No matter where you go, you’ll find a little piece of Mississippi.
Last week, I had the honor of attending the 2019 Tennessee Governor’s Arts Awards to celebrate my mentor Charlie Daniel’s receiving a Distinguished Artist Award. Charlie, the editorial cartoonist in Knoxville, Tennessee for 60 years, was the first cartoonist to ever received the award. As we sat in the Governor’s Mansion’s auditorium, my heart swelled with pride as a man I deeply respect was given the respect he deeply deserves. To tell you how prestigious the award was, a couple of the other recipients of it are names you might recognize — Brenda Lee and Little Richard.
There was another winner you might not immediately recognize and her name is Sally Wells.
Sally is one of the 2019 Folklife Heritage Award recipients. To quote the program, she’s “revered elder in Tennessee’s Choctaw community and is a master of several endangered Tennessee art forms.” She’s a bead worker, dressmaker, traditional cook and speaker of the Choctaw language. Sally was also raised here in Mississippi on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian Reservation. She spent her childhood in the Bogue Chitto community.
She’s, as they say, from around here.
At the end of the evening, I ran into Sally as we headed to the elevator. I introduced myself, congratulated her and used these magic words — “I’m from Mississippi.”
I instantly had a new friend. She beamed and we started talking about her time on the reservation and how she had invited the chief but he could not come due to a conflict. So I said, “Well, I am going to brag on you on the radio. You deserve it.”
So here you go.
I’m proud of Sally and enjoyed getting to briefly talk to her. Her talent is impressive. And even though she now lives in Tennessee, I’m proud to claim her as one of our own.
