William A. Durant was born in the Choctaw Nation and educated in the public schools of the Choctaw Nation before graduating from Arkansas College in 1886. He came home to teach at the Durant Indian School and later became a longtime member of the Choctaw Legislature. He served as the sergeant at arms of Oklahoma’s Constitutional Convention in 1906 and served in the state’s first six legislative sessions. He was speaker of the house during the third legislature and, at the same time, served as speaker of the Choctaw Legislature. He then took a position in the oil and gas division of the state school land department and was appointed Secretary of that commission in 1923. He took the oath of office to serve as Tribal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in 1932.