Mahenwahdose, Will Hill, entertained participants at the 2009 Children's Summer Reading Program at Q.B. Boydstun Library in Fort Gibson, said Gayle Ledford, branch manager.
Hill's program featured stories from early Indian Territory and comedy the Indian way, Ledford said. Mahenwadose uses language, song and storytelling for all ages to enjoy his programs.
He is a full-blood Muscogee Creek and graduate of the College of Santa Fe, N.M. He is a traditional Nagonagogee Oni-yah (storyteller) in his generation and family from Alabama Corsadee. Hill told his first story at the age of 4 and has performed all over the United States, as well as appearing in television and movies.
Voted Favorite Indian Performer for 1998 in Oklahoma in a poll taken by Native American Times, his melodic voice can be heard telling stories passed down from generation to generation in his family on the audio tape, “Oklahoma Treasure Trails.” Two of his family stories are also featured in the book “Spider Spins A Story,” published by Northland Publishers.
He is the son of Betty Lou Buckley Hill of the Wind Clan and the late Clifton Hill of the Bear Clan.
Mahenwahdose/Will Hill brought national archival recognition to Oklahoma
by being the first American Indian to perform at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. in July 2004, prior to its opening. He was chosen by the state and Disney to represent Oklahoma's Centennial at EPCOT in Orlando, Fla., in November 2007 with 31 performances. He has performed in more than 3,000 venues. In 2007 had a national release of a song which he co-composed entitled “The Trail of Tears” on which he provided the flute and voice over on the “Song of America” album, produced by Grammy award winner David Macias and Ed Peterson. The album was nominated for a Grammy in 2008.
Hill's family stories can be heard on the CD “ONIYAH! The Tellers of Tales”, produced in 2004 by Mahenwahdose.
In addition to being the co-founder of Mahenwanhdose, Will is on the board of the
American Indian Theater Company, the American Indian Resource Center, Tulsa City-County Library, where he was recognized in March 2009 as one of Oklahoma's leading American Indian playwrights, and he serves on the Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission.
