MAY 27, 1908

MUSCOGEE JOURNALIST ALEXANDER POSEY DIED

Born on August 3, 1873, near present-day Eufaula, Oklahoma (OK), Posey’s mother was from the prominent Harjo family. He learned Muscogee culture, religion, and politics from his parents. After private tutors & public schooling, he entered Indian (now Bacone) College. A Thoreau admirer, his poetry, under pen name Chinnubbee Harjo, reflected a love of nature. His journalistic career began in 1892 writing for the Indian University Instructor & Eufaula Indian Journal. Posey became known globally for writing the politically-satirical Fus Fixico Letters—dialogues between the fictitious Fus Fixico and his full-blood Creek friends over land allotment, termination, and statehood. Elected to the Creek lower legislative body (House of Warriors) in 1895, Posey also served as superintendent of the Creek Asylum for Orphans & Creek Nation public instruction, was interpreter for the Dawes Commission, and secretary at the 1905 Sequoyah Convention seeking a separate Indian state. Posey drowned crossing a river.

Source: Linda D. Wilson, “Posey, Alexander Lawrence (1873-1908),” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved 1/2/2023, Posey, Alexander Lawrence | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (okhistory.org)

Photo: Author unknown, pre-1908. Public Domain.