Keeping tribal affiliations, heritage and culture alive in their families and communities is a priority for many American Indians.

This is especially true in Oklahoma, where indigenous people lived long before Europeans settled and, later, displaced tribes were concentrated in the mid- to late 1800s. Contributing to the loss of language, culture and traditions was the introduction of boarding schools, which served to assimilate native children into white America.

In 2013, American Indians and Alaska Natives made up only about 2 percent of the total national population, and about half were documented as being of combined heritage with one or more other races, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Only 14 states have more than 100,000 American Indian and Alaska Native residents.

Oklahoma, however, has a significant population of Indians — about 12 percent of the nearly 4 million Oklahomans identify as either American Indian only or a combination with another ethnicity. The median age for Indians in Oklahoma is 29.3. About 32 percent of Indians are under age 18. For white, non-

Hispanics, the median age is 41.5, and about 24 percent of the total population is under 18, according to the National Congress of American Indians.