Group	Choctaw
Population	160,000
Regions
Languages	English, Choctaw
Religions	Protestantism, traditional beliefs
Related	Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), and later Seminole

The Choctaw (alternatively spelt as Chahta, Chactas, Chato, Tchakta, Chocktaw, and Chactaw) are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States (Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana). The Choctaw language belongs to the Muskogean linguistic group. Noted 20th century anthropologist John Swanton suggested that the name was derived from a Choctaw leader. Henry Halbert, a historian, suggests that their name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak (river people).

The Choctaw were descendants of the Mississippian culture and Hopewellian people, who lived throughout the east of the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries. The early Spanish explorers of the 16th century encountered their ancestors. In the 19th century, the Choctaw were known as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" because they adopted and integrated numerous cultural and technological practices of their European American colonial neighbors. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are the two primary Choctaw associations today, although smaller Choctaw groups are located in Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.

During the American Revolution, most Choctaw supported the Thirteen Colonies' bid for independence from the British Crown. The Choctaw and the United States agreed to nine treaties. The last three treaties (Treaty of Doak's Stand, Washington City, and Dancing Rabbit) were designed to deracinate most Choctaw west of the Mississippi River.

U.S. President Andrew Jackson made the Choctaw exile a model of Indian removal making them the first Native Americans to travel on the Trail of Tears. The Choctaw were exiled (to the area now called Oklahoma) because the U.S. desired to expand territory available for settlement to European Americans, wanted to save them from extinction, and wanted to acquire their natural resources.

With ratification in 1831 of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, those Choctaws who chose to stay in the newly formed state of Mississippi were the first major non-European ethnic group to become U.S. citizens. Article 22 sought to put a Choctaw representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Choctaw began to seek political representation in the Congress of the United States in 1830. During the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849) nearly twenty years prior to the founding of the Red Cross, the Choctaw were noted for their generosity in providing humanitarian relief for the people of Ireland. During the American Civil War, the Choctaw in both Oklahoma and Mississippi mostly sided with the Confederate States of America.

After the Civil War, the Mississippi Choctaw fell into obscurity. The Choctaw in Oklahoma struggled to maintain a nation. In World War I, they served in the U.S. military as the first Native American codetalkers, using the Choctaw language as a natural code.

History

New World antiquity

Many thousands of years ago groups known as Paleo-Indians lived in what today is referred to as the American South. These groups were hunter-gatherers who hunted a wide range of animals, including the megafauna, which became extinct following the end of the Pleistocene age. Cushman wrote: "the ancient Choctaw through their tradition (said) 'they saw the mighty beasts of the forests, whose tread shook the earth." The homeland of the Choctaw, or of the peoples from whom the Choctaw nation arose, included the area of Nanih Waiya, an earthwork mound in present-day Winston County, Mississippi, which they considered sacred ground. Based on dating of surface artifacts, the mound was likely constructed and first occupied by indigenous peoples about 0-300 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The original site was bounded on three sides by an earthwork circular enclosure, about ten feet high and encompassing a square mile. Occupation of Nanih Waiya and several smaller nearby mounds likely continued through 700 CE, the Late Woodland Period. The smaller mounds may also have been built by later cultures. As they have been lost to cultivation since the late 19th century and the area has not been excavated, theories have been speculation.

While the mound continued to be a ceremonial center and object of veneration, scholars do not believe it was occupied during the Mississippian culture period. From the 17th century on, the Choctaw revered this site as the center of their origin stories, which also included stories of migration to this site from west of the great river (believed to refer to the Mississippi River.)

In Histoire de La Louisiane (Paris, 1758), French explorer Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz recounted that "...when I asked them from whence the Chat-kas [sic] came, to express the suddenness of their appearance they replied that they had come out from under the earth." American scholars took this account as intended to explain the Choctaws' immediate appearance, and not a literal creation account. It was perhaps the first European writing to contain the seed of the Choctaw origin story.

Early 19th century and contemporary Choctaw storytellers describe that the Choctaw people emerged from either Nanih Waiya or a cave nearby. A companion story describes their migration journey from the west, beyond the Mississippi River, when they were directed by their leader's use of a sacred pole.

Post-Columbian era

The Choctaw ancestors were likely part of the Mississippian culture in the Mississippi river valley. They were preceded by other moundbuilding cultures, of which people of one of the earliest built Nanih Waiya. Scholars believe the mound was contemporary with such earthworks as Igomar Mound in Mississippi and Pinson Mounds in Tennessee. The Mississippian culture is what the earliest Spanish explorers encountered, beginning on April 2, 1513, with Juan Ponce de León's Florida landing and the 1526 Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón expedition in South Carolina and Georgia region.

Spanish Exploration (1540)

After castaway Cabeza de Vaca of the ill-fated Narváez expedition returned to Spain, he described to the Court of Hernando de Soto that the New World was the "richest country in the world." Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who led the first expedition into the interior of the North American continent. De Soto, convinced of the "riches", wanted Cabeza de Vaca to accompany him on the expedition. Cabeza de Vaca declined because of a payment dispute of a ship. From 1540–1543, Hernando de Soto travelled through Florida and Georgia, and then down into the Alabama and Mississippi area that would later be inhabited by the Choctaw.

De Soto had the best-equipped militia at the time. His well-known successes attracted people to his expedition in a quest for untold riches in the New World. As the brutalities of the de Soto expedition became known, ancestors to the Choctaw rose in defense. This battle, known as the Battle of Mabila, was a turning point for the de Soto venture. The battle "broke the back" of the campaign, and they never fully recovered.

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French Colonization (1682)

In 1682 La Salle was the first French explorer to venture into the southeast along the Mississippi River. His expedition did not meet with the Choctaw; it established a post along the Arkansas River. Illegal fur trading may have led to further unofficial contact.

The archaeological record for this period between 1567 and 1699 is not complete or well-studied. It appears that some Mississippian settlements were abandoned well before the 17th century. Similarities in pottery coloring and burials suggest the following scenario for the emergence of the distinctive Choctaw society.

The Choctaw region, generally located between the Natchez bluffs to the south and the Yazoo basin to the north, was slowly occupied by Burial Urn people from the Bottle Creek Indian Mounds area in the Mobile, Alabama delta, along with remnants of the Moundville chiefdom that had collapsed some years before. Facing severe depopulation, they fled westward, where they combined with the Plaquemines and a group of “prairie people” living near the area. When this occurred is not clear. In the space of several generations, they created a new society which became known as Choctaw (albeit with a strong Mississippian background).

