Kennedy Murphy is a member of the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma and the Kiowa Tribe and hails from Carnegie, Oklahoma. She attends Haskell Indian Nations University and plans to graduate in the Spring of 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in American Indian Studies. She plans to attend graduate school following my graduation. Kennedy has always had a great interest in history, specifically Indigenous history because “I believe that as Indigenous people, we are living history; we are our Ancestors wildest dreams. I want to keep our Ancestors an Elders history truthful and from an Indigenous perspective because our history has been twisted into heinous and blatant lies due to racism and prejudice.”

Kennedy’s interest in Indigenous history began only recently in 2019, her freshman year of college. She attended a predominantly white university in Northwest OK and began to realize how out of place she felt as an Indigenous person. People would question her beliefs and view them as unrealistic, just because her beliefs were not the same as theirs. She knew she had to transfer to Haskell, and once she did, felt comfortable in her surroundings and her education became more obtainable. At Haskell, the classes and community are irreplaceable. Every day she is able to learn something new about her culture and those she shares it with. Kennedy is forever grateful for the opportunities that Haskell has given her.