This episode shares the story of the Dunford Family that is documented in the Choctaw Nation and takes the family back in time, crossing boundaries, in the Nation and beyond. 

This story looks at a Chickasaw family in blood, language and culture, but whose status as Chickasaws by blood was denied. This story looks at the records that reflect their history.

There was a time when the voice of a slave had little or no meaning, but years later, the voice of an ex-slave became a deciding voice taken as the truth that brings a case to an end. Such is the story of Dolly Stidham, a Creek Freedwoman.

Episode 2 features details about an amazing man from the Muscogee Creek Nation. Sugar T. George was born a slave in Georgia and was brought west with Creek Indians. He spent his entire life there, obtaining his freedom, becoming a literate man who rose to prominence in the Nation. From the Civil War, to the Dawes era, this once enslaved man served in both ruling houses of the Creek Nation, became a minister, and so much more. After his death he was described as "wealthiest Negro in Indian Territory." An amazing man who has been written out of Oklahoma history but whose name should be known by all.

This introductory episode provides information about the Oklahoma Freedmen. They were people once enslaved by Five Native American tribal nations, and taken west during the years of the Indian Removal - The Trail of Tears. They endured enslavement, but also exhibited acts of resistance during their first the decades there. After the Civil War, many remained in Indian Territory which was now their only home forging new lives on the western Frontier, as bilingual people now practicing tribal culture, speaking tribal languages, and becoming a distinct unique people on the frontier landscape. This first episode introduces the listener to the podcast that will describe who they are, and promises to bring episodes that will describe the lives of the thousands of people classified as "Freedmen" living on the soil that became Oklahoma. Welcome to the Freedmen Files!