United States relations

[[Image:Choctaw Village by Francois Bernard.jpg|375px|thumb|Choctaw Village near the Chefuncte by Francois Bernard, 1869, Peabody Museum Harvard University, The women are preparing dye to color cane strips for making baskets]]

During the American Revolution, Choctaws divided over whether to support Britain or Spain. Chief Franchimastabe led a Choctaw war party with British forces against American colonial rebels in Natchez.

Other Choctaw companies joined Washington's army during the war, and served the entire duration. After the Revolutionary War, the Choctaws were reluctant to ally themselves with countries hostile to the United States. John R. Swanton wrote, "the Choctaw were never at war with the Americans. A few were induced by Tecumseh (a Shawnee leader who sought support from various Native American tribes) to ally themselves with the hostile Creeks, but the Nation as a whole was kept out of anti-American alliances by the influence of Apushmataha, greatest of all Choctaw chiefs." Ferguson also wrote that with the end of the Revolution, " 'Franchimastabe', Choctaw head chief, went to Savannah, Georgia to secure American trade." In the next few years, some Choctaw scouts served in Ohio with U.S. General Anthony Wayne in the Northwest Indian War.

George Washington (first U.S. President) and Henry Knox (first U.S. Secretary of War) proposed the cultural transformation of Native Americans. Washington believed that Native Americans were equals but that their society was inferior to that of the European Americans. He formulated a policy to encourage the "civilizing" process, and Thomas Jefferson continued it. Historian Robert Remini wrote, "[T]hey presumed that once the Indians adopted the practice of private property, built homes, farmed, educated their children, and embraced Christianity, these Native Americans would win acceptance from white Americans."

Washington's six-point plan included impartial justice toward Indians; regulated buying of Indian lands; promotion of commerce; promotion of experiments to civilize or improve Indian society; presidential authority to give presents; and punishing those who violated Indian rights. The government appointed agents, such as Benjamin Hawkins, to live among the Indians and to teach them through example and instruction, how to live like whites. }}

Hopewell (1786)

Starting in October 1785, Taboca, a Choctaw prophet/chief, led over 125 Choctaws to the Keowee, near Seneca Old Town, now known as Hopewell, South Carolina. After two months of travel, they met with U.S. representatives Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph Martin. In high Choctaw ceremonial symbolism, they named, adopted, smoked, and performed dances, revealing the complex and serious nature of Choctaw diplomacy. One such dance was the eagle tail dance. The Choctaw explained that the Bald Eagle, who has direct contact with the upper world of the sun, is a symbol of peace. Choctaw women painted in white would adopt and name commissioners as kin. Smoking sealed agreements between peoples and the shared pipes sanctified peace between the two nations.

After the rituals, the Choctaws asked John Woods to live with them to improve communication with the U.S. In exchange they allowed Taboca to visit the United States Congress.

The treaty required Choctaws to return escaped slaves to colonists, to turn over any Choctaws convicted of crimes by the U.S., establish borderlines between the U.S. and Choctaw Nation, and the return any property captured from colonists during the Revolutionary War.

War of 1812

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:pale grey; color:black; width:31em; max-width: 45%;" cellspacing="5" | style="text-align: left;"|Portraits of Pushmataha (left) and Tecumseh."These white Americans ... give us fair exchange, their cloth, their guns, their tools, implements, and other things which the Choctaws need but do not make ... They doctored our sick; they clothed our suffering; they fed our hungry ... So in marked contrast with the experience of the Shawnees, it will be seen that the whites and Indians in this section are living on friendly and mutually beneficial terms." Pushmataha, 1811 - Sharing Choctaw History. |}

Early in 1811, Tecumseh attempted to recover lands from U.S. settlers. Tecumseh met the Choctaws to persuade them to join the alliance. Pushmataha, considered by historians to be the greatest Choctaw leader, countered Tecumseh's influence. As chief for the Six Towns district, Pushmataha strongly resisted such a plan, arguing that the Choctaw and their neighbors the Chickasaw had always lived in peace with European-Americans, had learned valuable skills and technologies, and had received honest treatment and fair trade. The joint Choctaw-Chickasaw council then voted against alliance with Tecumseh. On Tecumseh's departure, Pushmataha accused him of tyranny over his own Shawnee tribe and other tribes. Pushmataha warned Tecumeseh that he would fight against those who fought the United States.

With the outbreak of war, Pushmataha led the Choctaws in alliance with the U.S., arguing in favor of opposing the Creek's alliance with Britain after the massacre at Fort Mims. Pushmataha arrived at St. Stephens, Alabama in mid-1813 with an offer of alliance and recruitment. He was escorted to Mobile to speak with General Flournoy, then commanding the district. Flournoy initially declined Pushmataha's offer, offending the chief. However, Flournoy's staff quickly convinced him to reverse his decision. A courier with a message accepting the offer of alliance caught up with Pushmataha at St. Stephens.

Returning to Choctaw territory, Pushmataha raised a company of 125 Choctaw warriors with a rousing speech and was commissioned (as either a lieutenant colonel or a brigadier general) in the United States Army at St. Stephens. After observing that the officers and their wives would promenade along the Alabama River, Pushmataha summoned his own wife to St. Stephens.

Pushmataha joined the U.S. Army under General Claiborne in mid-November, and some 125 Choctaw warriors took part in an attack on Creek forces at Kantachi (near present day Econochaca, Alabama) on 23 December 1813. With this victory, Choctaws began to volunteer in greater numbers from the other two districts of the tribe. By February 1814, a larger band of Choctaws under Pushmataha had joined General Andrew Jackson's force for the sweeping of the Creek territories near Pensacola, Florida. Many Choctaws departed from Jackon's main force after the final defeat of the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. By the Battle of New Orleans, only a few Choctaws remained with the army; however, they were the only Native American tribe represented in the battle.

Choctaw who is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., 1834, Smithsonian American Art Museum]]

Doak's Stand (1820)

In October 1820, Andrew Jackson and Thomas Hinds were sent as commissioners representing the United States, to conduct a treaty that would require the Choctaw to surrender to the United States a portion of their country located in present day Mississippi. They met with chiefs, mingos (leaders), and headsmen such as Colonel Silas Dinsmore and Chief Pushmataha at Doak's Stand on the Natchez Trace.

The convention began on October 10 with a talk by "Sharp Knife", the nickname of Jackson, to more than 500 Choctaws. Pushmataha accused Jackson of deceiving them about the quality of land west of the Mississippi. Pushmataha responded to Jackson's retort with "I know the country well ... The grass is everywhere very short ... There are but few beavers, and the honey and fruit are rare things." Jackson resorted to threats, which pressured the Choctaws to sign the Doak's Stand treaty. Pushmataha would continue to argue with Jackson about the conditions of the treaty. Pushmataha assertively stated "that no alteration shall be made in the boundaries of the portion of our territory that will remain, until the Choctaw people are sufficiently progressed in the arts of civilzation to become citzens of the States, owning land and homes of their own, on an equal footing with the white people." Jackson responded with "That ... is a magnificent rangement and we consent to it, [American Citizenship], readily." On October 18, the Treaty of Doak's Stand was signed.

