CHICKASHA, Okla. (AP) — U.S. Congressman Tom Cole says Chickasaw storyteller Te Ata Thompson Fisher should be credited for keeping Native American culture and identity alive when it wasn't always easy.
Cole, who is Fisher's great nephew, spoke Friday at the dedication of a bronze statue of Fisher at the University of Science and Arts in Oklahoma in Chickasha.
Fisher attended Oklahoma College for Women — now USAO— before becoming a world-renowned Chickasaw storyteller and an actress.
She was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1957 and into the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame in 1990. She died in Oklahoma City in 1995.
Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby says Fisher defied stereotypes placed on Native Americans and women.