Jesse Franklin (1817-1882)

Gary Zellar received both his B.A. and M.A. in history at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He did his doctoral work in the Race and Ethnicity of the American West under Elliott West at the University of Arkansas, and worked closely with Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., one of the pioneers in the study of African-Indian relations at the Native American Press Archives at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. His dissertation, “‘If I Ain’t One, You Won’t Find Another One Here:’ Race, Identity, Citizenship and Land: The African Creek Experience in the Indian Territory, 1830-1910,” won both the Oklahoma Historical Society’s 2004 award for the best dissertation and the Phi Alpha Theta /Westerners International award for the best dissertation in History of the American West for 2004. His African Creeks: Estelvste and the Creek Nation was published by the University of Oklahoma in 2007. In addition, Zellar has published several articles and given numerous presentations dealing with the history of the estelvste. He is currently teaching as an adjunct history instructor for Montgomery College and Angelina College in Texas and is at work on a manuscript dealing with the Civil War in the Indian Territory.