Nancy Raven
Nancy Raven (c. December 25, 1868–March 25, 1957), also known as Nancy Taylor, was a Natchez storyteller from Braggs, Oklahoma and one of the last two fluent speakers of the Natchez language.
Her father was Cherokee and her mother Natchez, and she learned Natchez at home. A full-blood Native American, she never learned English, but was trilingual in Natchez, Cherokee and Muscogee.
In 1907 she worked with anthropologist John R. Swanton who collected information about Natchez religion, and in the 1930s she worked extensively with linguist Mary R. Haas who collected grammatical information and texts using an interpreter. Among the stories she told Mary Haas was one called "The Woman Who Was a Fox". Sometimes she used the surname Taylor, which she had taken from her second husband.
Jambalaya!
- 2003-01-01T00:00:00.000000Z
Similar Artists