Kiowa elder, first language speaker, retires from OU as instructor
May 4—Dignitaries from the Kiowa Tribe made an appearance at the University of Oklahoma to honor the career of a retiring Kiowa instructor who is an elder and respected member of her tribal community.
In attendance were Chairman Lawrence SpottedBird, Vice Chairman Jacob Tsotigh, and Ben Lucero Wolf, District 6 legislator.
Martha Poolaw, 84, was born in her family home in Carnegie, 30 miles north of the Wichita Mountains.
She said her grandmother never spoke English, so everyone in her family spoke only Kiowa at home.
"I grew up in a Kiowa-speaking home, and I was lucky enough to have that privilege because nowadays you don't have that," Poolaw said. "It was just something that you just did. You didn't have to go to school and learn it. You never thought about it. It was just there."
Poolaw is only one of a handful of first-language Kiowa speakers left, though thanks to her efforts, many are now learning it as a second language.
Boarding schools for Native students were established in Anadarko, Muskogee, Ardmore, Tishomingo, Chilocco, Concho, Marble City, Durant, Park Hill, Chickasha, and in other areas in and outside Oklahoma.
These schools, and others, forced assimilation practices. Children were forbidden from speaking their Indigenous languages on school grounds.
"Once you go to school, then you convert to English, and then that becomes your language. Slowly, you got away from your own language," she said.
Poolaw graduated from Carnegie School in 1958, and while she never forgot her Kiowa, she said she didn't realize the gift her family gave her.
"I realized how important it was to start speaking it, especially to younger people," Poolaw said.
After she graduated from high school, she married her husband and followed him around the world as he was enlisted in the Marine Corps. After retiring in the late 1980s, she moved to Norman where she has lived ever since.
Eleven years ago, she was offered a job as a Kiowa language instructor where she has taught up until now.
"I just thought it was really important to preserve it because it's who we are," Poolaw said. "The Kiowa Tribe has a huge culture, and when I teach my classes here at OU, that is part of the curriculum, too."
She said even among tribal leaders, there aren't many who speak the language.
"I felt like I wasn't hearing anybody speaking the Kiowa language. There used to be some older people who did," she said. "You go there [tribal offices] and they are mostly talking in English. They're not even speaking it."
Poolaw said connecting with OU has been a blessing because administration did not pressure her to use any specific criteria or curriculum, and that it was at her discretion to teach how she wanted to.
"The other thing I liked about it was the fact that the Kiowa Tribe themselves did not have an input," she said. "So they couldn't tell me to change things or do things their way. It worked out well. I was totally independent."
She taught her grandson, Dane Poolaw, how to teach the Kiowa language. He will continue teaching the language at OU.
Ben Lucero Wolf District, who serves as a tribal lawmaker, paid his respect to Poolaw because she has been instrumental to revitalizing the language.
"It's an honor to be here to celebrate the retirement of Martha Poolaw, who is so important to our tribe. Our language is what makes us Kiowa. Without it, we are just lost," Lucero Wolf said. "Her role has been critical for preserving our language, so I just wanted to thank her and congratulate her on her retirement."
Manilla Whitehorse, outreach coordinator for the Kiowa District Seven office in Norman, said she came to visit Poolaw out of respect.
"My father was a full-blooded Kiowa as well, and that was his first language. I am learning to speak it myself, but to have elders come in and educate us is great," Whitehorse said. "I'm thrilled that they have been here a few years with OU, enlightening our tribe to pay attention to our heritage and language."
She said it is important for the Kiowa Tribe to keep its relationship strong with OU.
"We have a lot of educators that went to OU," she said. "It is important that we keep this language program going.
