Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Chickasaw
Most recents (3)
Happy #IndigenousPeoplesDay! A reminder that there are many different groups of Black Native people within the United States and that often our ties to Indigenous Nations are through violence and slavery at the hands of Indigenous people. Our ancestors were resilient!
Not all relationships between Black and Native people were ones of mutual respect. Not all Native nations assisted runaway slaves. In fact, some Native nations—like the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations—recaptured and re-enslaved runaway slaves of African descent.
This doesn’t negate our Indigenous ancestry, but certainly complicates it. Our introduction to our tribes of origin was not through peace or mutual understanding, but through violence, forced labor, and forced migration on the Trail of Tears while enslaved.
This official Choctaw Nation supplemental guide for teaching about the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision is full of misinterpretations of the history, omits histories of Black people and Freedmen, and erases the Choctaw Nation’s clear history of anti-Blackness. (Thread)
First of all, in the official guide, the authors state that “If people who were not Choctaw tribal members respected Choctaw laws, they could visit the Choctaw Nation, work there, or even become Choctaw citizens,” in post-Removal Indian Territory. 
This statement holds true if the individual in question was white or non-Black from another Indigenous tribe. However, Black people (both of Choctaw heritage and devoid of Choctaw heritage) were specifically barred from living in the Choctaw Nation boundaries if they were free.
As we celebrate #Juneteenth, it is important to remember that not all slaves were freed on June 19th, 1865. In Indian Territory, Blck slaves continued to be owned by Chickasaw and Choctaw masters. They weren’t freed until 1866. #BlackLivesMatter (thread)
#Juneteenth is supposed to represent the day that all slaves in the United States were freed from bondage.
However, slaves in #IndianTerritory in present day #Oklahoma were exempt from the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments because they were owned by masters of separate sovereign nations. So they remained enslaved event after the 13th Amendment was passed.
