So Rhonda, thank you so much for joining us. How are you, how are you doing today?

I'm doing well. How are you?

You know what? I could complain. You know, I said, we could.

We could. But I won't.

That's exactly right. I won't complain.

At the end of last week, I sat down with 51-year-old Rhonda Grayson.

She joined me from her kitchen in Oklahoma City.

My great-grandmother was America Cohes.

She was an original enroly of the Muscogee Creek Nation.

She was Creek-Free Woman 4661.

Growing up, Rhonda knew the Creek tradition was a part of her birthright.

Well, I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

My family, my mom and dad, they were raised in a little small community called Wewoka, Oklahoma.

So much of my family ties were there.

I spent a lot of summer months there visiting my grandparents.

I had always been keenly aware of my Creek Heritage.

Just because of the stories that my grandfather would tell, they identified themselves as Native

Negroes, African Creeks, Black Creeks.

The Muscogee Creek Nation is one of the largest federally recognized Native American tribes

in the U.S.

It spans more than 7,000 square miles across the state of Oklahoma, stretching from the

city of Tulsa in the north to a southern border carved out by the Canadian River.

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