This story was excerpted from an interview conducted in Bennettsville in October 2026

Karen: You need to interview him because he has a whole display over there. Oh, okay.  The teepee, as you know or may not know, the tribe migrated as with the weather and as food. 

Savannah Turgal: Yes. 

Karen: You know, as and of course, the food migrated with the weather. When it was cold, we went south. When it was warm, we went north. Okay, so it’s just kind of easier to pick up that house and tote it rather than pick up that house and tote it. Sure. So our our homes went with us from place to place. That’s where our home was. It like was said. This this isn’t ours. We don’t have, you know, that permanent structure over there is is on Mother Earth. They don’t own that. That’s that’s Mother Earth. 

Savannah Turgal: Yeah. 

Karen: And if we don’t take care of Mother Earth, we’re not going to have her. 

Savannah Turgal: Are TP still widely used? 

Karen: No, we use RVs. 

Savannah Turgal: Interesting. I didn’t know 

Karen:that. That was one of the questions that I was asked. Here comes more of the duskers. That was one of the questions I was asked by a kid in in school because we would go to schools and and talk and dance and then talk and let them ask questions. Yeah. And that was one of the questions that a child asked me was, “Do you live in teepees?” And I’m like, “No, baby. I live in a regular house like you do.”. Our ancestors did live in tipis and huts. Actually, we did more of a hut than a hutch than a teepee.