OKMULGEE – On November 19, the College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN) premiered “Chitto Harjo,” a short documentary about the Mvskoke leader. The film covers Harjo’s life and story to further public Mvskoke History education. After the showing, CMN held a panel discussion featuring some of the team behind the film.
CMN President Dr. Monte Randall (Mvskoke) began this project from a desire to engage learners across generations through different platforms, like multimedia outlets. The inspiration for the project came from Randall’s son, who watches U.S. history videos on YouTube. When Randall noticed the lack of educational resources on the platform about Mvskoke History, he came up with a plan to start a history channel with videos for everyone to watch.
Randall’s goal is to have as many Mvskoke History videos as possible told by experts- he hopes that the audience learns about Mvskoke History. Randall wanted to start with Chitto Harjo’s legacy. “Chitto Harjo has always been an inspiration to me through the stories of his defiance of the US government and even the early Muskogee Nation government that was pushing for assimilation,” Randall said.
“His stories and the images of him stood as a symbol of what a modern-day warrior would have looked like in that time, and that resonated with me as we are all called to be warriors for our people today.”
Randall chose the team for the project, which include MCN Secretary of Culture and Humanities RaeLynn Butler (Mvskoke) who provided historical and cultural context, Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground) member Mike Harjo (Mvskoke) who provided the knowledge of Chitto Harjo’s stories, and Danny Roberts (Mvskoke) who played Chitto Harjo.
“I wanted to show that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation can produce a high-quality video about our history, told by our experts from our perspective,” Randall said. The college partnered with Pursuit Films, an Indigenous-led Tulsa based film development and production company.
Mike Harjo and Danny Roberts also spoke to Mvskoke Media about their experience of being part of the film and how grateful they were to be speaking about Chitto Harjo’s legacy.
Mike Harjo recounted that Randall came up to him during Hickory Ground’s last dance, when the men were gathering around to play stickball. Randall was looking for oral history and spoke about this specific documentary; he wanted Mike to speak about any kind of oral history on Chitto Harjo.
“I’ve been here all my life, being an active member at Hickory Ground. I heard quite a bit of stories from the elders, so I had told him I knew some stories. That’s basically what he was looking for, something that wasn’t in the book that was oral history passed down and I said I would help him in any way,” Mike Harjo shared.
Randall later told Mike Harjo that the project would be a video production, which made him nervous but also humbled. Mike shared that he had grown up listening to these stories, and even though others know oral history about Chitto Harjo he was humbled to be chosen. Initially, Randall asked Mike to play the role of Chitto Harjo, but he knew Chitto Harjo would have been older than himself during the period the film takes place.
Mike Harjo soon messaged Danny Roberts, a coworker at MCN Facilities who Mike felt was a better fit, and mentioned Robert’s strong resemblance to legendary leader.
Roberts has never acted or done anything like this before, and while he was nervous throughout the filming it was a great experience for him. He had been reluctant to accept the role but thought about the educational purposes of what this documentary would do for the people.
At first, Roberts thought the film would be non-speaking reenactments, however he later received news he would be giving Chitto Harjo’s famous speech to the 59th United States Congress. Even though he was nervous, he was happy to do it.
“Because to me it reflected what all Stecates feel as far as things that were done wrong, things that were unjust,” Roberts said.
“We could all kind of relate to that and so I enjoyed that too, it’s humbling. I enjoyed being able to express that and be part of that.”
Roberts also enjoyed dressing similar to Chitto Harjo, being able to handle the pistols, and riding the horse. He took pride in portraying the historic figure and is glad that this will be here for a long time for young Mvskoke people.
“Especially young Stecate to be able to pull up any documentary to see and learn about their history, so I felt good about being able to assist with that and be a part of that. I did the best I could but that’s what I enjoyed about it,” Roberts said.
For Mike Harjo, his favorite part was speaking about Stecate and Mvskoke history. Chitto Harjo is one of Mike’s favorite subjects; he’s heard a lot of stories growing up and they stuck with him. He always enjoyed re-telling them to his friends, cousins, or sitting at the ground speaking about it.
“Hopefully we can do some more, keep our youth informed about these stories, our Mvskoke History and oral stories too. I think that’s something that we need to work on and maybe do more,” Mike Harjo said.
Roberts feels that the project is great for the college and that this history needs to be shown- the more that’s out there, the better.
“I think it’s great, this history, the bad and good needs to be documented, needs to be put out there. When I was growing up, we read about history such as World History, US History and read a little about the Indian Tribes but the bad part, a lot of things are left out,” Roberts said.
“A lot of people need to really understand what the Stecates went through. So if more of it can be put out there, more people can see it. It’s just great for all tribes, not just Mvskoke. Because they went through afflictions and problems too, just like Mvskoke did.”
Roberts explained that history can’t be changed, but it needs to be shared.
