Troubled journey: Choctaws, slaves, and freedmen

Issues of race and ethnic identity have played important roles in American history. Until recently, little attention has been paid to the multi-faceted relationship between Native Americans and African-Americans in the American South. Although scholars have examined the interactions between Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribespeople and African-Americans, the relationship between the Choctaws and their slaves and freedmen has received only limited examination. This dissertation is an attempt to remedy that void.;This study examines the complex relationship between the Choctaws and freedmen. It provides a brief description of traditional Choctaw history and culture, then explores the introduction and development of African-American slavery among the tribe. It also examines the role that Protestant missionaries played in shaping slavery among the Choctaws, and the removal of the tribe, slaves, and missionaries to Indian Territory. This work highlights the rise of the Choctaw Nation in the West and illustrates how the Choctaw adaptation of Southern values affected their relationships with their slaves. This dissertation discusses the Choctaws participation in the Civil War and their subsequent forced emancipation of their slaves who became Choctaw Freedmen. The project addresses the ambiguous role of Choctaw Freedmen within the Choctaw Nation, and illustrates that although the Choctaws were forced to include Freedmen as part of the Choctaw Nation, they were not envisioned as part of the Choctaw tribe. During the first decade of the twentieth century, when Choctaw lands were allotted prior to the dissolution of the Choctaw Nation and its incorporation into Oklahoma, the freedmen were assigned "second class" status as African Americans, not Native Americans, and did not share equally with Native American Choctaws in the allotment of Choctaw lands and resources. In the decades that have followed Choctaw freedmen faced considerable discrimination. They attempted to assert their Native American identity, but their claims to such status has been denied. Although most twentieth century Choctaws and "white" Americans readily accept Choctaws of mixed Native American and white lineage as "Indians," they have continued to envision Choctaw Freedmen of Native American and African American lineage as African Americans.