Archie Sam (June 30, 1914 – May 23, 1986) was a Natchez-

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, th ...

Muscogee Creek The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern Woodlandsstomp dance The stomp dance is performed by various Eastern Woodland tribes and Native American communities in the United States, including the Muscogee, Yuchi, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Delaware, Miami, Caddo, Tuscarora, Ottawa, Quapaw, Peoria, ...

leader, scholar, enrolled member of the

United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma ( or , abbreviated United Keetoowah Band or UKB) is a federally recognized tribe of Cherokee Native Americans headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. According to the UKB website, its member ...

, and the Sun Chief of the

Natchez Nation The Natchez (; Natchez pronunciation ) are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area in the Lower Mississippi Valley, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi in the United States. They spoke a language ...

Early life and military service

Archie Sam was born in the Greenleaf Mountain community near Braggs, Oklahoma on June 30, 1914. Archie was the youngest son of White Tobacco Sam,Mails xv son of Creek Sam, and his mother was Aggie Cumsey, a fullblood Longhair clan

. Archie Sam was the grandnephew of

Watt Sam Watt Sam in 1908 holding a bow. From a series of photos taken by John R. Swanton, near Braggs, Oklahoma. Watt Sam (October 6, 1876 – July 1, 1944) was a Natchez storyteller and cultural historian of Braggs, Oklahoma and one of the two last na ...

, the last native speaker of the

Natchez language The Natchez language is the ancestral language of the Natchez people who historically inhabited Mississippi and Louisiana, and who now mostly live among the Muscogee and Cherokee peoples in Oklahoma. The language is considered to be either unrel ...

.Nabokov 113 Sam married Maudie Louise Quinton Sam (1914–2006), and the couple had two children, Roy Whayne Sam (1945–2011) and Adeline Naeher."Archie Sam."
''Find a Grave.'' September 3, 2013. Sam attended

Bacone College Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a Private college, private Tribal college and university, tribal college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by missionary Almon C. Bacone, it was originally affil ...

in Muskogee and graduated from

Connors State College Connors State College is a public community college in Warner and Muskogee, Oklahoma. History The college was founded as an agricultural high school in 1908 and was quickly converted to a school of agriculture. When Oklahoma became a state ...

Warner Warner can refer to: People * Warner (writer) * Warner (given name) * Warner (surname) Fictional characters * Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs'' * Aaron Warner, a character in '' Shatter Me ...

. He then enlisted in the 45th Infantry Division and in 1940 he served overseas in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, participating in special missions at

Thule Air Base Thule Air Base (pronounced or , kl, Qaanaaq Mitarfik, da, Thule Lufthavn), or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Space Force's northernmost base, and the northernmost installation of the U.S. Armed Forces, located north o ...

in northern

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

where he met and hunted with the

Inughuit The Inughuit (also spelled Inuhuit), or the Smith Sound Inuit, historically Arctic Highlanders, are Greenlandic Inuit. Formerly known as "Polar Eskimos", they are the northernmost group of Inuit and the northernmost people in North America, livin ...

. After the war he transferred to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

where he remained in the Air Force for 21 years before working for the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...

Cultural work

In 1977 Sam worked with professor Charles Van Tuyl to recover sound recordings of Watt Sam that had been archived at the University of Chicago. These are the only known recordings of the Natchez language being spoken. Upon retiring in 1971, he dedicated himself to the preservation of his indigenous heritage.Interview with Archie Sam August 30th 1976, Mississippi Department of Archives and History
He was a practitioner of native Natchez religion, and in 1969 he revived the Medicine Springs ceremonial ground, located near

Gore, Oklahoma Gore is a town in western Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 977 at the 2010 census, an increase of 15 percent over the figure of 850 recorde ...

Death

Archie Sam died on May 23, 1986 and is buried in the

Fort Gibson National Cemetery Fort Gibson National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located inside of the town of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County, Oklahoma. It encompasses , and as of 2021 had more than 25,000 interments. History Fort Gibson was established in ...

Fort Gibson, Oklahoma Fort Gibson is a town in Cherokee and Muskogee counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 4,154 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.5 percent over the figure of 4,054 recorded in 2000. It is the location of Fort Gibson Histori ...

Notes

References

* Mails, Thomas. ''Cherokee People: The Cherokee People: The Story of the Cherokees from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times.'' Council Oak Books, 1996. . * Nabokov, Peter
''Native American Architecture''.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Sam, Archie Muscogee people Natchez people People from Braggs, Oklahoma 1914 births 1986 deaths Bacone College alumni Connors State College alumni United Keetoowah Band people 20th-century Native Americans