Choctaw

Monday, 10 December 2012

Choctaw Poem flute music. I am listening.

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Choctaw Hayride

Open Collage in a new Window

Email the Collage

Loading suggestions ...

Adena culture
The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 1000 to 200 BC, in a time known as the early Woodland Period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system. The Adena lived in a variety of locations, including: Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and parts of Pennsylvania and New York.
Adena sites are concentrated in a relatively small area - maybe 200 sites in the central Ohio Valley, with perhaps another 200 scattered throughout Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, although they may once have numbered in the thousands. The importance of the Adena complex comes from its considerable influence on other contemporary and succeeding cultures. The Adena culture is seen as the precursor to the traditions of the Hopewell culture, which are sometimes thought as an elaboration, or zenith, of Adena traditions.
The Adena were notable for their agricultural practices, pottery, artistic works and extensive trading network, which supplied them with a variety of raw materials, ranging from copper from the Great Lakes to shells from the Gulf Coast. The Adena culture was named for the large mound on Thomas Worthington's early 19th-century estate called "Adena", in Chillicothe, Ohio.

wn.com/Adena_culture
Alabama
Alabama (ⁱ/ˌæləˈbæmə/) is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 23rd-most populous of the 50 United States. Alabama ranks second in the area of its inland waterways.
From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many Southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature until the 1960s, while urban interests and African Americans were under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama experienced growth as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and technology. In addition, the establishment or expansion of multiple military installations, primarily those of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, added to state jobs.

wn.com/Alabama
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population at the time, and covered more than 33,700,000 km² (13,012,000 sq mi), almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.
During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France and the Netherlands began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia. A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left England (and then, following union between England and Scotland in 1707, Great Britain) the dominant colonial power in North America and India. The loss of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after a war of independence deprived Britain of some of its oldest and most populous colonies.

wn.com/British_Empire
California
California (pronounced ⁱ/kælɨˈfɔrnjə/) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third most extensive (after Alaska and Texas). It is home to the nation's second- and sixth-largest census statistical areas (Los Angeles Metropolitan Area and San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's fifty most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach and Oakland). The capital city is Sacramento.
California's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west, to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east – from the Redwood–Douglas-fir forests of the northwest, to the Mojave Desert areas in the southeast. The center of the state is dominated by Central Valley, a major agricultural area. California contains both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), and has the third-longest coastline of all states (after Alaska and Florida). Earthquakes are a common occurrence due to the state's location along the Pacific Ring of Fire: about 37,000 are recorded annually.

wn.com/California
Chicago
Chicago (ⁱ/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008^[update], the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, Chicago has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, ranking just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.

wn.com/Chicago
Dallas
Dallas ( /ˈdæləs/) is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Divided between Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties, the city had a population of 1,197,816 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau.
The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (the DFW MSA) that according to the March 2010 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of 6,371,773. The metroplex economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2010 gross metropolitan product of $374 billion.
Dallas was founded in 1841 and was formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas and a major city in the American South, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea.

wn.com/Dallas
Durant, Oklahoma
Durant is a city in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 15,877 at the 2010 census. Durant is the principal city of the Durant Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 42,416 in 2010. Durant ranks as the second largest city within the Choctaw Nation, following McAlester, and ahead of Poteau.
The city was founded by Dixon Durant, a Choctaw who lived in the area, after the MK&T railroad came through the Indian Territory in the early 1870s. It became the county seat of Bryan County in 1907 after Oklahoma statehood.
Durant is home to Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the headquarters of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The city is officially known as the Magnolia Capital of Oklahoma.
The Durant area was once claimed by both Spain and France before officially becoming part of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase and Adams-Onis Treaty. During the 1820s and 1830s the area was designated as part of the Choctaw Nation in the southern Indian Territory. During the Indian removals the Choctaws followed the Choctaw Trail of Tears from their ancestral homeland in Mississippi and Alabama into this area. The Choctaw Nation originally extended from the Mexican border in the west (now part of the Texas panhandle) to the Arkansas Territory in the east, from the Red River in the south to the South Canadian River in the north.

