From Staff Reports
The Oklahoman
The Oklahoma History Center's exhibit on Choctaw and Comanche code talkers will close Monday.
This exhibit complements the traveling exhibit "Native Words, Native Warriors,” a project of the National Museum of the American Indian that interprets the history of American Indian code talkers from across the United States.
By the time of World War I, the speakers of native languages had become a quantifiable statistic. Boarding schools and other institutions habitually punished children for speaking the language of their ancestors. Talking in their own language had to be done clandestinely.
The first organized code talkers were Choctaw Indians from southeastern Oklahoma who fought with the 36th Infantry Division in France during World War I.
In 1917, 18 Choctaw soldiers serving in France provided an opportunity for the Army to secure communications from enemy eavesdropping. The venture was so successful that before the beginning of World War II, the Army developed a plan to recruit Indians for the same duty.
The Oklahoma History Center is at 2401 N Laird St., east of the Capitol. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 522-5248 or go online to
www.okhistorycenter.org.
