Indian Removal The historic Choctaw had emerged as a tribe and occupied substantial territory in what is now the State of Mississippi. In the early 19th century, they faced increasing pressure from European Americans who sought to acquire their land for agricultural development. President
Andrew Jackson gained congressional passage of the
Indian Removal Act in 1830 to achieve this goal and eliminate Native American
land claims in the Southeast. The chiefs signed the
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek with the United States, which the
U.S. Senate ratified on February 25, 1831. President Jackson was determined to use the Choctaw
removal as a model for removing other tribes from the Southeast to territory far west of the
Mississippi River. After ceding close to , the Choctaw were to emigrate in three stages: the first in the fall of 1831, the second in 1832, and the last in 1833. Although the removals continued into the early 20th century, some Choctaw remained in Mississippi and continued to live in their ancient
homeland. According to the terms of removal, the nearly 5000 Choctaw who remained in Mississippi became citizens of both the state and the United States. For the next ten years, they were subject to increasing legal conflict,
harassment, and
intimidation by white settlers. Racism against them was rampant. A Choctaw described their situation in 1849 as follows: "We have had our habitations torn down and burned, our fences destroyed, cattle turned into our fields and we ourselves have been
scourged,
manacled,
fettered and otherwise personally abused, until by such treatment some of our best men have died." After the Confederate Conscription Act was passed, most Choctaw men were enrolled and formed the 1st Choctaw Battalion. While the enlisted were Choctaw Indians, all commissioned officers were white men. The
battalion was headquartered at
Newton Station, Mississippi, and consisted of two companies of 101 soldiers. However, the battalion had members who deserted, and it was disbanded a few months after formation. While the 1st Choctaw Battalion was standing down, Spann's Independent Scouts was forming. Many Mississippi Choctaw men enrolled in this battalion and continued participation in the war until the surrender. Conditions declined for the Choctaw after the
Civil War and during
Reconstruction. As conservative white Democrats worked to restore
white supremacy and eliminate Black
suffrage, they passed a new constitution in 1890 that effectively
disenfranchised Black people by creating barriers to
voter registration. In addition, under
racial segregation and
Jim Crow laws, the whites included all
people of color in the category of "other" or
Negro (Black), and required them to use segregated facilities.
Delegation to Washington, D.C. By 1907, the Mississippi Choctaw were in decline. The
Dawes Commission had sent a large number of the Mississippi Choctaws to
Indian Territory, and only 1,253 members remained. Meetings were held in 1913 to try to find a solution. Wesley Johnson was elected chief of the newly formed Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana Choctaw Council at a 1913 meeting. Nearly two years after the trip to Washington, the Indian Appropriations Act of 1916 was passed. A stipulation allocated $1,000 to investigate the Mississippi Choctaws' condition. John R.T. Reeves was tasked with investigating the condition of Indians living in Mississippi and reporting his findings to Congress. Reeves submitted his report on November 6, 1916. Some
congressmen who presided over the hearings were
Charles D. Carter of Oklahoma,
William W. Hastings of Oklahoma,
Carl T. Hayden of Arizona,
John N. Tillman of Arkansas, and
William W. Venable of Mississippi. The Mississippi Choctaw's improvements may have continued if they weren't dramatically interrupted by world events.
World War I slowed down progress for the Indians as Washington's
bureaucracy focused on the war. Some Mississippi Choctaw served during the war. The
Spanish Influenza also slowed progress, as this pandemic killed many Choctaws.
1930s and reorganization During the
Great Depression and the
Roosevelt administration, officials implemented numerous initiatives to alleviate some of the social and economic conditions in the South. The 1933
Special Narrative Report described the dismal welfare conditions of the Mississippi Choctaw, whose population had declined to 1,665 people by 1930.
John Collier, the US Commissioner for Indian Affairs (now BIA), used the report as instrumental support in a proposal to re-organize the Mississippi Choctaw as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI). This action would enable them to establish their own tribal government and develop a beneficial relationship with the federal government. In 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the
Indian Reorganization Act. This law proved critical for survival of the Mississippi Choctaw, Alabama Choctaw and other tribal peoples, who also reorganized in that era. Baxter York, Emmett York, and Joe Chitto worked on gaining recognition for the Choctaw. They realized that they needed to adopt a constitution. A rival organization, the
Mississippi Choctaw Indian Federation, opposed federal tribal recognition because of fears of dominance by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The Federation disbanded in 1935 some of its "trouble makers" were moved to another jurisdiction. The first Tribal Council members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw were Baxter and Emmett York, with Joe Chitto serving as the first chairperson.
World War II and 1940s With the tribe's adoption of an elected, representative government, in 1944 the Secretary of the Interior declared that would be held in trust for the Choctaw of Mississippi, as was done for other federally recognized tribes on reservations. This gave them sovereignty and independence from the state government. Mississippi continued to be dominated by conservative whites of the
Democratic Party, who maintained legal racial segregation and disenfranchisement well into the late 20th century.
