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Oral history interview with Norene Durant

Title

Oral history interview with Norene Durant

Subject

Chilocco Indian Agricultural School--Alumni and alumnae

Off-reservation boarding schools Boarding school students

Boarding school students

Description

Norene Durant (Cherokee and Creek), a graduate of Chilocco Indian Agricultural School, talks about growing up in Sperry, Oklahoma on her mother's original land allotment in the Cherokee Nation. Born into a farming family with a mother who only spoke Shawnee, she describes how she ended up at Chilocco in 1943. Durant recalls the tragic death of her mother after her freshman year, taking a year out of school to take care of her, and how her mother encouraged her to graduate from Chilocco. She talks about adjusting to Chilocco and recalls the dormitories, work opportunities, and gender differences in the roles and coursework available at the school. Durant describes meeting her future husband Albert at Chilocco after he returned from the war in 1947 and eventually getting married and moving to Dallas.

Format

video

Identifier

okso_sok_465

Interviewer

Milligan, Sarah

Interviewee

Durant, Norene Chisolm

OHMS Object

access interview in full screen

Interview Keyword

Shawnee heritage

Cherokee heritage

Creek heritage

Family ties

Food insecurity

Social Bookmarking

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Citation

“Oral history interview with Norene Durant,” Chilocco History Project, accessed November 21, 2024, https://chilocco.library.okstate.edu/items/show/3868.