Article 4 of the Treaty of Doak's Stand prepared Choctaws to become U.S. citizens when he or she became "civilized." This article would later influence Article 14 in the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

Delegation to Washington City (1824)

sought to be elected to the Congress of the United States. 1834, Smithsonian American Art Museum]]

Apuckshunubbee, Pushmataha, and Mosholatubbee, the principal leaders of the Choctaws, went to Washington City (the 19th century name for Washington, D.C.) to discuss European-Americans' squatting on Choctaw lands. They sought either expulsion of the settlers or financial compensation for the loss of their lands.

Pushmataha met with President James Monroe and gave a speech to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, reminding him of the longstanding alliances between the United States and the Choctaws. He said, "[I] can say and tell the truth that no Choctaw ever drew his bow against the United States ... My nation has given of their country until it is very small. We are in trouble." On January 20, 1825, the Treaty of Washington City was signed, by which the Choctaw ceded even more territory to the United States.

Apuckshunubbee died in Maysville, Kentucky; and Pushmataha died in Washington. Apuckshunubbee was reported to have died from a broken neck caused by a fall from a hotel balcony. Other historians said he fell from a cliff, an account carried in a local paper. Pushmataha died of croup, even though the disease usually only afflicts infants and young children. Pushmataha was given full U.S. Military burial honors in a ceremony of burial at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The deaths of these two leaders effectively crippled the Choctaw Nation. Within six years the Choctaw were forced to cede their last remaining territory in Mississippi to the United States.

Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830)

At Andrew Jackson's request, the United States Congress opened a fierce debate on an Indian Removal Bill. In the end, the bill passed, but the vote was very close. The Senate passed the measure 28 to 19, while in the House it narrowly passed, 102 to 97. Jackson signed the legislation into law June 30, 1830, President Jackson was angered. Journalist Len Green writes "although angered by the Choctaw refusal to meet him in Tennessee, Jackson felt from LeFlore's words that he might have a foot in the door and dispatched Secretary of War Eaton and John Coffee to meet with the Choctaws in their nation." Jackson appointed Eaton and General John Coffee as commissioners to represent him to meet the Choctaws at the Dancing Rabbit Creek near present-day Noxubee County, Mississippi.

The commissioners met with the chiefs and headmen on September 15, 1830, at Dancing Rabbit Creek. In carnival-like atmosphere, the policy of removal was explained to an audience of 6,000 men, women, and children. The Choctaw at this crucial time split into two distinct groups: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The nation retained its autonomy, but the tribe in Mississippi submitted to state and federal laws.

Alexis de Tocqueville, noted French political thinker and historian, witnessed the Choctaw removals while in Memphis, Tennessee in 1831:

Approximately 4,000–6,000 Choctaws remained in Mississippi in 1831 after the initial removal efforts. U.S. agent William Ward, who was responsible for registration under article XIV, violently opposed the Choctaws’ treaty rights. He reluctantly registered some 1,300 Choctaws as citizens out of token compliance. For the next ten years the Choctaws in Mississippi were objects of increasing legal conflict, racism, harassment, and intimidation. The Choctaws describe their situation in 1849, "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." Removal continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1846 1,000 Choctaws removed, and in 1903 three hundred Mississippi Choctaws were persuaded to move to the Nation in Oklahoma.

Pre-Civil War (1840)

and was described as a "palace in the wilderness."]]

In the 1840s, the Choctaw chief Greenwood LeFlore stayed in Mississippi after the signing of Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and became an American citizen, a successful businessman, and a state politician. He was a Mississippi representative and senator, a fixture of Mississippi high society, and a personal friend of Jefferson Davis. He represented his county in the house for two terms and served as a senator for one term. Some of the elite used Latin language, an indulgence used by some politicians. LeFlore, in defense of his heritage, spoke in the Choctaw language and asked the Senate floor which was better understood, Latin or Choctaw.

Midway through the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849), a group of Choctaws collected $710 (although many articles say the original amount was $170 after a misprint in Angi Debo's The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Nation) and sent it to help starving Irish men, women and children. "It had been just 16 years since the Choctaw people had experienced the Trail of Tears, and they had faced starvation ... It was an amazing gesture. By today's standards, it might be a million dollars" according to Judy Allen, editor of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's newspaper, Bishinik, based at the Oklahoma Choctaw tribal headquarters in Durant, Oklahoma. To mark the 150th anniversary, eight Irish people retraced the Trail of Tears Mississippi refused them any participation in government.

Some Choctaws identified with the Southern cause and a few owned slaves. In addition, they well remembered and resented the Indian removals from thirty years earlier and poor service they received from the federal government. The main reason the Choctaw Nation agreed to sign the treaty, however, was for protection from regional tribes. Soon Confederate battalions were formed in Indian Territory and later in Mississippi in support of the southern cause. The Mobile Advertiser and Register advertised for recruits:

General Arnold Spann organized the first battalion of Choctaws in Mississippi in February 1863. After a train wreck, referred to as the Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863, near Hickory, Mississippi, the Choctaw Battalion, which had been organized days earlier, led rescue and recovery efforts. Led by Jack Amos and Elder Williams, the Indians rushed to the scene, stripped, and plunged into the flooded creek. Many of the passengers were rescued due to their heroic acts." Noted Choctaw Historian Clara Kidwell writes, "in an act of heroism in Mississippi, Choctaws rescued twenty three survivors and retrieved ninety bodies when a Confederate troop train plunged off a bridge and fell into the Chunky River." Mississippi Choctaws were captured in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, and several died in a Union prison in New York. Spann describes the incident, "[Maj. J.W. Pearce] established two camps—a recruiting camp in Newton County and a drill camp at Tangipahoa—just beyond the State boundary line in Louisiana in the fall of 1862. New Orleans at that time was in the hands of the Federal Gen. B.F. Butler. Without notice a reconnoitering party of the enemy raided the camp, and captured over two dozen Indians and several noncommissioned white officers and carried them to New Orleans. All the officers and several of the Indians escaped and returned to the Newton County camp; but all the balance of the captured Indians were carried to New York, and were daily paraded in the public parks as curiosities for the sport of sight-seers. They chose to live in isolation and practiced their culture as they had for generations.

