voicesfrom thesouth texasarchives, texasa&m university

VoicesWednesday, September 6, 2017 Kingsville Record and Bishop News SA

Larry Running Turtle SalazarVoicesfrom the South Texas Archives, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

TIe Voices columnhas ron for a year,bringing stories about

some of the collections at theSouth TexasArchives.During

that time,it becameobvious thatone voice wasmissing: theindigenous voice of SouthTexas.The Native American

peoples who had been partofTexas for more than 10,000years were overwhelmedin Texas by a 500-year longimmigration of Europeans.David La Vere's book, TheTexas Indians, describesthe genocidal fate of theindigenous Texas tribes asthey were pressured fromthe south by the Spanish,from the east by English,French and Americans, andfrom the north by otherNative American groupsbeing forced into Texas.Simple survival required

Native Americans to blendinto the societies thatinvaded their home land.From the South Texas

Archives web page, "Thearchive was established topreserve and make availableto the public university anddocumentary materialsregarding the cultural,geographical, political andnatural history of SouthTexas."Lori Atkins of the South

Tetas AJdUW!S eot"""ledLarry Running TurtleSalazar about the possibilityof creating a collectionfor the archives. She wentto Corpus Christi to do apreliminary interview andexplain the goals of creatingthe collection.Atkins described

the three legal ways toacquire collections. Thefirst is through a gift thatfalls within the definedscope for collections. Thesecond is a transfer froma Texas A&M Universitydepartment. Collections arealso purchased on very rareoccasions.The archives will reach

out to people and seekcollections for underrepresented groups. Thatincludes indigenous peoplesof this region. The archivesmaintains a list of peopleand groups from which ithopes to get collections.The South Texas

Archives Specializes in thecollection of documents.Modern technology allowsfor digital recording ofcollections. Artifacts aredigitally photographed sothat the donor keeps theirfamily treasures while stillallowing researchers toview these items. The donorcan tell their life stories as anoral history.The Oral History

Association offersPrinciples and Best Practicesguidelines. Atkins begins byresearching and preparinga set of questions anddeciding on a specific periodof time for the oral historyinterview. The interview isnot locked into a hard andfast format, but will flowwith the interviewee to getas much information on thetopic as is reasonable.The interviewee may

come to the archives, orarrangements can be madefor the archives' staff totake equipment to theinterviewee to make theprocess as comfortable aspossible. The oral historymay include voice storiesand musical recordings.

PatAllison

LookingBack

Photograph of Larry Running Turtle Salazarperforming a ceremony with a cleansing smoke. Thisprocess is called smudging. A2017-042.0002 p34, LarryRunning Turtle Collection, South Texas Archives,James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Turtle rattle, A2017-042.00l2, Larry Running TurtleCollection, South Texas Archives, James C. JerniganLibrary, Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Larry Running TurtleSalazar began his interviewwith a prayer in his Apachelanguage inviting the SpiritPeople into the conversationand a prayer for healing forthe location He was born inSan Antonio and grew upin Corpus Christi. Salazaris a full-blooded NativeAmerican He is of Tsalagi(Cherokee) and NdeeApache descent.His seventh generation

grandmother came intoTexas from the Trail of Tears.Native American farniliesstruggled to pass on theirculture and teachingsto their children. Theseteachings had to be donequietly and in secret.In 1%2, Salazar's mother

brought the family toCorpus Christi. His first dayat school put him betweentwo worlds. He was sentto the principal's office.There, the principal cutoff his hair, confiscated hismedicine bag, told him hewas not allowed to speakany language other thanEnglish, and a note wassent home to his motherinstructing her as to whatname he couid use at school,Larry Salazar. Dress codesand language rules werepart of the homogenizingof school systems andstudents prevalent in the20th century To definewhat part of a child's nameis permitted in school isinconceivable by modernpractice.From that first day on,

Larry Running TurtleSalazar's school day wouldbe in the white man's world.

The evenings would belessons taught by his motherabout his Native Americanculture. He speaks fourlanguages: English, Spanish,Apache and Japanese.He learned Apache fromattending Native Americanceremonies.At a young age Salazar

became interested in andparticipated in martialarts training. This trainingprovided very critical lifelessons and self discipline.He taught martial arts andstudied under Steven Seagalfor 11 years.Larry Running Turtle

Salazar is an artist andconsidered to be a WisdomSeeker by his people. Heseeks knowledge of hissurroundings, and overthe years has enjoyedopportunities to talk withphilosophers and religiousleaders such as Dr. WayneDyer, Deepak Chopra andthe Dalai I.ama.He has blended his Native

American experiencewith Catholicism andBuddhism. Ceremoniesare involved throughoutNative American cultureand religion.The United States

government, state andlocal governments haveworked to suppress NativeAmerican traditions andreligions for decades. Anexample is the NativeAmerican Coming of Ageceremony which was illegalin Texas for 150 years.Anyone performing thisceremony risked a 15-yearprison sentence. Yet Comingof Age ceremonies are

Buffalo bag, AZ017-D42.0007, Larry Running TurtleCollection, South Texas Archives, James C. JerniganLibrary, Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

found in different forms inevery culture in the world.The quinceaiiera, originatingfrom Spanish culture, is aComing of Age example.A Coming of Age

ceremony may be a simplelegal convention or a veryelaborate instructionalceremony lasting severaldays. The Native AmericanComing of Age ceremonymarks a young person'slIB11'l·ti:on~responsible adulthood.After the passage of the

