One Large Connected Family

Understanding Early Creek Life

18th century life in the Creek Nation

The foundation of Creek government and society was the bond of kinship. The complex system of relationships varied between tribes, but the Creek traced their lineage, birthright, and social classification through the mothers line. This talk will look at how the Creek lived in the eighteenth century, focusing on how they organized their families and towns. It will also cover the early relationship between the Creek Nation and the United States.

Dr. Alex Colvin is the public programs curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. She earned her PhD in History from Auburn University in 2019. Her work on biculturalism among the Creek people won the Distinguished Dissertation Award from Auburn and the Jacqulyn Dowd Hall Prize from the Southern Association of Women’s Historians. As the public programs curator, Alex helped coordinate commemorative efforts for Alabama’s Bicentennial in 2019 and the Centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020. She has assisted in the research and writing for the ADAH’s temporary exhibits and publications. She travels around the state to talk on Creek history and other Alabama topics.

For more information, contact Holley Wesley at hwesley@oneallibrary.org or 205-445-1117.

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