Following Reconstruction and conservative Democrats' regaining power in the late 1870s, white state legislators passed laws establishing Jim Crow laws and legal segregation by race. In addition they disfranchised Native Americans by constitutional changes in 1890 regarding voter registration and elections. Such legislators included Mississippi Choctaws in the "colored" population, subjecting them to racial segregation and exclusion from public facilities along with freedmen and their descendants. The Choctaw were non-white, landless, and had minimal legal protection.

At the turn of the 20th century, only 1,253 Choctaw Indians remained in Mississippi. "The beginning of the 20th century found Mississippi Choctaws struggling to overcome poverty, discrimination, and lack of opportunity."

After a US Congressional investigation discovered their poor living conditions, in 1918 the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) established the Choctaw Agency. Under segregation, few schools were open to Choctaw children, who were included with other non-whites. The Choctaw agency was based in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a center of several Indian communities. It set up elementary schools and worked to address the poor health conditions of the Choctaw, building a hospital in Philadelphia for tribal members. Dr. Frank McKinley was the first superintendent. Prior to McKinley's arrival, the Choctaws had grouped themselves in six communities.

Because the state remained dependent on agriculture, despite the declining price of cotton, most landless men earned a living by becoming sharecroppers. The women created and sold traditional hand-woven baskets. Choctaw sharecropping declined in the 1950s after farming mechanization had become more prevalent.

Choctaw Nation

The Confederacy’s loss was also the Choctaw Nation’s loss. Prior to removal, the Choctaws had interacted with Africans in their native homeland of Mississippi. Slavery was a European-American institution which the Choctaws had adopted. In post-war treaties, the US government also acquired land in the western part of the territory and access rights for railroads to be built across Indian Territory. Choctaw chief Allen Wright suggested Oklahoma (red man, a portmanteau of the choctaw words okla "man" and humma "red") as the name of the newly ceded territory.

The improved transportation afforded by the railroads drew large-scale mining and timber operations. These added to tribal receipts. The railroads and industries also attracted European-American settlers, including new immigrants to the United States.

Continuing the struggle over land and assimilation, the US proposed the end to the tribal lands held in common, and allotment of lands to tribal members in severalty (individually). This would also enable new settlers to buy land from those Native Americans who wished to sell. The US government set up the Dawes Commission to manage the land allotment policy.

Territory transition to Oklahoma statehood (1889)

The establishment of Oklahoma Territory following the Civil War was a required land cession by the Five Civilized Tribes, who had supported the Confederacy. The government used its railroad access to the Oklahoma Territory to stimulate development there. The Indian Appropriations Bill of 1889 included an amendment by Illinois Representative William McKendree Springer, that authorized President Benjamin Harrison to open the two million acres (8,000 km²) of Oklahoma Territory for settlement, resulting in the Land Run of 1889. The Choctaw Nation was overwhelmed with new settlers and could not regulate their activities. In the late 19th century Choctaws suffered almost daily from violent crimes, murders, thefts and assaults from whites and from other Choctaws. Intense factionalism divided the traditionalistic "Nationalists" and pro-assimilation "Progressives," who fought for control.

In 1905, the Five Civilized Tribes met at the Sequoyah Convention to counter proposed dissolution of their governments by creating an alternate State of Sequoyah. Although they took a thoroughly developed proposal to Washington, DC, seeking approval, there was political opposition from eastern states' representatives. President Theodore Roosevelt ruled that the Oklahoma and Indian territories would be merged to be admitted as one state, Oklahoma. Nonetheless, many of the Native American representatives from the Sequoyah Convention participated in the new state convention. Its constitution was based on many elements of the one developed for the State of Sequoyah. The Choctaws were the Native American innovators who served as code talkers.

Fourteen Choctaw Indian men in the Army's 36th Division trained to use their language for military communications. Their communications, which could not be understood by Germans, helped the American Expeditionary Force win several key battles in the Meuse-Argonne Campaign in France, during the last big German offensive of the war. Within 24 hours after the US Army starting using their Choctaw speakers, the tide of the battle had turned. In less than 72 hours the Germans were retreating and the Allies were on full attack.

More than 70 years passed before the contributions of the Choctaw Code talkers were fully recognized. On November 3, 1989, in recognition of the important role the Choctaw Code Talkers played during World War I, the French government presented the Chevalier de L'Ordre National du Mérite (the Knight of the National Order of Merit) to the Choctaws Code Talkers.

The US Army again used Choctaw speakers for coded language during World War II.

Reorganization (1934)

During the Great Depression and the Roosevelt Administration, officials began numerous initiatives to alleviate some of the social and economic conditions in the South. The 1933 Special Narrative Report described the dismal state of welfare of Mississippi Choctaws, whose population by 1930 had declined to 1,665 people. They realized that the only way to gain recognition was to adopt a constitution.

Van Barfoot, a Choctaw from Mississippi, who was a Sergeant and later a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, 157th Infantry, 45th Infantry Division, received the Medal of Honor. Barfoot was commissioned a Second Lieutenant after he destroyed two German machine gun nests, took seventeen prisoners, and disabled an enemy tank.

Post-Reorganization (1946)

After World War II, pressure in Congress mounted to reduce Washington's authority on Native American lands and liquidate the government's responsibilities to them. In 1953 the House of Representatives passed Resolution 108, proposing an end to federal services for thirteen tribes deemed ready to handle their own affairs. The same year, Public Law 280 transferred jurisdiction over tribal lands to state and local governments in five states. Within a decade Congress terminated federal services to more than sixty groups despite intense opposition by Indians. Congress settled on a policy to terminate tribes as quickly as possible. Out of concern for the isolation of many Native Americans in rural areas, the federal government created relocation programs to cities to try to expand their employment opportunities. Indian policy experts hoped to expedite assimilation of Native Americans to the larger American society, which was becoming urban. Unless repealed by the federal government, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma would effectively be terminated as a sovereign nation as of August 25, 1970.}}

Mississippi Choctaw Self-Determination Era

The Choctaw people continued to struggle economically due to bigotry, cultural isolation, and lack of jobs. The Choctaws, who for 150 years had been neither white nor black, were "left where they had always been"-- in poverty.

The Choctaws witnessed the social forces that brought Freedom Summer and it after effects to their ancient homeland. The Civil Rights Era produced significant social change for the Choctaws in Mississippi, as their civil rights were also enhanced. Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, most jobs were given to whites, then blacks. On June 21, 1964 James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner (renowned civil rights workers) disappeared; their remains were later found in a newly constructed dam. A crucial turning point in the FBI investigation came when the charred remains of the murdered Mississippi civil rights workers' station wagon was found on a Mississippi Choctaw reservation. The end of legalized racial segregation permitted the Choctaws to participate in public institutions and facilities that had been reserved exclusively for white patrons. In 1981, African American Marcus Dupree's final High School footballgame was played on the Choctaw Indian Resevation's tribal high school's Warriors Stadium. He finished with 5,284 rushing yards on 8.3 yards per carry; there was considerable media coverage to witness the record breaking event that was multi-racially praised.

