Local tribe uses IMPACT 100 grant to further culture


  • February 2, 2015
  • /   Ben Sheffler
  • /   community-dashboard
There was a time when the Creek Indians of the Pensacola area lived in hiding without rights and privileges, due to the Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson. "My family, and our tribal family, were ones that hid out in backwoods and swamps of Northwest Florida and South Alabama and eventually blended in with white or black societies," says Tom Nichols, chief of the Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe. “We could've been shot on site." Nichols says his family basically hid their culture, heritage and language, and nearly everything about them faded from memory. Times and the law changed and in 1982, Nichols Nichols began researching his heritage. In 1990, he formed the Santa Rosa County Creek Indian Tribe. "We came out of the closet," he says. A $102,500 IMPACT 100 grant will help continue the tribe's mission of teaching others about their culture and heritage by building a culture center, museum and living village on its 93-acre tribal grounds on Willard Norris Road in Pace. creek_powow_IMPACT"There's a lot of history in Escambia, Santa Rosa and Baldwin counties that wasn't picked up by the history books," Nichols says. "There were literally thousands of us here, and we lived along the rivers and creeks. That's where the name Creek comes from." For the past 24 years, the tribe has held its annual powwow at Floridatown Park in Pace the weekend before Thanksgiving. The hope is to host the 25th powwow at the tribal grounds thanks to the grant, which also will be used to install bathrooms at the site. Without the grant, Nichols says it would take four or five years to complete the projects. Aside from the powwow, the tribe also goes into the community to share its history. "The tribe strives to get out into the public, and we go to anywhere from the elementary level all the way to the university level and teach about the culture, heritage and language," Nichols says. Principal of Bagdad Elementary School Linda Gooch said the tribe came to a family night event at the school two years ago. "They shared some of the Indian dances, and they also shared some information about their culture," Gooch said. "The ones that were present really enjoyed it, and the comments were very positive." Nichols says he eventually wants to invite schools to bring students to the tribal grounds to see the Creek Indian culture firsthand. Nichols is a sixth generation Creek Indian, and he says his grandmother didn't talk about their heritage much because they were in hiding. But now he wants to be the voice for his ancestors. "That's one reason we do this for the children and grandchildren, to carry on the legacy that our grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents cannot carry on," he says.
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