In July 2020, nearly 200 years after the lands of Eastern Oklahoma were promised to Native Americans, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma reaffirmed the reservation of the Muscogee Nation, resulting in the largest restoration of tribal land in our nation’s history. This history-changing case started in a surprising place: a small-town murder and the decades-long death penalty appeal of the convicted man. In By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land, Rebecca Nagle, an award-winning reporter and citizen of Cherokee Nation, uses the case as a springboard for the larger story of the long fight for tribal sovereignty in Eastern Oklahoma. Her in-depth reportage becomes personal as Nagle uncovers the complicated role her own forebears played in the removal of her tribe from their ancestral lands. She delves into the whitewashed story of “The Trail of Tears” that forcibly removed 80,000 Indigenous peoples living east of the Mississippi and sent them into exile. It is a story of greed, corruption, and lawlessness, as well as historic acts of Indigenous resistance.

Nagle’s original podcast about the case, This Land, topped the podcast charts, reaching number two on iTunes with millions of downloads, and won a Webby Award for best Documentary Series. Nagle was awarded the American Mosaic Journalism Prize and nominated for a Peabody for her reporting and writing. Her work has been featured in The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Guardian, USA Today, Teen Vogue, and the Huffington Post.

Nagle will be in conversation with Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Ph.D. (Lumbee), dean of Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy and the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Education and Social Policy. A member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, Brayboy’s research focuses on intersecting knowledge systems that illuminate the ways that institutional structures simultaneously hinder and enable the success of underserved students, staff, and faculty. His research also explores the ways that culture and cultural practices mediate and support Indigenous student learning, community self-determination, and tribal nation building.

BONUS AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of By the Fire We Carry from FAN’s partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Nagle and Brayboy that will start immediately after the webinar. Details on the webinar registration page.

This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.