Clarence King led the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma through a period of cultural renewal after termination. He was raised by his grandmother, Lizzie Lavore Wolfe, who taught him the language, customs, and traditions of the Ottawa people. By the 1940s, King was one of the last conversant speakers among the Oklahoma Ottawa and worked to preserve the language and ceremonies he had learned from his elders.

During the 1950s, King opposed termination and protested Bureau of Indian Affairs’ actions that excluded tribal members from decision-making. His activism led him into tribal leadership. As chief, King restored the baby-naming ceremony, launched the annual Labor Day Powwow, and helped organize the Inter-Tribal Council. He also compiled Ottawa words and names into a small dictionary for tribal use, and this work was later expanded by Charles Dawes in the 1982 Ottawa-English Dictionary. King’s leadership led to a cultural revival and a renewed sense of Ottawa pride.