American Indian ReligiousFreedom Act, NativeAmerican ceremoniessuch as the Coming ofAge ceremony couid beperformed legally. Salazarwas asked to learn andperform the first legalNative American Comingof Age ceremony in Texasin 150 years. This ceremonytakes four days and nightsof counseling and teachingfor the young person tocomplete.Many aspects of Native

American culture havebeen seriously distorted bymodern mass productionand commercialization,such as tobacco. Massproduced, chemical ladenforms of tobacco have beenused addictively for decadesby people on a global level.Tobacco originally was usedfor ceremonies only. It wasnot inhaled or constantlysmoked. It was special. Thesmoke and crumbled dryleaves were used to carryprayer offerings.Larry Running Turtle

Salazar carries a ceremonialBuffalo Bag filled withcrumbled tobacco asofferings and prayers.He often visits peoplein hospitals to performhealing ceremonies forthem. Smoking of any kindis not allowed in a hospital,so Salazar will use a turtlerattle to perform the healingceremonies. The turtle shellis filled with blue com tomake the rattling sound.The South Texas Archives

digital collection processallows for collections tocontain digital imagesof artifacts that can beshared with researchersand students. Imageswere made by the digitalarchivist, Daniel Thacker,and included in the LarryRunning Turtle Collection.On Jan. 14, 1994,

road construction wastemporarily halted on EnnisJoslin in Corpus Christibecause a skeleton was

found. Reporter Max Bearof the Corpus Christi Caller-TImes contacted LarryRunning Turtle Salazar andtold him of this finding. Theskeletal remains were of ayoung Comanche womanburied in a fetal position. Itwas estimated that she lived500 years ago. Salazar wentto the location, but wasforbidden by archeologistson site to approach topetfotln-a ceremony for her,From a distance, Larry

Running Turtle Salazarperformed the ceremonyseeking forgiveness for thedesecration of her grave site.He made a promise to do aceremony for that girl. Overmany decades, thousandsof skeletal remains havebeen found in the Oso Bayarea.Salazar talked with Dr.

Fred McGee about otherremains that have beenlocated in that area. In 1933,a hurricane exposed 150sets of skeletal remains.Thousandsofsetsofremainshave been removed fromthe Oso Bay area throughthe years. These remainsare stored in researchers'facilities at universities forstudy. This site is designatedas the Oso Creek Site 41NU2in the files of the TexasArcheological ResearchLaboratory, the Universityof Texas at Austin.An article by researcher

Robert A. Ricklis titledTIre Prehistory of the TexasCoastal Zane: 10,000 Yearsof Oumging Environmentand Culture talks aboutthe environment anddevelopment of indigenouscommunities along theTexas Gulf Coast. Sea levelson our modern coast linehave been consistent forabout 3,000 years.At the end of the last ice

age, 10,000 years ago, thecoastal sea level was about300 feet lower. Humanoccupation of our coastvaried greatly over millenniadepending on the sea levelsand the abundance or lackof seafood sources.During the times when

fish and oysters wereabundant, people wouldsettle along the coast.Settlements tended to beseasonal. People wouldmigrate inland at differenttimes of the year to huntgame animals and gatherother food sources.Archeologists divided

the Texas Coast into threesections; upper coastextending from the Sabine

River to the Galveston area,the central coast extendingfrom the Galveston areato the northern shore ofBaffin Bay, and the lowercoast extending down tothe Rie Grande Delta area.Our central coast area isconsidered to have beenhome to the Karankawatribes.The Oso Bay area is

the second largest NativeAmerican burial site inTexas. Most of the skeletalremains taken from thatarea are considered to beKarankawa, but the oldestremains are possibly muchearlier, non-Karankawapeoples. The 1990Native American GravesProtection and RepatriationAct attempt to protect suchburial sites.The Ishka Monument is

a project of the South TexasAlliance of IndigenousPeople and Larry RunningTurtle Salazar to expressrespect and remember theancestors buried in the OsoBay area and along EnnisJoslin. The project has beenunderway for several years.The first part of the

Ishka Monument hasbeen established, a cementwalkway and medicinewheel. A bronze statue ofa visiting medicine manwill be placed at the centerof the medicine wheelwhen funding goals arereached. You can learnmore about this project at. ument.webs.rom.Larry Running Turtle

Salazar's oral historyrecording was concludedwith music. "A song isan offering," said Salazar.Songs and music providehealing and teachings. Heplayed his flute for the oralhistory recording.He made the flute from

PVC pipe in the design ofNative American flutes.Native American flutes aretraditionally made fromlocal woods. The dovestaught him to play the flute.Salazar demonstrated thesounds of the dove calls onhis flute.After the flute music,

Larry Running TurtleSalazar sang the CherokeeMorning Song and playedhis buffalo dnun. Hedescribed the NativeAmerican belief that whenwe die we become partof the star people. Thereis a Star Gazing Song andprayer for the dead to bereceived by the star people.When the dead are received,a falling star is sent toannounce that the personhas been received by the starpeople. Native Americanswould often select a star torepresent their loved one.They could watch the nightsky and see their familymembers in the stars.At the close of the oral

history session, Salazar toldAtkins and the archives thatthis collection was "not foryou to keep but for you toshare." And that is the jobof the South Texas Archivesand Special Collections.If you enjoyed learningabout the Larry RunningTurtle Salazar Collection,please drop an e-mail toLori Atkins at lori.atkins@lamuk.edu or make a call tothe South Texas Archives at(361) 593-2776. The keepersof your history would liketo hear from you. Checktheir web page at archives.lamuk.edu.Pat Allison has been doing

research. at the South TexasArchives for several years;pja®atcweb.rom.

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