She was born Mary Frances Thompson in 1895 in the tiny town of Emet in the Chickasaw Nation, but years later as Te Ata she toured the world, performing for royal families, heads of state and twice for President Franklin Roosevelt.
Growing up, she attended a Chickasaw school for girls, then high school in Tishomingo — where she met white children for the first time. She graduated in 1919 from the Oklahoma College for Women, now the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha. It was there she was introduced to performing and to theater instructor Frances Dinsmore Davis, the woman who would help guide Thompson’s life and career in a direction she could never have imagined.
Davis recognized Thompson’s talent, urging her to find inspiration from her background and incorporate familiar Native American stories and songs for her senior performance. She started using the name Te Ata, which means “bearer of the morning,” to reflect her heritage. It was the beginning of a journey and a career that seemingly knew no bounds and led her to international fame.
After graduation, she joined a traveling Chautauqua circuit and perfected her storytelling skills as she crisscrossed the country before enrolling in more training at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She later moved to New York City and performed in several Broadway productions. There she met Clyde Fisher, a naturalist and future curator of the Haden Planetarium, and they married in 1933.
Te Ata’s talent seemingly knew no limits, and soon she was attracting the attention of some of the biggest names and most important people in the world. In 1939, she entertained President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and their guests King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Later the king and queen asked Te Ata to perform in England.
Her commanding presence allowed her to entertain and advocate for Native American culture, including the presentation of a one-woman show where she dressed in buckskin costumes, used authentic props and interpreted history and tribal songs. She performed throughout the United States and internationally until the late 1970s.
She was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1957 and the Chickasaw Hall of Fame in 1990. She was named The Ladies Home Journal Woman of the Year in 1976 and was honored as Oklahoma’s first Cultural Treasure in 1987. Close friend Eleanor Roosevelt named a lake in her honor in upstate New York.
Te Ata, a member of the National Congress of American Indians, was proud of her heritage and family. Her father, T. B. Thompson, the last treasurer of the Chickasaw Nation, operated stores in Tishomingo. Her uncle, Douglas H. Johnston, was the last governor of the old Chickasaw Nation.
In an interview with Chickasaw.tv, her great-nephew Mason Cole said most of her strength lay in her warmth, her openness, her friendliness: “She was a very personable woman, and when you dealt with her you had the sense that you were dealing with someone who was almost a force of nature, a very gentle but also very proud, very independent, a true bearer of the Chickasaw culture and of her own Oklahoma heritage.”
When she was named Oklahoma’s first Cultural Treasure, Cole said it was a magnificent experience for the entire family. “I couldn’t imagine it happening to someone more suited for the role, and I’m so sorry that she only got to enjoy it for a short time.”
Te Ata died in Oklahoma City on Oct. 26, 1995.
