Candessa Tehee is a

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

artist, professor, and politician who has served on the

Cherokee Nation tribal council The Cherokee Nation tribal council (officially: Council of the Cherokee Nation; ) is the legislative branch of the Cherokee Nation. One councilor is elected to represent each of the 15 districts of the Cherokee Nation in the 14 county tribal jurisd ...

since 2021. She was named a

Cherokee National Treasure Cherokee National Treasure is a distinction created in 1988 by the Cherokee Nation to recognize people who have made significant contributions to the preservation of the tribe's art, language Language is a structured system of communication ...

in 2019.

Family and education

Candessa Tehee is from

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

. Her grandfather was

Roger McLemore and her grandmother was Elizabeth Pumpkin McLemore. Tehee speaks

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

and is "full blood"

. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, before earning her doctorate in

linguistic anthropology Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the endeavor to document endangered languages and has grown over the past century to encompass mo ...

from the same university.

Career

In December 2013, she was appointed as the executive director of the Cherokee Heritage Center and she was the first woman, "full blood," and Cherokee language speaker to hold that position. Prior to her appointment she had worked for the

for five years. She resigned in August 2016 to accept a position as an assistant professor of American Indian studies at

Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of hig ...

. While at NSU, she served as the coordinator for the

Cherokee language file:Cherokee Speakers by County, 2000.png, 350px, Number of speakers file:Lang Status 20-CR.svg, Cherokee is classified as Critically Endangered by UNESCO's ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' Cherokee or Tsalagi (, ) is an endangere ...

and Cherokee cultural studies programs. In December 2016, she worked with Southeastern Indian Artist Association to raise funds for the

Standing Rock Indian Reservation The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South Dakota controls the Standing Rock Reservation (), which straddles the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lako ...

during the

Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests or the Standing Rock Protests, also known by the hashtag #NODAPL, NoDAPL, were a series of grassroots Native Americans in the United States, Native American protests against the construction of the Dakota Ac ...

. She was named a

in 2019.

Cherokee Nation tribal council

Tehee ran to succeed Joe Byrd in 2021 when he was term-limited from his

tribal council seat for the 2nd district in a seven candidate race against Vicki Creel, Dusty Fore, Jami Murphy, Bobby Slover, Tonya Teaney and Claude Stover. After the June primary, she advanced to a runoff with Bobby Slover which she won by seven votes. After the election Slover was retroactively struck from the ballot for violating Cherokee Nation election laws. She was sworn into office on August 14, 2021. In May 2022, Tehee criticized fellow tribal councillor Wes Nofire's statements made during his 2022 congressional campaign that were critical of '' McGirt v. Oklahoma'' as "clearly treasonous, clearly traitorous" to the interests of the Cherokee Nation. She later voted in favor of a tribal council resolution opposing his appointment as Oklahoma's Native American Affairs Liaison in September 2023.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tehee, Candessa 21st-century American politicians 21st-century Native American politicians Cherokee Nation women artists Cherokee Nation artists Living people Members of the Council of the Cherokee Nation Northeastern State University faculty Place of birth missing (living people) University of Oklahoma alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Native American women in politics