Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Jake Tiger Seminole - TPR's In Focus - Nov. 10, 2026

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Jake Tiger Seminole - TPR's In Focus - Nov. 10, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's Dothan
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  campus, identifying and preserving historical documents and photographs for
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  research related to the Wiregrass region. More information at troy.edu/wiregrassarchives.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is
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  In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Seminole textile artist Jake Tiger returns
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  to In Focus focus during Native American Heritage Month to discuss
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  his tribal ties to Alabama and his upcoming appearance
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  at the Alabama Department of Archives and History on November
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  14th. The grand opening of the First Peoples of Alabama
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  exhibit and the Native American Art Festival will
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  feature Jake's presentation at noon.
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  Jake Tiger, welcome back to Troy Public Radio.
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  Thank you for having me on. Jake, when were American Indians
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  declared U.S. citizens? The Citizenship Act
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  that came out in, in 1924 for American Indians were
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  labeled as American citizens. So for that whole time period from
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  1776, where we talk about independence
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  from how this country was founded, but it was really just set aside for rich
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  landowners. It wasn't for common farmers.
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  From the time from 1776 to 1924,
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  American Indians were not seen as essentially human
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  beings or citizens of this country,
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  because that was a whole process of extermination and assimilation.
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  You're a textile artist, and growing up in Oklahoma, who influenced
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  you? So I was around a lot of great influences.
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  Number one was my grandfather, who did living history
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  and kind of got it started with a few others here in Oklahoma about
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  early 19th century Seminole clothing and material
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  culture. And he also served on our general council and as a band chief
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  for 40-plus years. And so that's kind of where that
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  got started. And I also have a lot of my elders around me
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  that are still around from my grandpa's time.
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  It's my mother and my father that also dwelled
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  into that as well. I just listen to what everybody is talking about within the
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  community, and I'm a firm believer of if you
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  don't tell the story, it'll die out with you. And from us, from an
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  American Indian standpoint, we've lost a lot because we're not people
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  that wrote down our history. It's all communal through oral history.
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  And so I got to take all these stories and just keep throwing them out
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  there so people know our side of the story and how history actually was
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  conducted. You have been starring in a number
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  of documentaries. What's coming up next? The one that's
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  coming up next is a film for Jim Boy. We filmed that in
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  Alabama, and we were just all over the place. And it
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  was just about maybe 2 days of filming, but we were up
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  from 6 AM and getting back to our hotel about 8 o'clock at night.
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  We got a lot of great footage. I mean, we met quite a few people
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  on there and it gave us a lot of insight. I've been fortunate to have
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  been a part of a lot of historical things that have happened. In 2022,
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  I was the youngest person of our delegation of the Oklahoma Seminoles
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  that went to Florida during the Seminole War Convocation. We kind
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  of had this formal meeting between the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
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  and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. That was probably one of the things I'm
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  most pleased with being part of that. And so far, we have a
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  lot of friends from the Seminole Tribe of Florida that come down to Oklahoma pretty
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  often. And I go there back and forth. So it's
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  a really fascinating thing to see. It sounds like you found
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  kinship there, a kinship of spirit. And along
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  that line, I am wondering, since you do spend so much
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  time in the Southeast in these films, you also
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  work with museums. Do you feel a kinship with
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  this part of the country? Absolutely.
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  When I go down to the Southeast, of course, like I said, I've been in
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  Oklahoma my entire life, so I do love Oklahoma and I love the environment
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  and the culture out here. But when I go to my traditional homelands of
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  the Southeast, or I go up to, with my other tribe,
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  the Red Lake Ojibwe or the Saginaw Fox, and I go up to the
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  northern part of the country to Red Lake in Minnesota,
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  I feel this kind of just sense of calmness in a way,
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  because it's kind of like walking into a past life, like this
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  kind of déjà vu. And it just feels so much more relaxed.
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  And it's a serene feeling being back in the homelands.
