lot of us didn't grow up traditionally.

Just having one connection to the culture for people who didn't grow up traditionally can really mean a lot.

I'm currently a student at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

My major that I'm going for is American Indian Studies with a minor in communications.

And with that I basically just want to continue doing the work that I'm already doing, (Chuckling) which is just cultural outreach, community involvement, teaching crafts.

My main goal is just to work with kids and teach them what I know so that way we can continue on with the culture.

So, I think teaching the kids as much as you can and the best way that you can is really, really, really important.

4NEXT7 is a discussion and community involvement group.

We started in mid-February of 2022.

We're a youth and Indigenous led group.

I just kinda looked around Tahlequah and thought about what was missing and what we needed.

And I was like, well, well let's just start.

And so, I just grabbed some friends, and was like this is what we're doing.

And it just kind of has gone from there.

We're a few months in now and we've got a community day where we had free food.

That's one of our main goals is to foster a sense of community in Tahlequah.

4NEXT7, of course, is first a discussion group, so we want to begin discussions about local issues and policies, and, and in taking action on those.

We have a lot of ideas for the future.

We have more ideas than we have manpower to do them.

So, we definitely need more people.

We would like to get as many people involved as we can, regardless of opinion, age, gender, sexuality.

What we're trying to do is just bring everybody together to move forward as one.

(Soft music ends) (Theme music) JENNIFER>> Since the invention of Sequoyah's syllabary, Cherokee people have used our language to share news, connect our communities, and educate the public about our people.

In this Cherokee Almanac, we follow the history and evolution of the Cherokee Nation's newspaper, The Advocate.

(Slow music plays) Before the Indian Removal Act was passed, the Cherokee Nation published a newspaper in our eastern homelands called The Cherokee Phoenix.

DR.

JULIE REED>> Nineteenth century newspapers were very upfront about their political persuasions, and they were very upfront about what their purposes were.

And The Cherokee Phoenix is no different.

So, it's motto is very upfront about the fact that it's an advocacy organ for the Cherokee Nation.

JENNIFER>> During and after removal, the Cherokee Nation was unable to print The Cherokee Phoenix.

When the Cherokee government re-established itself in Indian Territory, Principal Chief John Ross pushed to create a new newspaper for our people called The Cherokee Advocate.

The first issue was printed on September 26, 1844.

CATHERINE FOREMAN GRAY>> There were all types of stories that were bein' published in The Advocate newspaper.

There were stories about the government, the Cherokee government and what was going on with it, what laws were bein' passed.

And also, just the day-to-day life of citizens.

It did touch on some national politics as well.

JENNIFER>> The newspaper was a tool to keep our citizens informed and educated.

The use of our Cherokee syllabary emphasized the importance of our language.

WILL CHAVEZ>> It's imperative we, we keep the language everywhere if we can.

If we don't have the language, we don't have anything beyond that.

JENNIFER>> Despite the importance of The Advocate, hard times brought financial struggles to the Cherokee Nation.

Our government did not have enough money to continuously print the newspaper, and The Advocate would periodically cease printing operations.

WILL>> The Civil War really destroyed a lot of our infrastructure and our, what we had built after forced removals.

A lot of the money went toward needs rather than wants, like a newspaper.

JENNIFER>> At the end of the U. S. Civil War, the Cherokee Nation would begin reconstruction, and The Advocate would return to print on April 26, 1870.

The Advocate would continue to be printed for five years until another tragedy struck.

CATHERINE>> In 1875, when the Supreme Court building caught fire where the, The Advocate newspaper was being published, it pretty much gutted the building and it also destroyed the printing press.

And so, this was this was very devastating for the, for the Cherokees as well.

This is our voice.

This is how we're getting out information to not only our citizens, but also the rest of the people in the United States, and even the world at this time.

JENNIFER>> In 1907, Oklahoma became a state, and Cherokee Nation's property was stripped from us and sold.

Coupled with the selling of our government buildings, The Advocate's printing press was auctioned off.

WILL>> We are in the historic Supreme Court Museum where the newspaper was actually printed.

This was where the actual fire took place, too; in 1875, it destroyed the, the press.

The new press or the press that was purchased after that, the one that disappeared for a while in the 1900s is actually here in this building now.

It's on loan from the Gilcrease Museum.

JENNIFER>> A new iteration of The Cherokee Advocate would begin to be printed in 1977, and would undergo a name change in 2000.

During this time, the Cherokee Nation would be the first Native American tribe to adopt a free press act.

The Advocate is now called The Cherokee Phoenix and is still in print today.

DR.

REED>> We can't forget for a moment that the Cherokee Phoenix and the Advocate were this country's first bilingual, Indigenous led newspaper.

And additionally, that's something that we should be proud of, both as it relates to our past, but also as it relates to our present.

WILL>> I think The Cherokee Advocate, Cherokee Phoenix newspapers are, are a symbol of our sovereignty.

CATHERINE>> It's our voice.

I mean, it's, it's, it's how we're able to communicate to not only our tribal citizens, but the world really.

It's the voice of the, of the Cherokee people.

(Slow music fades out) (Language segment music begins) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) (Language segment music ends) (Theme music) JENNIFER>> Austin Markham is an up and coming pop and R&B singer/songwriter with Oklahoma roots.

As he works toward making his music a full-time career, he says it's important that his voice and music is authentically his own.

(Soft music plays) AUSTIN MARKHAN>> My name is Austin Markham.

If you don't know me, I'm an artist here in Nashville.

