VALDOSTA STATE MAGAZINE 93 “Some are pulling themselves out of poverty, butit’savery,veryslowprocess.Thatprocess would be sped up by becoming a tribe.” While socioeconomic opportunity and growth is important to the tribe, resolving the issue of their identity is monumentally more important. “On my dad’s birth certificate it says Creole,” Ealy said. “They’ve been denied who they are for years. They gave my people the title of Creole because they didn’t want to call them Native or Indian because that would come with certain rights. Just not having any racial identity is one of the biggest things for us. “This is not about me. I don’t have any children. This is not going to benefit me in any way. I will probably be dead before we see any benefits of this, and that’s okay, as long as our tribal people see some kind of dignity and respect and actually get to claim who they are. “I’d like to see them be able to take Creole off their birth certificates and add Indian/ Native American. That would be awesome. I’d like to take white off of mine and add Native American.” Haggard’s research has already allowed the tribe to receive a historical marker from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for the Native American school that their ancestors attended from 1950 to 1960. It was a significant event for the tribe. “We just want the story told,” Polk said. “We want the truth told. We want our archives protected. We want to obtain artifacts we believe are out there. Our future holds a lot of promise.” Polk said it is a great honor for her people that Haggard chose to tell their story and that he chose this endeavor, which she said is basically the “discovery of a tribe.” “If it weren’t for him, in all honesty we would probably still be pushing paper and not have any real direction,” Ealy said. “I don’t even think that we would see recognition in our sights. We were just that disorganized. We’ve never been as far as we are right now. I actually see a light at the end of the tunnel.” VALDOSTA STATE MAGAZINE 93 Dr. Dixie Haggard came to VSU in 2005 and teaches a regular rotation of courses focused on Native American history, including classes on Native people in the southeast and how Native Americans have been portrayed in film.