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  How do you feel when you go to Horseshoe Bend? So I actually
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  went to Horseshoe Bend for the first time this year. I went out there for
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  the battle anniversary and I was teaching out there.
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  We had a couple of schools that came by on that Thursday and Friday and
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  We had the general public on Saturday, and that was a
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  different feeling because when you go to these places of atrocity
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  through warfare and you see what had happened to these people,
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  a lot of times when we look at wars, we just think about how
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  it affected the men on the battlefield. But Horseshoe Bend was a lot
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  different because there were children and women and elders that were
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  slaughtered there as well. I had that same feeling when I go to Florida and
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  I just think about— not try to romanticize it because a
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  lot of times I do think that films and reenactments just
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  throw around this kind of pride of warfare and unconquered spirit,
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  but we have to think about what they were fighting for. From the American Indian
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  standpoint, from the Muskogean Seminole, they were fighting for their own sovereignty,
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  their inherent right. They were fighting for their families and their land
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  and lastly themselves. It's a different feeling when you go to these different battle
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  sites in the Southeast. Jake, you're a member
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  of the Bear Clan. What does that mean? The Bear
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  Clan is actually, it's a matrilineal, right?
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  So I get that through my mother and she gets it from her mother and
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  it's so on and so on. I wouldn't say all the tribes east
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  of the Mississippi are matrilineal, but a good portion of them are. And that's
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  probably one of the most important things as American Indians for us is our clans.
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  That's kind of our form of identification. I come from the Bear
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  Clan and from the Thomas Palmer Band of the Seminole Nation.
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  When we think of Indian culture, a lot of people don't know much about
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  it, and we see movies, we see different things in the
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  media. What do you think we need to know to
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  recognize authentic Native American culture?
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  One thing I get all the time is still
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  people see me do living history and they'll ask me if we
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  lived in teepees and if we still do, and I say
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  no, and it kind of baffles me. Then I think about how much film
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  and media was being produced in the 20th century, and even up
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  till now, it drives me nuts when I see a film that includes American Indians.
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  And of course we need American Indians represented in film instead
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  of getting non-Native actors, but A lot of times when they try to do historical
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  films about American Indians, it is just awful
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  when I see— and I don't mean to put anybody down, but the most recent
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  film, Young Washington, that might have been the worst I've seen.
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  I see a lot of people right now talking about Young Washington and how much
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  they love it because it has this kind of romanticization about patriotism in
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  terms of material culture and how they portrayed the American Indians. During that
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  time period. It was completely wrong, and it's going to get a lot of people
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  confused when they see how we conduct ourselves and how we dress.
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  I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done. People not just
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  throwing out this narrative of what they want to romanticize
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  and, and have this kind of fantasy world and show people what it actually is.
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  I think you're doing your part to straighten out the misconceptions.
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  Well, I sure do appreciate that. I'm trying my best.
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  Jake, is there anything else you'd like your listeners to know right now?
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  Yeah, I'm in Alabama very frequently, not only just
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  working this portion of Alabama. If there's a big event
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  that has American Indian interpretation, I'll most likely be out there. And of course,
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  you can see some of my work over at the Alabama Department
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  of Archives and History. I have 2 Muskogean outfits
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  over there, and they're actually doing a big opening on
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  November 14th this year. I made an outfit from 1790,
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  and then I made another outfit from 1825.
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  Well, Jake, thank you so much for your visit today.
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  Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on. And anytime you guys need
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  me, I'll, I'll put you guys down as my first priority. That was
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  Jake Tiger, Seminole textile artist, who will
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  appear at noon at the November 14th grand opening
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  of the First Peoples of Alabama exhibit and Native
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  American Art Festival at the Alabama Department of Archives
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  and History. More information about the event can
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  be found at the archives.alabama.gov website.
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  Thanks for joining us for In Focus, which is a podcast
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  wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch by email
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  at infocus@troy.edu. I'm Carolyn
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  Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported Troy
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  Public Radio.