Commemorating Native American Heritage Month with Lou Anna Red Corn

Former Fayette County Commonwealth Attorney talks journey as prosecutor and a new film highlighting the Osage Native Americans

LEXINGTON, Ky.  (WTVQ) — Lou Anna Red Corn might be known as the former Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney, but her story is much deeper as well as being Fayette County’s first female commonwealth’s attorney — she was also the first Native American commonwealth attorney in the state, accomplishments she continues to cherish.

“That’s something that I’m very honored, to have been a part of and, and to have shown that women and, women of color can do this job,” said Red Corn.

Although Red Corn was a prosecutor in Lexington for over three decades.

“I was born in Oklahoma and I did not grow up there. I was born there and we left there when I was a child.  Although all my family, mostly still lives there. My dad is Osage. His mother was a full blood and both of his grandparents, my great-grand grandparents were what we call allottes, which means they were original Osages on the roll at the time that the tribal roll was closed,” she said.

And while Red Corn might seen many cases come by her desk when she practiced law, one case in Oklahoma shed light on the history of the Osage Native Americans and the murders in the community.

“Killers of the Flower Moon, this was a huge thing obviously for the Osage. This is a story that Osages have known for years, although really didn’t talk about it very much. My father says that his parents didn’t talk about it and they would have been children during the time of what we call the reign of terror,” also said Red Corn.

Before it hit the big screen and became a film by Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon” was a book by David Grann.

“It’s a story of the murder of a number of Osage Indians in the 1920s about the investigation conducted by then the Bureau of Investigation, which is now the FBI, and the ultimate conviction of a few people for murder. But it never really got to the, we could never get to the point to know how many people were involved in the murders,” she said.

Red Corn added it’s a part of history for the Osage, that is still very hard to process.

“These murders were all about basically stealing people’s money, money that the Osages had by virtue of having bought their reservation in Oklahoma. being able to share in the value of the oil that was underneath the reservation,” she added.

And while the movie may show some aspects of history, Red Corn was also in the spotlight.

“I was able to go to New York City at the Lincoln Center and see the premiere up there. Now, the only reason I got to do that though is because two of my cousins are in the movie with speaking parts and to do that, they had to join the Screen Actors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild was on strike at the time of the premiere so they could not attend, but I got to attend in their, their place,” she said.

Killers of the Flower Moon is out in theaters.