The Choctaw Migration

    I began thinking about all the forced migrations in America's history while reading the textbook Contemporary Human Geography. The true natives of this country were forced to migrate from the lands they knew and had adapted with, to lands that were harsh and unknown to them. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 brought about the interregional migration of the Southeast Indians. The Southeast Indians were replaced to a newly created Indian Territory known today as Oklahoma. The first tribe to be moved were the Choctaw. My husband's family is Choctaw and his family over the generations have held on to their folk culture while adjusting to popular culture. The struggle to keep their identity did not come with out a great price though.

    The Choctaw were forced to migrate from their home land through a series of treaties with the United States government in the early nineteenth century. The Choctaw traded some of their land for protection that the government was to give them. However, some of the government's tactics led to the Choctaw relinquishing all of their land. One such tactic is known today as the factory system. This was a system in which the government trading posts encouraged the Choctaw to buy many items on credit which resulted in huge debt for the Choctaw. The outcome was that the government seized all lands to pay back the debt that had been acquired.

    The United States government's treaties with the Choctaw eventually led to the government moving the tribe from Mississippi to Oklahoma. The forced migration that occurred is known today as the “Trail of Tears” and resulted in 19,554 Choctaw being moved (Watson, 1999). The government split up the Choctaw into three groups so as to easily move them. The first group experienced cruel conditions. Much of the money that had been set aside by the government for the move had been swindled by corrupt officials. Many suppliers took advantage of the situation and charged the government three times more than expected. This resulted in the first group having little supplies and left many malnourished (Sutton, 2008, p.341). The first group also experienced bad weather and disorganization amongst the government officials who led the migration.

    The second group of Choctaws experienced cholera. They also were forced to walk more due to the government trying to save money. This was at the cost of many Choctaw's lives and their strength. The third group experienced much of what the first and second group experienced. It was estimated that 2,500 of the 12,500 Choctaws that were moved did not survive the “Trail of Tears”(Watson, 1999). The deaths were caused by malnutrition, disease, exposure, and the lack of supplies that resulted in the government officials stealing much of the money that had been set aside.

    The Choctaw's long journey had not ended at their arrival to their new home. They still had a lot of adapting and struggles to overcome at their new home. The new land was not nice to the Choctaw in the beginning. In 1833, the Choctaw experienced the worst flooding ever recorded on the Arkansas River. This natural disaster only worsened the conditions that were already plagued by cholera and disease. A “Reverend Ebenezer Hotchkin wrote that every child under the age of one died the first year after the removal and Reverend Alfred Wright reported at least one death per family during his first year” (Milligan, 2003, p. 66). It took more than two years after their arrival for the Choctaw to actually begin to rebuild their homes and farms because of the horrific flooding.

    The new land was not as fertile as the land had been in Mississippi. It had less access to water and the game for hunting was less plentiful. The Choctaw made the best of it though and brought their slash-and-burn techniques for agriculture with them when they migrated. The most important crop for the Choctaw in Mississippi was corn. Other crops, such as beans, squash, and sunflowers were also very important to the Choctaw at this time. In Mississippi, the Choctaw would supplement their diet by gathering, hunting, turtling and fishing. Much of the way they farmed remained the same after they migrated to Indian Territory. “Agriculture was the primary economic pursuit, with hunting an important second” (Sutton, 2008, p. 345). The slash-and-burn technique was still valued and corn remained the most important crop for the Choctaw.

A Choctaw General Council

    The Choctaw had a governing body before their removal. Upon their arrival to the territory they immediately began to reorganize their government so as not to allow the military to move in and take over. The Choctaw held their first General Council in February of 1834 and this became known as the “oldest lawmaking body ever assembled in Indian Territory” (Milligan, 2003, p. 66). The Choctaw's governing body was much like ours today. The General Council was made up of twenty-seven members which had been elected into office (elected only by men of age 18 or older). They also changed the council to consist of a bicameral legislature which included a senate. The governing body were elected much like the governing body is today. The new territory was divided into districts with each having their own representatives. And of course their was the Chief who acts much as a Governor does today. There were actually three chiefs during this time each governing over their own district but all came together for the General Council.

An early Choctaw school in the new territory

    As soon as the Choctaws established their homes and government in the new territory, they immediately began to build their school system. By the year 1836 there was a “reported 11 schools with with an enrollment of 228 Choctaw children” (Debo, 1961, p. 60) throughout the territory. The Choctaws also became anxious to learn English, only a few of the tribe knew English at this time. Many missionaries assisted the students in the Choctaw schools with learning the language. The missionaries often taught from a number of religious books. Many of the Choctaws had already converted to Christianity prior to their migration to the new land. However, after the move, almost all of the Choctaw tribe had converted to Christianity.

    The Choctaw had come a long way since they left Mississippi. Their journey and relocation did not come without sacrifice. They learned how to adapt to their new land and how to live amongst the white people. However, the Choctaw contributed much of their culture to the early history of Oklahoma, even giving the state its name. Oklahoma is actually a contraction of the Choctaw words okla (“people”) and humma (“red”). The Choctaw were not a tribe of resentment and learned how to make the best of their situation and eventually thrived in their new land of Oklahoma.

References

Debo, A. (1961). The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, Publishing Division of the University.

Milligan, J. (2003). The Choctaw of Oklahoma. Washington, D.C: Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma with the Library of Congress.

Sutton, M. (2008). An Introduction to Native North America, Third Edition. San Francisco, CA: Pearson Education, INC.

Watson, Chris. (1999). The Choctaw Trail of Tears. Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma website. Retrieved October 21, 2010, from http://www.thebicyclingguitarist.net/studies/trailoftears.htm.