The Choctaw

History
Chronology

Before arriving in Oklahoma in the 1830's, the Choctaw occupied most of the area that is now Mississippi and western Alabama. Their own history has them coming originally “from the west” and finally settling in Mississippi. By late prehistoric times they lived in scattered villages and enjoyed a rich diet of game, fish, gathered foods, and cultivated corn, beans, and squash. Surplus foods were traded with other peoples in the region.

With the arrival of the Europeans, new tools and goods became available to the Choctaw, who were among the earliest native peoples to assimilate new technologies. They served as middlemen between their native neighbors and, in succession, the Spanish, French, British, and U.S. inhabitants of the area. The Choctaw built substantial log houses and constructed fences to mark property in imitation of the Europeans. With better access to trade goods, the Choctaw also furnished their dwellings with ceramic dishes, metal pots and pans, steel cutlery, and hunting guns. By 1826 they had written laws, a representative form of government, and an established formal system of schooling.

Last Home of the Choctaw Nation, 1939 H. Louis Freund

Beginning in 1796, Choctaw leaders ceded various parcels of land to the U.S. in a series of treaties. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, the last of nine agreements, provided for an exchange of the Choctaw's remaining lands in Mississippi for the southern part of Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), where they were to move. Those who remained in Mississippi were no longer to consider themselves Choctaw, but were instead to become citizens of that state. The Choctaw’s long journey to their new home, which was often made without the supplies and wagons promised in the treaty, was arduous. Many did not survive. As with other Indian groups that were moved west, the Choctaw remember this trek as a “Trail of Tears.”

Those who survived the Trail of Tears were eager to duplicate the lives they had known in Mississippi. Clearing land near the Red River, some became wealthy plantation owners with servants and slaves. Others isolated themselves in the mountain forests, opting to maintain a hunting and gathering lifestyle. Various industries developed that required the building of roads, and small towns were established where there were new gristmills, sawmills, salt works, and cotton gins.

As the people recovered economically, they rebuilt socially. They re-established their constitutional republic in 1834. By 1836, there were eleven elementary schools in the area. Nine high school-level institutions were started, including Wheelock Academy, which opened in 1842 west of Idabel. By 1848, Choctaw newspapers were in circulation, and Christian missionaries had been given permission to establish new stations in the territory. Native preachers soon outnumbered white ones, and the Church became the focal point of community life. By 1860, three decades after their forced removal, the Choctaw adopted a final constitution and took pride in their progressive society founded on law rather than on custom.

Frustrated by broken promises, and living in a style more similar to that of the South, the Choctaw sided with the Confederate States during the American Civil War – as did most of the other tribes in Indian Territory. After the War, new agreements with the U.S. forced the Choctaw to abolish slavery, give up their westernmost lands, and allow railroads to cross their territory.

The railroads drew large-scale mining and timber operations, which generally prospered, and tribal receipts greatly increased. The railroads and industries, however, also attracted white settlers. In order to accommodate their presence in “Indian Territory”, the United States provided for the end of tribally owned lands through an allotment system whereby individuals were granted private properties. Beginning in 1894, the Dawes Commission saw to the registration of Choctaw families, so that the former tribal lands could be properly distributed among them. The final list included 18,981 citizens of the Choctaw Nation, 1,639 Mississippi Choctaw, and 5,994 former slaves. The tribal government was dissolved in 1906; although a principal chief, appointed by the president of the U.S., continued to be recognized. Private ownership meant that land could be sold, and many Choctaw sold their allotments to speculators and others.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ended any further allotments, allowing tribes to establish their own governments. In 1948, the Oklahoma Choctaw were again able to elect their own chief. Tribal headquarters are presently located in Durant, Oklahoma. A reservation was established in 1944 for the descendants of those Choctaw who had remained in Mississippi. This Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, also led by a tribal council with an elected chief, is centered in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

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