Wright, Muriel Hazel (1889–1975)

Native American writer and historian. Born near Lehigh, Choctaw Nation (later Coal County, Oklahoma), on March 31, 1889; died of a stroke in Oklahoma City on February 27, 1975; daughter of Eliphalet Nott Wright and Ida Belle (Richard) Wright; attended Presbyterian and Baptist elementary schools; tutored by her mother, 1902–06; attended Wheaton Seminary, 1906–08; studied French, piano, and voice lessons privately in Washington, D.C., 1908–11; attended East Central State Normal School, 1911–12; pursued master's in English and history, 1916–17.

Selected writings:

(with Joseph Thoburn) Oklahoma: A History of the State and Its People (1929); A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma (1951); contributed to The Chronicles of Oklahoma (1922–73), was associate editor (1943–55), and editor (1955–73).

The Native American historian Muriel Hazel Wright was born in 1889 near Lehigh, Choctaw Nation, in Oklahoma Territory. Her father Eliphalet Nott Wright, a physician for the Missouri-Pacific Coal Mines, was half Choctaw and the son of the chief of the Choctaw Nation; her mother Ida Richard Wright was an Anglo-Scotch Presbyterian missionary. When Wright was five years old, the family moved to Atoka, Oklahoma, where she attended Presbyterian and Baptist schools. In 1902, the family returned to Lehigh, and Wright continued her studies with her mother.

Wright entered Wheaton Seminary (now Wheaton College) in Norton, Massachusetts, in 1906. After two years of study, she went with her family to Washington, D.C., where her father had been named delegate of the Choctaw Nation to the federal government. She studied French, piano, and voice with private tutors. In 1911, Wright enrolled in East Central State Normal School in Ada, Oklahoma, graduating in 1912 and beginning a teaching career in the Coal County, Oklahoma, school system. In 1914, she became high school principal in Wapanucka, also teaching Latin, English, and history. She decided to further her education in 1916 in New York, where she studied history and English. American involvement in World War I led Wright to return to Oklahoma in 1917, where she served again as a principal and teacher in Coal County until 1924. In 1922, she became secretary of the Choctaw Committee, leaders of the Choctaw people. In that position, which she held until 1928, she assisted in the complicated legal process and business affairs which resulted from the change in tribal land status when Oklahoma had become a state in 1906. Wright also began contributing articles to The Chronicles of Oklahoma, the journal of the Oklahoma Historical Society, and other periodicals. Drawn to researching her Native American heritage, in 1924 Wright left school administration to investigate the history of the Choctaw and other Oklahoma tribes, hoping to learn how the tribes had shaped American history and culture.

In the late 1920s, she collaborated in her research with Joseph B. Thoburn; their four-volume scholarly work, Oklahoma: A History of the State and Its People, was published in 1929. She then published three textbooks of Oklahoma history. In 1934, Wright helped organize the Choctaw Advisory Council, serving as secretary until 1944. She was a leader in the fight to make the federal and state governments pay compensation to the Native American tribes for the loss of their former lands. She also initiated a statewide historical marker program, including sites of importance to its native inhabitants.

By 1943, Wright was a respected scholar whose reputation extended well beyond Oklahoma. She was named associate editor of The Chronicles of Oklahoma, becoming editor in 1955, where she remained until her retirement in 1973. In 1951, Wright published her nationally known reference work, A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma.

Muriel Wright's dedication to helping Oklahoma Indians and to preserving state heritage led to her induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1940. In 1949, the University of Oklahoma awarded her a Distinguished Service Citation. She was also honored by the North American Indian Women's Association as the outstanding Indian woman of the century in 1971. She remained active as a writer in the Oklahoma Historical Society after retirement. Muriel Wright died in Oklahoma City, at age 85, in 1975.

sources:

Sicherman, Barbara, and Carol Hurd Green, eds. Notable American Women: The Modern Period. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1980.

Laura York , M.A. in History, University of California, Riverside, California