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Pauline's special appearances as an Eastern Womens Blanket Dancer: Mt Vernon, New York Department of Recreation NNDT Performance July 2, 2003 Shinnecock Powwow Golden Age Competition- 4th place Labor Day Weekend - September 2003 & 2004, 2nd in 2005 Chickahominy Powwow, Charles City, Va. Exhibition 9/27-28/03 Intercultural Family Services - Phila., PA Benefit Performance Meherrin Powwow, North Carolina Exhibition 10/24-26/03 Defense Supply Center, Philadelphia, PA Exhibition 11/24/03 SCHEMITZUN - FOXWOODS CONNECTICUT 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS OF NATIVE AMERICAN SONG & DANCE 6TH PLACE CHAMPION - BLANKET DANCE For upcoming performance dates please see the NNDT NEWS or Special Events> |
Pauilne Hilton, won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Women of Color Luncheon held at The University of Pennsylvania for her services to the Department of Residential Living. Pauline has worked at the University since 1970. Pauline is from the Seminole & Creek Nations and on the day she accepted the award she wore her Native Regalia, a southern style buckskin dress. Her acceptance speech was as follows: ............Women of Color committee, honored guest, friends & family I would like to thank the Women of Color Committee for bestowing this award upon me. A special Thanks to Michele Ray who has been an inspiration to me. Words can not express the gratitude and love that I feel today. I accept this award on behalf of all the women here today because each of you is a "phenomenal woman", in the words of Maya Angelou because of the beauty and strength you possess. Today, tomorrow, always, may you be blessed with a full and happy life, and all of the best that the Great Spirit provides. THANK YOU. I am deeply honored and most greatful to have been chosen by the Women of Color Committee to tell my story...... I'll begin with NAMASTE, I honor the place in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you that is love, light, truth and peace. When you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, WE ARE ONE. Who am I? I am the one nobody knows. I am the one you laughed at, called names and tried to make feel ashamed. How dare you go and hide your face, its you not I who should be disgraced. You fought me, chased me, enslaved me, robbed and raped me. You made me a runaway. Who am I? I am the one you could not hold, a runaway I'm SEMINOLE! My story begins on my grand parents farm in a small rural community in North Florida about 20 miles from Fort Negro, where in 1816 the first in a series of wars started between the Seminoles and The United States: These wars lasted over 40 years and cost the government millions of dollars. By the time I was 3 1/2 years old My father had gone into the Military Service, my mother who was a cosmetologist was busy training women to become beauticians in her school of beauty culture. I spent a lot of time with my grand parents. I often followed my grand father, a Seminole, tracker, hunter, and farmer around the farm. I wanted to know and do everything. I learned to cultivate many of the crops that grew such as tobacco, peanuts, corn, potatoes, and sugar cane. I also learned about the medicines he used, some of which I still use today. He took me on nature walks where he told me to watch the birds and eat only the berries that they would eat because they would not be poisonous. On clear nights he would take me into the yard and point out all of the constellations by shape and name them. I became fascinated by the stars. I first learned to tell time by the position of the sun. My grandmother taught me the art of patchwork making quilts and clothing from pieces of cloth. This method of sewing is famous among the Seminole people. She taught me to can fruits and vegetables that grew on the farm so that we had food all year. My grand mother would not let me kill the spiders because their webs contain a medicine that could close an open wound. My grand parents had such love for the land, such love for the animals and such love for the people around them. I have tried to pass on the knowledge given to me by my elders as I know that is the only way our culture will continue to grow through the gifts that we pass on to our children and our children's children. ......If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he is traveling wrong then my living shall not be in vain. Let us walk softly on this earth with all beings, great and small, remembering as we go, that one creator kind and wise created all. THANK YOU Pauline "Songbird" Hilton |
N N D T B O A R D |
MEMBER |
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Pauline's special appearances as an Eastern Womens Blanket Dancer: Mt Vernon, New York Department of Recreation NNDT Performance July 2, 2003 Shinnecock Powwow Golden Age Competition- 4th place Labor Day Weekend - September 2003 & 2004, 2nd in 2005 Chickahominy Powwow, Charles City, Va. Exhibition 9/27-28/03 Intercultural Family Services - Phila., PA Benefit Performance Meherrin Powwow, North Carolina Exhibition 10/24-26/03 Defense Supply Center, Philadelphia, PA Exhibition 11/24/03 SCHEMITZUN - FOXWOODS CONNECTICUT 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS OF NATIVE AMERICAN SONG & DANCE 6TH PLACE CHAMPION - BLANKET DANCE For upcoming performance dates please see the NNDT NEWS or Special Events> |
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Raoule Hilton II (Little Bear) Blackfeet, Seminole, Creek Travels the country sharing Native song & dance Boys Grass Dance Champion (East Coast) NNDT Props & Stage Manager Featured on the cover of Scholastic Magazine November 2005 Honor Student One of Pauline's Grandsons (Andrew, Leon & Dallas) |
Last updated on:
March 9, 2006
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