The MCIFB Disclaimer - ***The Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band is not a Federally Recognized Tribe. We do not receive federal or tribal benefits such as medical, housing, dental, etc.***
MCIFB is a 501 (c) (3)
charitable organization. Your gift is tax deductible to the full extent provided by law.
MUSKOGEE CREEK INDIAN FREEDMEN BAND
Board Member
Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band
Sharon Lenzy-Scott was born and raised in Muskogee Oklahoma. She completed her elementary and high school education in Muskogee Ok and received her college education in Nebraska. Sharon has written and published two poetry books, where Angles abide, and World of reality. In her professional career, Sharon has worked in the health care profession for over 20 years.
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Sharon is a descendant of the Perryman family. Her relate Legus Choteau Perryman was the principal chief of Creek Nation in 1887. As described in the Extra Census Bulletin “The principal chief, virtually a Negro, comes of a famous family in creek annals his name is Legus Choteau Perryman”.
Creek roll number 3635,
great grandfather of
Sharon Lenzy – Scott
The Perryman’s were long time members of Creek Nation prior to the civil war. They served in the Union war and were listed as Loyal Creeks. They were Interpreters, Judges, Senators, and Chiefs of Creek Nation.
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Jackson Perryman, Creek roll number 3635, great grandfather of Sharon Lenzy-Scott. Sharon is a descendant of Jackson Perryman, an original Dawes enrollee. Jackson’s father was Sandy Perryman, Creek-Interpreter, who came to Indian Territory around 1829.
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Sharon’s mother, Mrs. Adlene Perryman-Lenzy was disenfranchised from the tribe in 1979. In the eyes of Creek Nation, she was no longer regarded as a citizen of the Nation because her family was listed on the Creek Freedmen Dawes Roll.
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Countless attempts were made in 1979 through 2000 by Mrs. Perryman-Lenzy to regain her citizenship. She fought tirelessly until she could no longer fight. Mrs. Adlene Perryman-Lenzy died with the memory of Creek Nation stripping her from her birth right as a citizen of Creek Nation.
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Hence, Sharon quest began to regain her families’ citizenship shortly before the death of her mother. Sharon has been fighting this battle for more than a decade; she states she will continue to fight this battle until the wrong that has been done to the Freedmen has been made right.
Board Chairwoman/Band Leader
Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band
Rhonda received her education in the Oklahoma City public school system, a graduate of Douglass High school. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1991.
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In her professional career, Rhonda has been employed for 25 years for a Fortune 500 company where she has served in a management role for most of that time.
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She enjoys family research and is passionate about the history and plight of the African Indian people. Because of the influence of her grandfather, Mitchell Grayson, Rhonda has always been keenly aware of her African Creek and Chickasaw ancestry. Her grandfather spoke often of his grandmother, Adeline Boxley-Grayson, and the fact that she only spoke the Creek language and attended the Creek Indian Church.
Creek roll number 4661,
great grandmother of
Rhonda Grayson
Rhonda’s great grandmother, America Cohee, was an original Dawes Enrollee of Creek Nation; she received 160 acres of land; her roll number was 4661. America Cohee was reared in Breaden, Oklahoma; received education in the Indian Territory school system in Bearden, Oklahoma. Rhonda’s forefather Toney Hawkins was born around 1790 in the old Creek Country. In addition, her forefather, Peter Wolf, was a Loyal Creek Freedmen refugee listed on the loyal Creek payment roll.
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Little did Rhonda know her casual family research would embark upon a laborious journey of advocating for the rights of African Creek people. A journey that would open doors for her to exercise the privilege of helping to serve and assist in preserving the history of the Creek Freedmen.
Rhonda has chaired numerous Freedmen conferences and cultural events from 2004 to the present that has attracted academics, world-renowned scholars, anthropologists, authors, and historians from across the globe.
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In 2010 Rhonda spearheaded a traveling exhibit project with a mission to educate people about the extraordinary history of the Creek Freedmen.
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The exhibit has been featured at the Five Civilized tribe’s museum, Africa West, Oklahoma Black Museum, Oklahoma Metro Library System, African American Genealogical Interest Group (Dallas Tx), Congressional Black Caucus convention (Washington D.C.), Seminole Nation Museum, and the Broken Arrow Museum where Rhonda created over 75 new exhibit pieces to present the extraordinary history of the Creek Freedmen.
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The July 2022 exhibit at the Broken Arrow Museum attracted visitors near and far from Georgia, TN, AZ, TX, etc.; Julie Brown, the Executive Director of the BAM, states that the exhibit hit record-breaking attendance with 185+ people in attendance at the opening reception on July 9, 2022. With visitors pouring in daily into the museum’s July temporary exhibit, the exhibit has continued to bring in more guests daily than any other temporary exhibit in the Museum of Broken Arrow history! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn about the fascinating history of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen! Help us become a museum. Consider donating to this great cause. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EV3Q5YREKYRR4
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Rhonda desires that the world will have access to educational programs that accurately reflect the history of the Freedmen. The goal is a permanent museum to tell the untold stories and history of the Creek Freedmen.
Family surnames: Grayson, Cohee, Williams, Thompson, Webster, Boxley, Simpson, Fowler, Bennett, Spencer, Wolf, Carolina, Island, Hawkins, Watson, and McIntosh.
Vice-Chair
Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band
Jeffrey D. Kennedy was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Jack E. Kennedy of Rosedale, Ok and Nettie J. Carter-Kennedy of Elmore City, Ok. Jeffrey attended the Oklahoma City, public school system, a graduate of John Marshall high. Jeffrey accepted a scholarship to attend The University of Oklahoma to study Architecture. Jeffrey competed for the University in the swimming and diving program to later embark upon a Professional High diving Career with the Great American High diving Team. He toured with the Labatt’s Blue High diving team in Canada and competed on the USA Master’s National Diving Circuit as a Master’s Champion and Grandmaster’s Springboard and Platform Diver.
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He later earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oklahoma where he received the School of Architecture’s “5th year Award of Distinction” and recognition for the Dean’s honor roll.
Jeffrey currently practices as a Project Architect/Manager/Designer in the State of Oklahoma for 25 years. He is a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects.
Chickasaw roll number 1469,
daughter of
Creek Freedmen Ben Grayson,
and grandmother of Jeffrey Kennedy
Jeffrey became a novice Genealogist in 1999 after being questioned about his heritage. Perplexed, his Sankofa began. He traced his Native Indian and African family origins back to Old Creek and Chickasaw Nation in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Later he traced his roots to Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and to the Chesapeake area in Maryland of the Thirteen Colonies in the mid 1700’s.
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Jeffrey’s tribal affiliation is Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole. His great grandfather Ben Grayson was an original allottee of Creek Nation, Dawes roll number 5329, North Fork district 1890. He is also a direct descendant of the Carolina, Hawkins, and McIntosh families who were citizens of Creek Nation. Additionally, he is a descendant of Crawford, Gaines, Newberry, Shannon, Taylor and Williams’ family of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation. The Oklahoma Historical Society recognized all of the aforementioned Families as one of the First Families of the Twin Territories.
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Jeffrey’s recent Sankofa experienced the African Diaspora across the Atlantic to the west coast of Africa. The Senegambia area where the Mandinka’s from Mali occupied the Gambian River. The place where Alex Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kinte spoke of the “Kamby Bolongo”.