Dwight Howe
Dwight is of Omaha & Ponca Indian ancestry. His grandmother helped instill in him a real sense of who he was and pride in being a Native American. He attended Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma and Haskell Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas where he graduated their first Tribal Management Program in 1986. Dwight proudly served his country spending seven years in the United States Marine Corps. This gave him an opportunity to travel and meet people from all over the United States. He served as a Pre-I.G. Inspector, inspecting aviation ground safety for Marine Air Reserve Units. Living in Southern California for many years, Dwight worked with Southern California Indian Center's, Inc. in their Public Relations Department as an Outreach Specialist. He engaged in public speaking, event coordinating and cultural presentations at universities such as the UC Irvine, Cal State Northridge, University of Southern California, UCLA, as well as for many civic organizations. Dwight worked with the Orange County Unified School Districts giving classes in Cultural Awareness to 5th and 6th graders. While in California he was the founder and co-chairman of the 501c3 non-profit United Urban Indian Food Program, which was a food bank for urban Indians living in the greater Los Angeles area. Dwight has received training on archival research with the Smithsonian Institute to be a Certified Archival Researcher and has served as a NAGPRA consultant. Since returning to Oklahoma, Dwight has worked as a Ponca Tribal Police Officer, started a youth Boxing Club and raised over $20,000 for a facility and equipment. Dwight's other interests involve 15 years of being a Native American dancer including the Ponca War Dance and Straight Dance. He is an active member of the Omaha Strongheart Sun Dance Society and a lifetime member of the Ponca Warrior Society of the Ponca of Oklahoma. He is currently serving on a volunteer basis as Native American Cultural advisor for Marland's Grand Home's Native American Collection and as a consultant with the Friends of Marland's Grand Home in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Dwight has spent many volunteer man-hours cleaning, redisplaying and updating the catalog listing on the Native American artifact collection, taking great care to be culturally sensitive and informative as well as artistically appealing. |