Owen and Owen: Choctaw Language

Sharon and Kennedy Owen

Sharon Owen, of Halls, TN, is a native Choctaw speaker who was raised with the language as her primary spoken communication. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Owen is a cultural leader in the West Tennessee community of Mississippi Choctaw. Members of the Choctaw community arrived in Tennessee from Mississippi in 1952, seeking better financial opportunities in agricultural jobs and later in factory work. The first families, and those who followed, have maintained a rich traditional life that includes beadwork, basketry, dance, and song, as well as the native Choctaw language. Throughout the 20th century, most members of the Mississippi and Tennessee Choctaw community learned and spoke the language. However, as Choctaw young people increasingly strove for success in schools and other settings where English was the primary language, the “old” Choctaw language began to decline as a part of spoken and expressive communication.

“The Choctaw language is my first language followed by English which I learned to speak while attending public school,” Owen describes. “The Choctaw language was the only language spoken in our home when I was growing up. My grandparents raised me and my two brothers. My grandmother couldn’t speak English. I am 45 years fluent in our Choctaw language.”

As part of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program this year, Sharon will teach Choctaw to her apprentice and daughter, Kennedy Owen. “Our Choctaw language is extremely rare in our community,” Sharon says. “We are losing our language. My generation–only a hand full–is the last known members to fluently speak our native language here in Tennessee. A few understand it, but can’t speak it. It is very important to preserve because it is our culture. It is ours and our responsibility to keep it alive. To preserve and to communicate in our language is important because it is becoming extinct.”

For Kennedy, this is an opportunity to not only help preserve her language and heritage, but to connect more deeply to her family. “I live in a household that speaks Choctaw,” Kennedy explains. “My mother and grandparents speak the Choctaw language. I began learning Choctaw language when I was younger and have been exposed to it my entire life. The reason I want to work formally with my mother is that she takes her work serious and is dedicated to what she does.” The project has inspired Kennedy, too, to think beyond her own learning and about how she can continue to reverse the trend. “I would like to carry on the Choctaw language to future generations, even looking forward to when I have children. Once I learn Choctaw language I would love to pass it down or even teach people my age.”