Soon after this, Congress passed the landmark Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, completing a 15-year period of federal policy reform with regard to American Indian tribes. The legislation included means by which tribes could negotiate contracts with the BIA to manage more of their own education and social service programs. In addition, it provided direct grants to help tribes develop plans for assuming responsibility. It also provided for Indian parents' involvement on school boards.

Beginning in 1979 the tribal council worked on a variety of economic development initiatives, first geared toward attracting industry to the reservation. They had many people available to work, natural resources and no taxes. Industries have included automotive parts, greeting cards, direct mail and printing, and plastic-molding. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is one of the state's largest employers, running 19 businesses and employing 7,800 people.

Purporting to represent Native Americans before Congress and state governments in this new field, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon used fraudulent means to gain profits of $15 million in payment from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Congressional hearings were held and charges were brought against Abramoff and Scanlon. In an e-mail sent January 29, 2002, Abramoff tells Scanlon "I have to meet with the monkeys from the Choctaw tribal council."

On January 3, 2006, Abramoff pled guilty to three felony counts — conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion — involving charges stemming principally from his lobbying activities in Washington on behalf of Native American tribes. In addition, Abramoff and other defendants must make restitution of at least $25 million that was defrauded from clients, most notably the Native American tribes.

MOWA Choctaw

For generations Choctaw Indians lived in Mobile and Washington Counties in southwestern Alabama. These Indians traced their lineage to two groups of Choctaw that settled the area in the early 19th century. The first group had been allies of the Red Sticks during the Creek War of 1813-14 and hid in the remote swamps after their defeat. The second group arrived in the 1830s, when they hid rather than be removed to the western Indian Territories. These two groups merged and lived in relative isolation from white contact for several decades. Over the years, the MOWA (for Mobile and Washington) faced discrimination, persecution, and debt peonage because of their racial status, which in the eyes of the federal government was undocumented and ambiguous. Despite achieving official recognition as a Native American tribe by the state of Alabama, the MOWA Choctaw were still fighting for federal recognition in the 21st century.

Culture

After the fall of the Mississippian Culture, Choctaw culture would be established and greatly evolve over the centuries, combining mostly European-American influences; however, interaction with Spain, France, and England greatly shaped it as well. They were known for their rapid incorporation of modernity, developing a written language, transitioning to yeoman farming methods, and accepting European-Americans and African-Americans into their society. The Choctaw also practiced Head Flattening, but the practice eventually fell out of favor. In mid-summer the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians celebrate their culture during the Choctaw Indian Fair with ball games, dancing, cooking and entertainment.

Clans

Within the Choctaws were two distinct Moieties: Imoklashas (elders) and Inhulalatas (youth). Each moiety had several clans or Iskas, it is estimated there were about 12 Iskas altogether. Identity was established first by Moiety and Iska, so a Choctaw identified himself first as Imoklasha or Inhulata and second as Choctaw. Children belonged to the Iska of their mother meaning they are matrilineal. The following were some major districts:

Okla Hannalli (people of six towns)

Okla Tannap (people from the other side)

Okla Fayala (people who are widely dispersed)

John Swanton writes "there are only the faintest traces of groups with truly totemic designations, the animal and plant names which occur seeming not to have had a totemic connotation." Swanton also adds 'Adam Hodgson ... who "spoke English very well," told ... "that there were tribes or families among the Indians, somewhat similar to the Scottish clans; such as, the Panther family, the Bird family, Raccoon Family, the Wolf family."' When disputes arose between Choctaw communities, stickball provided a civil way to settle issues. The stickball games would involve as few as twenty or as many as 300 players. The goal posts could be from a few hundred feet apart to a few miles. Goal posts were sometimes located within each opposing team's village. A Jesuit priest referenced stickball in 1729, and George Catlin painted the subject. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians continue to practice the sport.

Chunkey was a game that consisted of a stone-shaped disk that was about 1–2 inches in length. The disk was thrown down a corridor so that it could roll past the players at great speed. As the disk rolled down the corridor, players would throw wooden shafts at it. The object of the game was to strike the disk or prevent your opponents from hitting it. The corn game included five to seven kernels of corn. One side was blackened and the other side white. Points were assigned for each color. One point was awarded for the black side and 5-7 points for the white side. There were usually only two players. Many Choctaw adults learned to speak the language before speaking English. The language is a part of daily life on the Mississippi Choctaw reservation. The following table is an example of Choctaw text and its translation:

Religion

The Choctaws believed in a good spirit and an evil spirit. They may have been sun, or Hushtahli, worshippers. The historian Swanton wrote, "[T]he Choctaws anciently regarded the sun as a deity ... the sun was ascribed the power of life and death. He was represented as looking down upon the earth, and as long as he kept his flaming eye fixed on any one, the person was safe ... fire, as the most striking representation of the sun, was considered as possessing intelligence, and as acting in concert with the sun ... [having] constant intercourse with the sun ..."

Prayers may have been introduced by missionaries; however, Choctaw prophets were known to have addressed the sun. Swanton wrote, "an old Choctaw informed Wright that before the arrival of the missionaries, they had no conception of prayer. However, he adds, 'I have indeed heard it asserted by some, that anciently their hopaii, or prophets, on some occasions were accustomed to address the sun ...'"

Treaties

Land was the most valuable asset, which the Native Americans held in collective stewardship. The United States systematically obtained Choctaw land for conventional European-American settlement through treaties, legislation, and threats of warfare. Although the Choctaw made treaties with Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Confederate States of America; the nation signed only nine treaties with the United States. Some treaties which the US made with other nations, such as the Treaty of San Lorenzo, indirectly affected the Choctaw.

Reservations

Reservations can be found in Alabama-(MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians), Louisiana-(Jena Band of Choctaw Indians; United Houma Nation; Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb; Bayou Lacombe Choctaw; Clifton Choctaw), Texas-(Mount Tabor Indian Community), Mississippi-(Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians), and Oklahoma-(Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma). Other population centers include California, Oregon, Dallas, Houston and Chicago.

Influential leaders

Tuscaloosa (?-d. October 1540) retaliated against Hernando de Soto at the Battle of Mabilia. The battle was the first major conflict in North America between Native Americans and Europeans.

