Louis Oliver (April 9, 1904 – May 10, 1991), also known as Little Coon or Wotkoce Okisce, was a citizen of the

Muscogee Nation The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the Southe ...

and an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. His poetry combines themes of Muscogee

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

with an examination of intellectualism in the context of the Muscogee Nation..

Early life and education

Oliver was born on April 9, 1904, in Coweta, Indian Territory, which became part of

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in 1907. His parents died when he was young and he was raised by relatives in Okfuskee. He studied at the Euchee Indian School and then Bacone College,. where he graduated in 1926. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he earned a diploma in 1926, an accomplishment that alienated some other Muscogee who accused him of "capitulating to the White Man's ways".

Career

While living among the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in the early 1980s, Oliver joined a writing group that included several published authors, and moved away from the more classical European forms of poetry that he had been practicing until then. He became the author of two books of poetry, ''Caught in a willow net: poems and stories'' (Greenfield Review Press, 1983) and ''Chasers of the Sun: Creek Indian thoughts'' (Greenfield Review Press, 1990). One of his poems, about and in the form of a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

, is included in the

Wall poems in Leiden Wall Poems ( nl, Muurgedichten, alternatively ''Gedichten op muren'' or ''Dicht op de Muur'') is a project in which more than 110 poems in many different languages were painted on the exterior walls of buildings in the city of Leiden, The Netherla ...

outdoor poetry project in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Honors

In 1987, the Este Mvskoke Arts Council of the Muscogee people gave him their inaugural

Alexander Posey Alexander Lawrence Posey (August 3, 1873 – May 27, 1908) was an American poet, humorist, journalist, and politician in the Creek Nation.Schneider 190 He founded the '' Eufaula Indian Journal'' in 1901, the first Native American daily newspaper ...

Literary Award.

Death

He died on May 10, 1991, in

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the thirteenth-largest city in Oklahoma and the county seat of Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of the 2020 census, a 6.0 percent decrease ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Louis 1904 births 1991 deaths 20th-century American poets Muscogee (Creek) Nation people Native American writers People from Coweta, Oklahoma American male poets Poets from Oklahoma Bacone College alumni 20th-century American male writers 20th-century Native Americans