“These documentaries that are put out, it isn’t something that’s just made up, it’s history and we can’t change history. But we sure need to remember the history of where we came from. So I think it’s a good reflection on CMN to put that out there and for the tribe to be able to do that. I think it’s a good thing, I really do.”
Mike Harjo agreed, “We had to overcome a lot of obstacles, and some of the stories, there’s some good stories that came out too so it’s not all bad, but it all needs to be told. I’m sure there’s other people that know stories but if they don’t share them and one day we’ll be gone and those stories will be gone along with them.”
“So we need to hold on to every bit of history that we have.”
Mike Harjo thinks of Chitto Harjo as a true warrior- he was not afraid, he rose up to fight for what is right for the people, he cared about the traditional ways, ceremonial grounds, his faith, and the creator.
“This man came out of nothing but heart and fearlessness, ready to make a stand for the people, and the old ways and everything he believed in. That to me is something that is good that came out,” Mike Harjo said. He also sees Chitto Harjo as having deep faith in the old Stecate ways, enough to put his whole life on the line.
Roberts hopes that young Stecate people grow a greater appreciation for Chitto Harjo’s actions. “His words became action and he took it, kept going as far as he could. I hope it gives them strength, when they see this, the young people, and even the elders whoever sees this. We’re Indigenous, we’re here,” Roberts said.
“I will never stop asking for this treaty! The old treaty. That our Fathers made with the government which promised us this land forever! As long as the grass grows and the water flows and the sun rises! Mvto.” Chitto Harjo
From Mike Harjo’s point of view, he wants people to be proud of being Mvskoke. “Stand up to people, don’t let anybody run you over, you have your ancestors behind you. Because Mvskoke people, we’ve always stood up for ourselves along with other tribes. When the government was forcing us out of our homelands, some of them just moved but the Mvskoke people didn’t. Maybe we’re outnumbered and outgunned again, but it’s gonna take a fight to move us,” Mike Harjo said.
It wasn’t just the fight that inspired Mike Harjo, but also Chitto Harjo’s support for traditional ways. “I know he was really pushing to go back to the old ways and other tribes too. I know he was a big supporter of the Cvlakke/Cherokee over there when they were trying to get their ceremonial grounds going. I know he was a big supporter of them, that’s what he advocated for these tribes to return back to the old ways and I hope they can take something from that, from him, to see that part of what he was advocating for, the old ways, hopefully they can dig deeper into our old ways,” Mike said.
Mike has noticed throughout his life that some ceremonial grounds have gone dormant, but he wants the grounds to keep going because he knows Chitto Harjo was all about returning back to the old ways.
“Maybe we will be doing a lot better and our ceremonial grounds would be a lot stronger. To me it’s like our old ways: they don’t get lost, the people get lost,” Mike said. “Hopefully they could take that away from when they study more about Chitto Harjo and what he was about. If they want to dig deeper into our ceremonial ways, or if they haven’t been raised that way, maybe they can study more and find out what the ceremonial ways or religious ceremonies are.”
“Maybe this will get them motivated to learn and help carry those on so they’ll never be lost.”
“We’ve had a great response to the video, and the best part is that my 14-year-old son is not only learning about Mvskoke History on his own terms but is genuinely interested in it, and we have discussions about the Chitto Harjo episode.” CMN President Dr. Monte Randall
Roberts’ thoughts turned to Mvskoke ancestors, “Our ancestors that fought the wars, that were killed, that died on the trail, that same blood is in all of us. We need to take pride in that because they fought. Our ancestors came from the hardships, we struggle today,” he said. “We still have issues and we still have struggles in the government. Things like that they try to push against the tribes. There’s struggles still going on, not wars but governmental things that they try to push on us. We still have to stand up to that and realize they are trying to impede our sovereignty.”
Mike Harjo agreed with Roberts’ sentiments. “We’ve been fighting ever since the Stehvtke men got here, we’ve been fighting. Just making it through all the obstacles, and our sovereignty we have to protect and it just seems like the fight never stops,” he said.
Mike Harjo reflected on his ground, Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground), and their Coosa Mekko who are in the midst of fighting, as well as other Tribal leaders like MCN Principal Chief David Hill.
“Those guys are doing the best they can and whatever kind of obstacles that we face, and we have faith in those guys. I just think as long as we just keep on fighting to exist, and protect our own, protect our ways and our people. We just gotta keep on fighting because this is unfortunately how this country is. It almost seems like they’re always trying to keep our people down. But you can’t, it’s proven you can’t keep Mvskoke people down. We always rise back up and we have that in us, integrity, heart and courage and all that within our people,” Mike Harjo said.
“Our history tells us that.”
“Chitto Harjo” can be watched on CMN’s website at https://cmn.edu/nak-emkv-vtelokes/