Franchimastabe (d. 19th c.) was a transitional benefactor and a contemporary of Taboca. To some Americans he was the "leading chief of the Choctaws." He led a war party with British forces against American rebels.

Taboca (d. 19th c.) was a traditional "prophet-chief" who led a delegation starting in October 1785 to Hopewell, South Carolina.

Apuckshunubbee (ca. 1740–1824) was chief of the Okla Falaya (Tall People) district in old Choctaw nation. He died in Kentucky on his way to Washington D.C. to conduct negotiations.

Pushmataha (Apushmataha) (1760s–December 24, 1824) was a chief in old Choctaw nation. He negotiated treaties with the United States and fought on the American's side in the War of 1812. He died in Washington D.C. and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington D.C.

Mosholatubbee (1770–1836) was a chief in the Choctaw nation before the removal and after. He went to Washington D.C. to negotiate for the tribe in 1824 and was the only major leader to return. In the summer of 1830, he ran for a seat in the Congress of the United States to represent the state of Mississippi.

Greenwood LeFlore (June 3, 1800–August 31, 1865) was a District Chief of the Choctaws in Mississippi. He was an influential state representative and senator in Mississippi.

George W. Harkins (1810–1890) was a district Choctaw chief in Indian Territory (1850–1857) prior to the Civil War and author of the "Farewell Letter to the American People".

Peter Pitchlynn (January 30, 1806–January 17, 1881) was a highly influential leader during the removal era and long after. He represented the Choctaws in Washington D.C. for some years and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery. Charles Dickens described him "as stately and complete a gentleman of nature's making as ever I beheld."

Phillip Martin (March 13, 1926–February 4, 2010) was the Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians from 1979–2007 and worked in tribal government for over fifty years. He encouraged outside investment and reduced unemployment to nearly 0% on the reservation.

See also

William Bartram

Choctaw Culture

Choctaw mythology

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Choctaw Trail of Tears

Cyrus Byington

Jena Band of Choctaw Indians

Gideon Lincecum

List of Choctaw Treaties

List of sites and peoples visited by the Hernando de Soto Expedition

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians

okay ("okeh")

References

Further reading

External links

Official websites of Choctaw Governments:

*Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (official site)

*Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (official site)

*Jena Band of Choctaw Indians (official site)

Choctaw Indian Fair

"Choctaws" by Dr. D.L. Birchfield

Choctaw, Oklahoma Historical Society article

Category:Native American tribes in Alabama Category:Native American tribes in Florida Category:Native American tribes in Louisiana Category:Native American tribes in Mississippi Category:Native American tribes in Oklahoma Category:Native American history of Alabama Category:Native American history of Florida Category:Native American history of Mississippi Category:Native American history of Oklahoma Category:South Appalachian Mississippian culture

Name	James McMurtry
Background	group_or_band
Born	March 18, 1962
Origin	Leesburg, Virginia
Genre	Americana, Folk Rock, Rock
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, guitarist & bandleader
Years active	1989–present
Url	www.jamesmcmurtry.com

James McMurtry (born March 18, 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas) is a Texas rock and Americana music singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader and occasional actor (Daisy Miller, Lonesome Dove). He performs with veteran bandmates and rhythm section The Heartless Bastards (Darren Hess and Ronnie Johnson - not to be confused with the Cincinnati, OH, band of the same name).

His father, novelist Larry McMurtry, gave him his first guitar at age seven. His mother, an English professor, taught him how to play it: "My mother taught me three chords and the rest I just stole as I went along. I learned everything by ear or by watching people."

Biography

McMurtry spent the first seven years of his boyhood in Ft. Worth but was raised mostly in Leesburg, Virginia. He attended the Woodberry Forest School, Orange, Virginia. He began performing in his teens, writing bits and pieces. He started performing his own songs at a downtown beer garden while studying English and Spanish at the University of Arizona in Tucson. After traveling to Alaska and playing a few gigs, he returned to Texas and his father's "little bitty ranch house crammed with 10,000 books". After a time, he left for San Antonio, where he worked as a house painter, actor, bartender, and sometimes singer, performing at writer's nights and open mics.

In 1987 McMutry's career entered an upswing. A friend in San Antonio suggested McMurtry enter the New Folk songwriter contest; he became one of six winners that year. Also around this time John Mellencamp was starring in a film based on a script by McMurtry's father, which gave McMurtry the opportunity to get a demo tape to Mellencamp. Mellencamp subsequently served as co-producer on McMurtry's 1989 debut album, Too Long in the Wasteland. McMurtry also appeared on the soundtrack of the film Falling from Grace, working with Mellencamp, John Prine, Joe Ely, and Dwight Yoakam in a "supergroup" called Buzzin' Cousins.

McMurtry released follow-up albums in Candyland (1992) and Where'd You Hide the Body (1995). Walk Between the Raindrops followed in 1998 and 2002 brought St. Mary of the Woods. In April 2004, McMurtry released a tour album called Live In Aught-Three.

In 2005, McMurtry released his first studio album in three years. Childish Things again received high critical praise, winning the song and album of the year at the 5th Annual Americana Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. The album was perhaps McMurtry at his most political, as his working-class anthem "We Can't Make It Here" included direct criticism of George W. Bush, the Iraq War, and Wal-Mart.

McMurtry released his follow up album to Childish Things in April 2008. Just Us Kids continued with the previous album's political themes and included the song Cheney's Toy, McMurtry's most direct criticism of George W. Bush so far. Like We Can't Make It Here from the previous album, Cheney's Toy was made available as a free Internet download.

McMurtry currently resides in Austin, Texas. When in Austin McMurtry and The Heartless Bastards play a midnight set at The Continental Club on Wednesday nights. He is usually preceded by another Austin roots rock legend, Jon Dee Graham.

Discography

External links

Official site

One on One with James McMurtry

Interview and Live Performance on Chicago TV show "Corporate Country Sucks"

BBC News: Rocker Young wins Americana award

Media

Video of James McMurtry

References

http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2008/04/17/one-on-one-with-james-mcmurtry/

Category:1962 births Category:American folk guitarists Category:American male singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Kerrville New Folk Competition finalists Category:Living people Category:People from Austin, Texas Category:People from Fort Worth, Texas Category:Musicians from Texas

Name	Alison Krauss
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Born	July 23, 1971
Origin	Decatur, Illinois, USA
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, Musician, Producer, Bandleader
Instrument	Vocals, Fiddle, Viola
Genre(s)	Bluegrass, Country, Adult Contemporary, R&B;
Years active	1984–present
Associated acts	Union Station, Robert Plant, Rhonda Vincent, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill
Label	Rounder
Url	AlisonKrauss.com}}

Alison Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in 1987. She was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS), and later released her first album with them as a group in 1989.

