Just in case anyone was unaware: the Choctaw Nation chose to legalize chattel slavery within the tribe. Tribal members owned slaves of African descent and many enslaved people walked the Trail of Tears with their masters during Indian Removal.
Once in Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma, Choctaws continued owning slaves and slaves built much of the infrastructure in Indian Territory. Slaves rebelled. For example, many Choctaw slaves participated in the 1840 Slave Rebellion in the Cherokee Nation to escape bondage.
Slaves performed difficult labor under the threat of and with actual violence. The Choctaw Nation had slave patrols as well.
Correction: the Cherokee Slave Rebellion took place in 1842.
Correction: the Cherokee Slave Rebellion took place in 1842.
When the American Civil War began, most Choctaws fought for the Confederacy to continue slave ownership and in the views of some, to fight for more independence and sovereignty. The history is complicated, however, most Choctaws who fought in the Civil War were Confederates.
As we all know, the a confederacy lost the Civil War. Most people believe that enslaved people across the present-day United States were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation or the 13th Amendment. However, the Choctaw Nation did not outlaw slavery until 1866.
With the Treaty of 1866, all slaves owned by Choctaws were declared free. The Treaty also promised to grant Freedmen citizenship rights and equal tribal rights. However, the Choctaw Nation originally did not grant their Freedmen citizenship.
Choctaw Freedmen were a “people without a country” until they were adopted as Choctaw citizens in 1885. Choctaw Freedmen were added to the Choctaw census list of 1885 as citizens (including Freedmen without “Native Blood”).
Choctaw Freedmen were NOT US citizens at any point in this time frame. They lived in Indian Territory, so the 14th and 15th Amendments did not apply to them.
Eventually the United States pushed the Five Slaveholding Tribes into disbanding their collective Indigenous land in Indian Territory. Through policies essentially forced on the Five Tribes, Indian Territory was transformed into the state of Oklahoma.
Choctaw citizens and Intermarried Whites were granted individual land allotments. Under this system, however, the Choctaw Nation enforced inequality with their Freedmen. All other tribal members and Intermarried Whites on the Dawes Rolls received 320 acres of land as allotments.
On the other hand, Freedmen only received 40 acre allotments, 1/8 of the allotments that tribal members on the “By Blood” rolls and “Intermarried Whites” received. See the inequality in the tribe was not strictly regarding the amount of “Indian Blood” a member had.
Instead inequality was solely based in whether or not someone had African ancestry, as Internarried Whites still received 320 acre land allotments. This led to compounded inequalities as Freedmen who married other Black people unaffiliated with the Five Tribes were not able to...
Enroll their spouses as “Intermarried African Americans” like other Choctaws could enroll their white spouses. So a Freedman/Freedwoman who was married to a Black man would only receive a land allotment of 40 acres, while a couple consisting of a non-Black Choctaw and a white...
Person would receive a joint allotment of 640 acres.
Anyways, with the distribution of land allotments, the United States adopted all tribal members of the Five Tribes (including Freedmen) as US citizens and effectively disbanded the tribes. When the @choctawnationOK reformed in 1983, they adopted a constitution barring
Freedmen descendants from tribal citizenship. This means that Freedmen do not receive any tribal assistance, cannot access free tribal classes, the tribal health care system, and even things as small as graduation stoles.
Freedmen were not able to vote on the 1983 constitution, barring them from being able to be included in a “sovereign” tribal decision. How can such a decision truly be sovereign if Freedmen—who were enrolled as citizens in 1885—were barred from voting.
If all of the descendants of tribal citizens per the 1885 census were able to vote on the tribal constitution, you can bet that Freedmen would have been eligible for citizenship today or at least that the issue would have been addressed.
Now we are blocked from having a say in tribal affairs at all within the tribal structure. It can be said enough how unjust it is for a sovereign nation to enslave a group of people, free them, enroll them as citizens, and then disenroll and disenfranchise them.
Please check out a response to Batton’s letter by @AYWalton :
@Drew_Hammill would love for you to get this info out to @SpeakerPelosi
Please email/contact the Choctaw Nation’s tribal council here in support of Freedmen!