(Audience cheering) This is actually my first show ever.

I've never done a show.

This is it.

(Singing and music) ♪ I gotta keep on going ♪ Just gotta believe in something ♪ ♪ I gotta keep on going ♪ Just gotta believe in something ♪ ♪ I gotta keep on going ♪ Just gotta believe in something ♪.... (continuing in background) My name is Austin Markham.

I'm a singer/ songwriter/ independent artist in Nashville, Tennessee.

(Singing and music) ♪ I'll wait for you ♪ Wont stop til I ♪ found my way back you ♪ (Fading out and continuing in background.

It's not about a style of music.

It's about what I wanna say.

It's not just about making a song that sounds good.

It's about saying what I believe I'm supposed to say, and tell a story that I'm supposed to tell.

And I believe on the other side of that, there are people that are supposed to hear that story.

(Singing and music) ♪ Oh I'll wait for you (Fading out and continuing in background) And so, with my music, I wanted to release music and write music that inspired people, that was genuine to my story (Singing with woman to piano music) ♪ I wanna feel your every move WOMAN>> Wow.

That's beautiful.

AUSTIN>> Really, Nashville is a pit of creatives and it's really larger than anyone really knows.

(Woman singing in background) I wanted to be around people that sing better than me.

I didn't want to be the best in the room.

I never want to be the best in the room.

WOMAN #2>> And let the energy go here instead of here.

AUSTIN>> ♪ Keep me in your mirror.

WOMAN #2>> Yeah.

Yeah.

AUSTIN>> ♪ Don't take your eyes off the road.

♪ (Upbeat music) So, I moved to Nashville during the pandemic.

I had a year and a half left of school.

Everything was online.

And I just had this thought one day, I was like, I want, I wanna record music.

I wanna start writing my own music.

I could do this and go to school.

I remember pulling up to the house I was gonna live in, and I was like, this feels like home.

This is something I have never felt before.

And I'm still there; never left.

(Music fades out) (Sound of footsteps) (Humming and continuing in background) I grew up riding horses, helping feed cows; typical Oklahoma life.

I enjoyed it.

I mean, I didn't know anything different.

I wore cowboys boots about until seven.

Then I told my mom, I was like, I'm tired of this and she said, You don't have to wear 'em anymore.

And so, I threw the boots off.

My grandparents live just down like walking distance.

And then my church is actually a hundred foot away from their house.

My mother was the one who aided that transitional moment at seven of this is not really the life that you're wanting, so what are you gonna do.

Without that, I don't know that I would be here today.

Without that, I don't know that I would have ever been drawn to music other than singing in church.

So then, at 13, I kind of started figuring out what I wanted to say and what I wanted to sing.

And that was really when I started realizing that I could be an artist, that I could start not just singing, but saying something.

So, really growing up in church kind of surrounded and supported the character I would have at 22, and the person that I would really need to be walking into rooms, being that artist.

MICHELLE MARKHAM>> I knew with Austin at a young age he wasn't gonna take the path of everybody else.

He was completely different.

He was very unique and he was very driven to be authentically Austin.

Being in Vinita was just a small town what we found were there were not a lot of resources for him.

And so, for him it was a little bit challenging growing up, being interested in something different than, than everyone else.

AUSTIN>> I did not find it hard to stand out.

And it was something that was a reality.

And so, as these open doors have opened in front of my life, I have a character inside my heart that has been cultivated by the people around me, and cultivated by my mom, and cultivated by my grandparents, and cultivated by the people I grew up with in church.

That really has sustained and got me where I am today.

(Singing in Cherokee language) I really don't even know how it happened, but I got a phone call about this opportunity to sing on a compilation album that I believe is the first one ever titled Anvdvnelisgi.

And it's this compilation album of amazing Cherokee artists.

I got to work with two amazing translators translating my original song into the Cherokee language.

It's very hard.

But it was a super fun process.

It was like (Speaking in Cherokee) ELLEN CULP>> Mmm-hmm.

Yeah.

DANIELLE CULP>> That's it.

AUSTIN>> It's more like in the back.

DANIELLE>> Yeah.

AUSTIN>> I was close.

DANIELLE>> Yeah.

AUSTIN>> Okay.

A huge part of this project is (Singing in background) representation.

And not just that, but preserving the language as well.

We maybe have 2,000 or less than 2,000 speakers left, and so, just to be a part of that is super humbling.

As someone who is so many generations into my bloodline, it's cool to pass four generations and be one of the people that gets to help preserve this language.

And it's super exciting.

And I'm honored to be a part, and it is something I can identify with.

And if I could help a Native young boy or girl inspire their dream to be a singer, and not just to be a singer, but to be a singer that looks like them, or maybe doesn't look like them, or speaks like them, or has the history they have, or the roots they have is really something I never thought I would ever get to do.

I want to kinda tap into my roots a little bit more.

I would love to do some shows with other Cherokee artists, and just find something new to say.

And so, moving forward, I'm gonna continue to make music.

And I wanna continue inspiring people.

I want to continue to push the limits.

There will never be a time in my life where I'm not singing.

(Singing and music) ♪ Yeah, but I know I'll be okay.

♪ (Music fades out) JENNIFER LOREN>> We hope you enjoyed our show.

And remember, you can always watch entire episodes and share your favorite stories online at Osiyo.tv.

There is no Cherokee word for goodbye because we know we'll see you again.

We say, Dodadagohvi, Wado.

(Theme music) (Theme music)