She has released eleven albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and helped renew interest in bluegrass music in the United States. Her soundtrack performances have led to further popularity, including the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, an album also credited with raising American interest in bluegrass, and the Cold Mountain soundtrack, which led to her performance at the 2004 Academy Awards. During her career she has won 27 Grammy Awards, making her the most awarded female artist (and the third most awarded artist overall) in Grammy history.

Biography

Alison Krauss was born in Decatur, Illinois to parents originally from Columbus, Mississippi. Krauss was raised in Champaign, Illinois. She began studying classical violin at age five but soon switched to bluegrass. Krauss said she first became involved with music because "[my] mother tried to find interesting things for me to do" and "wanted to get me involved in music, in addition to art and sports." At the age eight she started entering local talent contests, and at ten she had her own band. At 13 she won the Walnut Valley Festival Fiddle Championship, and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass in America named her the Most Promising Fiddler in the Midwest. Krauss first met Dan Tyminski around 1984 at a festival held by the Society. Every current member of her band, Union Station, first met her at these festivals.

1985–1991: Early career

Krauss made her recording debut in 1985 on the independent album, Different Strokes, featuring her brother Viktor, Swamp Weiss and Jim Hoiles. From the age of 12 she performed with bassist and songwriter John Pennell in a band called "Silver Rail". Pennell later formed Union Station, and Krauss joined at his invitation, replacing their previous fiddler Andrea Zonn. Pennell remains one of her favorite songwriters and wrote some of her early work including the popular "Every Time You Say Goodbye."

Later that year she signed to Rounder Records, and in 1987, at 16, she released her debut album Too Late to Cry with Union Station as her backup band.

Krauss' debut solo album was followed shortly by her first group album with Union Station in 1989 Two Highways. The album includes the traditional tunes, Wild Bill Jones and Beaumont Rag, along with a bluegrass interpretation of The Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider." Alison Krauss and Union Station would later perform at the 1989 Newport Folk Festival.

Krauss' contract with Rounder required her to alternate between releasing a solo album and an album with Union Station, and she released the solo album I've Got That Old Feeling in 1990. It was her first album to rise onto the Billboard charts, peaking in the top seventy-five on the country chart. The album also was a notable point in her career as she earned her first Grammy Award, the single "Steel Rails" was her first single tracked by Billboard, and the title single "I've Got That Old Feeling" was the first song for which she recorded a music video.

1992–1999: Rising success

{| Class=wikitable style="float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;" |- !colspan=2|Alison Krauss & Union Station |- !align="center" valign="bottom"|Name !align="center" valign="bottom"|Role |- |Alison Krauss |Lead vocals, fiddle, viola |- |Larry Atamanuik |drums, Percussion |- |Barry Bales |Bass |- |Ron Block |Guitar, Banjo |- |Jerry Douglas |Dobro |- |Dan Tyminski |Guitar, Mandolin |- |} Krauss' second Union Station album Everytime You Say Goodbye was released in 1992, and she went on to win her second Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album of the year. She then joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1993 at the age of 21. A cover of Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing at All" reached the top five on the Billboard country chart; the album peaked in the top fifteen on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, and sold two million copies to become Krauss' first double-platinum album. Krauss also was nominated for four Country Music Association Awards and won all of them.

So Long So Wrong, another Union Station album, was released in 1997 and won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. One critic said its sound was "rather untraditional" and "likely [to] change quite a few . . . minds about bluegrass." Included on the album is the track "It Doesn't Matter," which was featured in the second season premiere episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was included on the Buffy soundtrack in 1999.

Her next solo release in 1999, Forget About It, included one of her two tracks to appear on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, "Stay." The album was certified gold, and charted within the top seventy-five of the Billboard 200 and in the top five of the country chart. In addition, the track "That Kind of Love" was included in another episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Krauss was married to Pat Bergeson from 1997 to 2001, and they have one son, Sam, who was born in July 1999.

2000–present: Current career

Adam Steffey left Union Station in 1998, and was replaced with renowned Dobro player Jerry Douglas. Douglas had provided studio back-up to Krauss's records since 1987's Too Late To Cry. Their next album, New Favorite, was released on August 14, 2001. The album went on to win the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, with the single "The Lucky One" winning a Grammy as well. New Favorite was followed up by the double platinum double album Live in 2002 and a release of a DVD of the same live performance in 2003. Both the album and the DVD were recorded during a performance at The Louisville Palace and both the album and DVD have been certified double Platinum. Also in 2002 she played a singing voice for one of the characters in "Eight Crazy Nights"

Lonely Runs Both Ways was released in 2004, and eventually became another Alison Krauss & Union Station gold certified album. Ron Block described Lonely Runs Both Ways as "pretty much... what we've always done" in terms of song selection and the style in which those songs were recorded. Krauss believes the group "was probably the most unprepared we've ever been" for the album and that songs were chosen as needed rather than planned beforehand. Alison Krauss has announced a new album release with Union Station on April 12, 2011, the follow-up album to "Lonely Runs Both Ways" (2004)

Other work

, 5th May 2008]] Krauss has made multiple guest appearances on other records with lead vocals, harmony vocals, or fiddle playing. In 1993 she recorded vocals for the Phish song "If I Could" in Los Angeles. In 1997 she contributed harmony vocals in both English and Irish to Irish traditional band Altan's Runaway Sunday album. She has contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks, most notably the soundtrack O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000. She and co-vocalist Dan Tyminski contributed multiple tracks to the soundtrack, including "I'll Fly Away" (with Gillian Welch), "Down to the River to Pray", and "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow."

In the film, Tyminski's vocals on "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" were used for George Clooney's character. The soundtrack sold over seven million copies and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002. The unexpected success of the album has been partially credited, as was Krauss herself, with bringing a new interest in bluegrass to the United States. She has said, however, that she believes Americans already liked bluegrass and other less-heard musical genres, and that the film merely provided easy exposure to the music. She did not appear in the movie, at her own request, as she was nine months pregnant during its filming.

In 2007, Krauss released the anthology A Hundred Miles Or More: A Collection which was a collection of soundtrack work, duets with artists such as John Waite, James Taylor, Brad Paisley and esteemed fiddle player Natalie MacMaster, and newer tracks. The album was very commercially successful, but was received with a lukewarm reception from critics. One of the tracks, "Missing You", a duet with Waite (and a cover of his hit single from 1984), was similarly received as a single. On August 11, television network Great American Country aired a one-hour special, "Alison Krauss: A Hundred Miles or More" based on the album and featured many of the album's duets and solo performances.

