Boudinot scholars program awards first scholarships

By: Marilyn Craig, Museum Marketing Coordinator

Two Keetoowah college students have been awarded scholarships from Boudinot Scholars Program for the upcoming fall semester. Both students are exclusive UKB members and have participated in the UKB summer youth employment program for the past two or three years. Micah Vann is attending Cameron University with a double major in psychology and criminal justice, and Teala Wildcat-Johnson, is attending NSU and is majoring in graphic arts.

Boudinot Scholars is a privately funded scholarship program for Keetoowah students exclusively enrolled in the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians who are pursuing law degrees and who are committed to practicing law in a manner which benefits the Keetoowah Tribal Community.

The scholarship is named after Frank J. Boudinot. Frank J. Boudinot, ᎪᎳᏅ (kolanv or raven) was born in Indian Territory, OK, August 20, 1866, and grew up on his family’s allotment in Ft. Gibson, IT. He began his college career at Bacone in Tahlequah and completed his Juris Doctorate degree at the University of Michigan College of Law. Upon completion of his law degree, he served as legal counsel to several Indian tribes in Oklahoma, including the Keetoowahs, Delawares, Shawnees, Seminoles, and Cherokees.

The focus of his legal work was helping tribes to preserve, to gain compensation, or to minimize the loss of land throughout the Allotment Period (1889-1906). Later, he helped organize the Keetoowah Government during the Reorganization Period (1934-1950). With the Eastern Band, Boudinot helped to win a $5,000,000 settlement in the US Court of Claims. Boudinot was passionate about helping his people. He worked tirelessly until his death in 1945 to establish federal recognition for the United Keetoowah Band.

August 10, 1946, almost one year after Boudinot’s death, federal Congressional recognition was awarded to the Keetoowahs, due in great degree to the expertise and tenacious efforts of Frank J. Boudinot.

Fast forward to 2025, and another pair of Keetoowah tribal members who became lawyers, Bryan Shade and Victoria Holland came together to initiate this scholarship. “Basically, this was Bryan's idea, he reached out to me about it, and I was all in,” declared Holland.

“The goal is to encourage our members to go to law school and then come work for our tribe. We face many legal battles as a tribe, and no one is going to be more of an advocate for our tribe than our tribal members. This inaugural year we had no applicants specifically for the legal field, but we still wanted to encourage our tribal members to further their education. We became aware of two young ladies who are exclusive UKB were in the Summer Youth Program, and we wanted to honor them by gifting them some scholarship money,” she said. 

“We are hopeful that in the future we will have applicants that want to further their education in the legal field and assist in moving our tribe forward,” concluded Holland.