Unlocking History and Resilience – Raving NEXT Keynote Margo Gray to Take Stage

We extend a warm invitation to attend the upcoming Indian Gaming Strategic Operations and Leadership Conference in Durant, OK. It’s not just another conference; it’s a unique gathering where tribal stories, success, and struggles take center stage.

At this year’s event, we are fortunate to feature a story of ultimate resilience in a deeply personal and thought provoking session with our keynote presenter, Margo Gray. Gray will share how the retelling of the reign of terror on the Osage people through the movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” has impacted her tribal family and herself, shedding light on the harrowing history of the Osage people.

In a candid conversation with Raving CEO & Owner Deana Scott, Gray gives us a look into how the history of the Osage people has impacted her personally and influenced her career. At just 13, she committed to spending 18 years in law enforcement, driven by the desire to prevent others from enduring the hardships her family faced. Her career path took her from criminal investigation to business and tribal leadership, ultimately leading her to the world of gaming, where she found a platform to share these important stories.

The opportunity for Margo’s family history to be told on the big screen is “one in a billion,” as Gray states. David Grant stumbled upon the story, sparking the creation of a movie that now reaches audiences around the world. “It’s just a miracle that this movie was made,” shares Gray, “That we’re able to share this story not only within the United States, but globally, the treatment of Native Americans that’s not written in our history books.”

During Raving NEXT in January 2024, Margo Gray will go deeper into the impact the movie has had on her family and the Osage community. Special thanks to Imagine This for sponsoring this keynote luncheon.

Read the full session description below:

Sponsored by Imagine This

Keynote Luncheon: Killers of the Flower Moon and the Reign of Terror: What the Retelling of the Story Means to an Osage Family

In this deeply personal and thought-provoking session, Margo Gray, the great-granddaughter of Henry Roan, one of the twenty-four Osage Tribal members brutally murdered during the 1920s Osage oil boom, will shed light on impact of the retelling of Reign of Terror on her family, her community, and the broader understanding of Native American history.

For nearly a century, the story of the Osage murders remained shrouded in silence, overlooked in classrooms and hidden from history books. It was a story that no one wanted to discuss, a history that few were aware of until the publication of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and its subsequent cinematic adaptation by renowned director Martin Scorsese.

In a world where Native American history has often been misrepresented and distorted by the media, Margo will explore the reasons behind the Osage community’s decision to trust a non-Native to tell their story and the impact being involved in the movie had on her family and the community. She’ll share how key Tribal members changed the focus of the film to focus on the Osage rather than on the birth of the FBI.