Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: William A. Durant, Choctaw, 1st Oklahoma Legislature

William A. Durant, born March 18, 1866 in Indian Territory, in what is now Bryan County, Oklahoma, He became a lawyer and practiced in the courts of Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, as well as the US federal courts.  He was elected to the legislature of the Choctaw Nation in 1890 and became its speaker in 1891. 

When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, he was elected to the state legislature and served in the first six regular sessions of the Oklahoma Legislature.  He became the only Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives to serve simultaneously as the Speaker of the Choctaw Nation.

Durant was appointed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation until his death in 1948.

He died in August 1948.   

Celebrating Black History Month: Ted Poston, African-American awarded Polk Award for National Reporting

Ted Poston, born July 4, 1906 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, is one of the first African-American journalists to work for a mainstream, white-owned newspaper, the New York Post.  He was a reporter for the New York Amsterdam News, which was published for the African-American community in 1928.  He became the editor in 1935. 

He was hired by the New York Post in 1936, the third black reporter for a major NYC daily paper.  He reported on Jackie Robinsons' entrance to the MLB, and the Little Rock Nine.

Poston worked for the Office of War Information during WWII as part of the Negro Liaison, FDR's Black Cabinet.

He was awarded the George Polk Award in 1949 for National Reporting.  He passed away in January 1974.