Content about Culture

Two young Osage women are throwing their names into the proverbial hat for a chance to be the next Osage Tribal Princess.

Alaina Maker and Autumn Williams are asking for the Osage people’s vote May 18 at the Osage Tribal Princess Sorority Honor Dance. The honor dance is being held at the Osage County Fairgrounds and will have gourd dance, a free meal, contests in adult and junior divisions and intertribal dancing.

WASHINGTON – The Osage ballet received an overwhelming amount of compliments and standing ovations during their four-day performance in Washington, D.C.

Wahzhazhe: An Osage Ballet performed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) March 20-23 in the museum’s Rasmuson Theater.

The setting for the film August: Osage County takes place in a large, three-story home where the dysfunctional Weston family is forced to overcome their differences after the disappearance of their patriarch.

Osages may not have been cast in the film but one of the main stars is the grand home in which the pivotal scenes occur. The film is adapted from the Pulitzer-prize winning play penned by Tulsa-native Tracy Letts. The film cast is a Hollywood who’s who of actors and actresses, most notably starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.

Forty years ago, Raymond Lasley and five other Osages took part in the occupation of Wounded Knee.

Hailed as a civil rights victory for Native Americans, the occupation changed U.S. policy toward Natives.  

After four years, Mindy Standley’s idea of publishing an Osage book has become a reality.

Standley (Osage) published an Osage children’s book titled, “Frybread for Addie.”

The book is about an Osage girl named Addie growing up on the reservation in 1939.

Someone once tried to tell me a bad joke: “How many Osages does it take to make a full blood?” I walked away. I was about 20 years old.

I had a quick temper back then, but now that my skin’s thicker I would have stayed around to hear the punch line and then told a couple of my own. But, a person’s blood quantum and tribal affiliation is a sensitive subject.

Construction progress is underway to complete the Grayhorse Indian Village roundhouse by early May – just in time for the annual Grayhorse War Mothers soldier dance.

Four live performances of Wahzhazhe: An Osage Ballet are scheduled March 20-23 at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. and now fundraising efforts are underway to raise travel money for the ballet cast and crew to make those shows.

The Osage Book Club asked Dr. Garrick Bailey to summarize the works of Native American ethnographer Francis La Flesche to it’s members Jan. 25, after having finished all of his works on the Osage.

Bailey, a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tulsa, specializes his research on the Osage and the works of La Flesche, who worked and lived among the Osage in the early 1900’s.

A small fire could have erased history for generations of people who have donated items to the Osage County Historical Society Museum.

The Strengthening Native Girls Program is gaining speed and the Osage Nation Prevention Program is making progress.

“As of now, we have identified a curriculum and are currently setting up trainings for mentors,” said Peaches Hail, Osage Nation Prevention Specialist.

Osage language classes have resumed and it is free to register.

A schedule of classes is below.

Pawhuska

Monday – Osage I  6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. 
·      Osage II  6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.