Other soundtracks for which Krauss has performed include Twister, The Prince of Egypt, Eight Crazy Nights, Mona Lisa Smile, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Alias, Bambi II and Cold Mountain. She also contributed the song "Jubilee" to the 2004 documentary Paper Clips. The Cold Mountain songs "The Scarlet Tide" by T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello, and "You Will Be My Ain True Love", by herself and Sting were nominated for an Academy Award, and she performed both songs at the 76th Academy Awards, the first with Costello and Burnett and the other with Sting. She also worked as a producer for Nickel Creek on their debut self-titled album in 2000 and the follow-up This Side in 2002, which won Krauss her first Grammy as a music producer.

Reception and influences

Krauss's earliest musical experience was as an instrumentalist, though her style has grown to focus more on her vocals Krauss' family listened to "folk records" while she was growing up, but she had friends who exposed her to groups such as AC/DC, Carly Simon, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ELO. She cites Dolly Parton, with whom she has since collaborated a number of times, as a major influence. Some credit Krauss and Union Station, at least partially, with a recent revival of interest in bluegrass music in the United States. and "the tightest band around." While they have been successful as a group, many reviews note Krauss still "remains the undisputed star and rock-solid foundation" and have described her as the "band's focus" with an "angelic" In addition to her work with Nickel Creek, she has acted as producer to the Cox Family, Reba McEntire and Alan Jackson. Adam Sweeting of The Guardian has said Krauss and Union Station are "superb when they stick to hoedowns and hillbilly music, but much less convincing when they lurch towards the middle of the road," and Blender magazine has said the "flavorless repertoire [Krauss] sings... steers her toward Lite FM". In addition, Q magazine and The Onion AV Club have said their newer releases are "pretty much the usual," and that although Krauss is generally "adventurous," these recent releases contain nothing to "alienate the masses".

Voice, themes, and musical style

Krauss's vocal range could generally be described as mezzo soprano with little to no vibrato: her clear vocals have been described as "angelic". Many of her songs are described as sad, and are often about love, especially lost love. Krauss herself has said of her song selection that she looks for "tunes that [she] can relate to". Though she has a close involvement with her group and a long career in music, she rarely performs music she has written herself. She has also described her general approach to constructing an album as starting with a single song and selecting other tracks based on the first, to give the final album a somewhat consistent theme and mood. She most commonly performs in the bluegrass and country genres, though she has had two songs on the adult contemporary charts, has worked with rock artists such as Phish

Music videos

, playing the song, and walking away together. ]] Krauss did not think she would make music videos at the beginning of her career, and after recording her first she was convinced it was so bad that she would never do another. Nonetheless, she has gone on to make further videos. Many of the first videos she saw were by bluegrass artists, although Dan Tyminski has noted that the video for Thriller was very popular at the time she was first exposed to music videos. She has made suggestions on the style or theme to some videos, though she tends to leave such decisions up to the director of the particular video. The group chooses directors by seeking out people who have previously directed videos bandmembers have enjoyed. The director for a video to "If I Didn't Know Any Better" from Lonely Runs Both Ways, for example, was selected because Krauss enjoyed work he had done with Def Leppard, and she wondered what he could do with their music. While style decisions are generally left to the various directors of the videos, many —including for "The Lucky One", "Restless", "Goodbye is All We Have", "New Favorite", and "If I Didn't Know Any Better"—follow a pattern. In all of these videos Krauss walks, sometimes interacting with other people, while the rest of the band follows her. She appeared on Austin City Limits in 1992 and opened the show in 1995 with Union Station. The New Favorite tour, after AKUS' album of the same name, was planned to start September 12, 2001 in Cincinnati, Ohio, but was delayed until September 28 in Savannah, Georgia following the September 11 terrorist attacks Krauss also took part in the Down from the Mountain tour in 2002, which featured many artists from the O Brother, Where Art Thou. Down from the Mountain was followed by the Great High Mountain Tour, which was composed of musicians from both O Brother and Cold Mountain, including Krauss. on Lifetime Television in a concert of female performers, on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion where she sang two songs not previously recorded on any of her albums, and a performance at the White House attended by then-President Bill Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore.

Awards

Alison Krauss has won a record twenty-six Grammy Awards over the course of her career as a solo artist, as a group with Union Station, as a duet with Robert Plant, and as a record producer. This is more than any other female artist and is the third most won by any artist overall. She overtook Aretha Franklin for the most female wins at the 46th Grammy Awards where Krauss won three, bringing her total at the time to seventeen (Franklin won her sixteenth that night), and performed with Sarah McLachlan. The Recording Academy (which presents the Grammy Awards) presented her with a special musical achievement honor in 2005. She has also won 14 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, 8 Country Music Association Awards, 2 Gospel Music Association Awards, 2 CMT Music Awards, 2 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 1 Canadian Country Music Award. Country Music Television ranked Krauss 12th on their "40 Greatest Women of Country Music" list in 2002.

At the 76th Academy Awards in February 2004, where she performed two nominated songs from the Cold Mountain soundtrack, Alison Krauss was chosen by Hollywood shoe designer Stuart Weitzman to wear a pair of $2 million 'Cinderella' sandals with 4½ inch clear glass stiletto heels and two straps adorned with 565 Kwiat diamonds set in platinum. Feeling like a rather unglamorous choice, Krauss said, "When I first heard, I was like, 'What were they thinking?' I have the worst feet of anybody who will be there that night!" In addition to the fairy-tale-inspired shoes, Weitzman outfitted Krauss with a Palm Trēo 600 smartphone, bejeweled with 3,000 clear-and-topaz-colored Swarovski crystals. The shoes were returned, but Krauss kept the crystal-covered phone. Weitzman chose Krauss to show off his fashions at the urging of his daughters, who are fans of Krauss' music.

Discography

1985: Different Strokes

1987: Too Late to Cry

1989: Two Highways

1990: I've Got That Old Feeling

1992: Every Time You Say Goodbye

1994: I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

1997: So Long So Wrong

1999: Forget About It

2001: New Favorite

2004: Lonely Runs Both Ways

2007: Raising Sand

Filmography

1997 – Annabelle's Wish (voice)

2002 – Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights (voice)

References

External links

Official site

Rounder Records site for Alison Krauss

[ Alison Krauss] on Allmusic database

Category:1971 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:Alison Krauss & Union Station members Category:American bluegrass fiddlers Category:American country singers Category:English-language singers Category:American female singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American Christians Category:People from Decatur, Illinois Category:People from Champaign, Illinois Category:Musicians from Illinois Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American musicians of French descent Category:American people of English descent Category:People of Maltese-British descent Category:Native American singers Category:American performers of Christian music Category:Rounder Records artists