Post-Reorganization, Korean War, and 1950s In the 1950s, successive
Republican administrations, supported by conservative Democrats in
the South (a one-party region), became impatient with the gradual assimilation of Native Americans. Republicans proposed to terminate the special status of those tribes that they thought were more fully assimilated. In 1959, the Choctaw Termination Act was passed. Congress settled on a policy to
terminate tribes as quickly as possible, believing that was a route of assimilation. During the same period, the federal government, concerned about the isolation of many Native Americans living on reservations in rural areas with scarce job opportunities, created relocation programs to cities. They aimed to increase job and cultural opportunities for
American Indians. Indian policy experts hoped to expedite the assimilation of Native Americans into the larger American society, which was becoming increasingly urbanized. The Choctaw people continued to struggle economically due to
bigotry, cultural isolation, and lack of jobs in their rural area. However, with the reorganization and establishment of a tribal government over the next decades, they took control of their "schools,
health care facilities, legal and judicial systems, and social service programs."
Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, and 1960s In the
Civil Rights era, roughly between 1965 and 1982, Native Americans renewed their commitments to the value of their ancient heritage. They worked to celebrate their strengths and to exercise appropriate rights, dramatically reversing the trend of abandoning Indian culture and tradition. During the 1960s, Community Action programs connected with Native Americans were based on citizen participation. Democratic President
John F. Kennedy decided against implementing additional termination of tribal status. He did enact some of the last terminations in process, such as that of the
Ponca. Both presidents
Lyndon Johnson and Republican
Richard Nixon repudiated the termination of the federal government's special relationships with Native American tribes. In March 1968, President Johnson delivered a special message to Congress on the problems of the American Indian, titled "
The Forgotten American," where he stated:We must affirm the right of the first Americans to remain Indians while exercising their rights as Americans. We must affirm their rights to freedom of choice and self-determination.The Choctaw witnessed the social forces that brought
Freedom Summer to their ancient homeland. The Civil Rights Era produced significant social change for the Choctaw in Mississippi, as their civil rights improved alongside the changing conditions for African Americans. Before the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, most jobs were given to whites, with blacks being considered second in line. The end of legalized
racial segregation permitted the Choctaw to participate in public institutions and facilities that had been reserved exclusively for white patrons. In another major change for state governments and the federal government, politicians began to support institutionalized gambling to support state programs. Starting with New Hampshire in 1963, numerous state legislatures passed new laws to establish state-run lotteries and other gambling enterprises to raise money for government services. Native American tribes began to study gambling enterprises as a means to increase revenues on their reservations to support the economic welfare of their tribes.
1970s and economic development In the 1970s, the Choctaw repudiated the extremes of Indian activism. Shortly after, Congress passed the landmark
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, marking the end of 15 years of federal policy reform for American Indian tribes. The legislation authorized tribes to negotiate contracts with the BIA to manage more of their own educational and social service programs, provided direct grants to help tribes develop plans for assuming responsibility, and provided for Indian parents' involvement on school boards.
Leadership Source:
Phillip Martin, who had served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II, returned to
Neshoba County, Mississippi, to visit his former home. After seeing the poverty of his people, he decided to stay to help.
Will D. Campbell, a Baptist minister and civil rights activist, also witnessed the destitution of the Choctaw in the postwar years. He would later write, the thing I remember the most ... was the depressing sight of the Choctaws, their shanties along the country roads, grown men lounging on the dirt streets of their villages in demeaning idleness, sometimes drinking from a common bottle, sharing a roll-your-own cigarette, their half-clad children a picture of hurting that would never end. Beginning in 1979, the tribal council worked on a variety of economic development initiatives, first geared toward attracting industry to the reservation. They had people available to work,
natural resources, and no
taxes. The kind of industries included automotive parts,
greeting cards,
direct mail and printing, and plastic molding.
1980s–1990s In 1987, the
Supreme Court of the United States ruled that
federally recognized tribes could operate gaming facilities on their sovereign reservation land free from state regulation. In 1988, the U.S. Congress enacted the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). IGRA set the terms for Native American tribes to operate
casinos and negotiate terms with states, such as paying a portion of revenues instead of taxes. The administration of Governor
Ray Mabus delayed action on Indian gaming in Mississippi. However, in 1992, Governor
Kirk Fordice gave permission for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to develop Class III gaming. As a result, MBCI now runs a substantial gaming enterprise through its
Pearl River Resort properties and Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise, Inc. The MBCI gaming properties include the Silver Star Casino, which opened in 1994 in Philadelphia, MS; the Golden Moon Casino, which opened in 2002 in Choctaw, MS; the Bok Homa Casino, which opened in 2010 in Heidelberg, MS; and the Crystal Sky Casino, which opened in 2024 in Louisville, MS. The Silver Star and Golden Moon Casinos are both located on MBCI's Pearl River Reservation in Neshoba County, MS.
21st century The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has become one of the state's largest employers. During the early 21st century, they ran 19 businesses and employed 7,800 people. Purporting to represent Native Americans before Congress and state governments to aid them in setting up gaming on their reservation, lobbyists
Jack Abramoff and
Michael Scanlon used fraudulent means to gain profits of $15 million in payment from MBCI. Abramoff expressed contempt for many of his clients. In an
E-mail sent January 29, 2002, Abramoff told Scanlon, "I have to meet with the monkeys from the Choctaw tribal council." Congressional hearings on the Abramoff scandal were held by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in 2006. Federal charges were brought against Abramoff and Scanlon. In 2002, the United States Congress formally recognized the entire Choctaw Nation in 25 U.S.C. 1779, including those Choctaw in Mobile and Washington counties, Alabama. They were described as Full-Blooded Choctaw equally and in the same Mississippi Choctaw Jurisdictional Act of 1934, by which the Mississippi Band of Choctaw reorganized. ==Return of Nanih Waiya==