MVSKOKE RESERVATION – Muscogee (Creek) Nation Oral Historian Midge Dellinger (Mvskoke) was an invited panelist at the Library of Congress on March 11. The event, “Documenting COVID-19: A Discussion on Community-Based Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” featured cultural documentarians whose work chronicled community and culture responses during the public health crisis. The panel was co-sponsored by the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress and is part of the Covid-19 American History Project– a Congressionally mandated project that aims to collect and archive American’s COVID-19 stories through the American Folklife Center.
Dellinger presented her work on the MCN Department of Culture and Humanities oral history project she led during the pandemic titled, “A Twenty-First Century Pandemic in Indian Country: The Resilience of the Muscogee Creek Nation Against Covid -19.” The project documented the oral histories of 40 Mvskoke citizens and recorded their knowledge and strategies of survival beginning in the early days of the 2020 lock-downs. According to the department, the project is a critical record of how Mvskoke people were impacted and their cultural responses.
Dellinger was featured along with Dr. Allie Martin, Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College; Nicole Musgrage, Director of Living Traditions at the Center for Rural Strategies; and Camilo Vergara, photographer and writer. The panelists shared their experiences and their research, and also answered questions from the audience.
“Having the opportunity to go to the Library of Congress, first of all, that’s an honor,” says Dellinger. “But more than that, it was an honor for me to be there in that space representing the Muscogee Creek Nation and this project and our people’s pandemic stories. That’s really what was most important to me about the trip and this opportunity.”
Covid 19 in Indian Country
Dellinger’s work on the project has also been included in the newly published volume, “Covid-19 in Indian Country: Native American Memories and Experiences of the Pandemic,” edited by Dr. Farina King (Diné) and Dr. Wade Davies. The book is a compilation of works from 22 academics, scholars, and Indigenous community members who chronicled the suffering disparities in Indian Country to Covid-19, while illuminating the creativity, perseverance, and resilience in Native communities to the health disaster. The chapter, co-authored by MCN DCH Secretary Raelynn Butler, is based on Dellinger’s interviews.
Dellinger came to this project in the early months of 2020, telling Mvskoke Media that it was the experience of working remotely which led to the project. “I was at home because the Muscogee Nation had sent a lot of their employees home to shelter in place. And I had been watching the news every day. Not all day, but a lot. And one day I realized, as I was sitting there watching the news, that I was learning what COVID-19 was doing around the globe, but not in Indian Country,” Dellinger says.
“It was as if nobody was paying attention or nobody cared. And I got really upset when I realized that. That is when I absolutely knew that I needed to do this oral history project with Mvskoke people because our experiences, whether it’s the Mvskoke experience or any Indigenous experience, are just as important as any other experience to a true historical narrative and memory of the pandemic.”
Dellinger began interviews in 2021 through 2022, and interviewed 40 Mvskoke citizens from a broad range of backgrounds: young people, elders, rural citizens, urbanites. Dellinger also interviewed MCN leadership, including Principal Chief David Hill, Second Chief Beaver, MCN council representatives and department heads.
Dellinger structured the interviews by starting off with life stories, and questions about the pandemic experiences came later. “I wanted to give people the opportunity to share about their lives and give the listener an opportunity to learn about this person,” Dellinger says. “And then hear what have been their experiences with COVID-19 and the pandemic.”
Questions specific to the pandemic ranged from asking people how they first heard about it, what was their knowledge and understanding of the virus, what were they currently doing, what were their safety plans, and how did they remain safe. Yet, it was the answers to her final question that left Dellinger amazed: “What words of advice or wisdom can you share with future generations? What words of advice can you share with them about living through and surviving a global catastrophic pandemic?”
“It gets emotional for me to talk about it. I’m so thankful and so proud of the people who participated in this project. And I just—I want—I want anyone who is willing to sit and listen to these people’s knowledge and words to hear them,” says Dellinger.
“Because at the end of the day, with all of these interviews, there is so much knowledge and wisdom. And there’s teachings. There’s lessons that we can all learn from these interviews and the things that people share in these interviews, not only about life and living, but about survival.”
Copies of “Covid-19 in Indian Country: Native American Memories and Experiences of the Pandemic,” can be found at the Mvskoke National Library and Archive.
To learn about the MCN Covid-19 history project, or watch oral history interviews, visit https://www.mvskokenationallibraryarchive.org/
To view a webcast of the LoC panel, visit https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11654/
To view the Covid-19 American History Project at the Library of Congress, visit https://guides.loc.gov/covid-19-folklife