wn.com/Durant,_Oklahoma
Eddyville, Kentucky
Eddyville is a city in Lyon County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,350 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lyon County . The Kentucky State Penitentiary is located in Eddyville.
Eddyville, the seat of Lyon county, was settled around 1798 and named for the eddies in the nearby Cumberland River. It became the seat of Livingston County when it was formed in 1799, later the seat of Caldwell County in 1809, and finally the seat of Lyon County when it was formed in 1854. Thus, it holds the distinction of being the only city in Kentucky to have served as the county seat of three separate counties. The Eddyville post office opened in 1801.
Throughout Kentucky, Eddyville is best known as a synonym for the Kentucky State Penitentiary, although the prison itself is actually 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the present town, on the shore of Lake Barkley in Old Eddyville on KY 730. Taking six years to build (1884–1890), the massive stone prison structure towers over Lake Barkley, and is sometimes called "The Castle on the Cumberland." Its electric chair has had a long history of use, with its use dating to the period before 1936 when public executions were still conducted in Kentucky for punishment for some crimes (e.g., rape, see for example Rainey Bethea), with electrocutions at Eddyville being strictly reserved for capital punishment for conviction of other crimes (e.g., murder). Executions are still held at the prison, although there have only been three since 1976 (and only one since 1999) and the primary method has been changed to lethal injection.

wn.com/Eddyville,_Kentucky
England
England ⁱ/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.

wn.com/England
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a governmental agency belonging to the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency (counterintelligence). Also, it is the government agency responsible for investigating crimes on Indian Reservations in the United States under the Major Crimes Act. The branch has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime.
The agency was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI). Its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935.
The agency headquarters is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, located in Washington, D.C.. The agency has fifty-six field offices located in major cities throughout the United States, and more than 400 resident agencies in lesser cities and areas across the nation. More than 50 international offices called "legal attachés" exist in U.S. embassies and consulates general worldwide.

wn.com/FBI
Florida
Florida (ⁱ/ˈflɒrɪdə/) is a state in the southeastern United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 4th most populous, and the 8th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state capital is Tallahassee, its largest city is Jacksonville, and the South Florida metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern U.S.
Much of Florida is situated on a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. Its geography is marked by a coastline, by the omnipresence of water and the threat of hurricanes. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), and is the only state to border both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level and its terrain is characterized by sedimentary soils. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. Its symbolic animals like the American alligator, Florida panther and the manatee, can be found in the Everglades, one of the most famous national parks in the world.

wn.com/Florida
Fort Center
Fort Center is an archaeological site in Glades County, Florida, a few miles northwest of Lake Okeechobee. It was occupied for more than 2,000 years, from before 450 BCE until about 1700. The inhabitants of Fort Center may have been cultivating maize centuries before it appeared anywhere else in Florida.
Fort Center is a complex of earthwork mounds, linear embankments, middens, circular ditches, and an artificial pond occupying an area approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide extending east-west along Fisheating Creek, a stream that empties unto Lake Okeechobee. The complex is named after a blockhouse located at the site during the Second Seminole War. No trace remains of the blockhouse, which may have been eroded by the river.
The Fort Center site consists of three environments; a meander belt along the stream consisting of a floodplain swamp and natural levees, wet prairie, and oak-cabbage palm-saw palmetto hammocks. The floodplain and prairie are subject to frequent flooding. The prairie consists of two to four feet of sandy soil on a hardpan, resulting in poor drainage. The stream meander belt cuts below the hardpan.

wn.com/Fort_Center
Fort Mims
The Fort Mims massacre occurred on 30 August 1813 during the Creek War, when a force of Creek people, belonging to the "Red Sticks" faction under the command of Peter McQueen and William Weatherford ("Red Eagle"), his cousin by marriage, killed hundreds of Lower Creek, white settlers, and militia at Fort Mims. The fort was a stockade with a blockhouse surrounding the house and outbuildings of the settler Samuel Mims, located about 35 miles north of present-day Mobile, Alabama.
Not understanding about the internal issues among the Creek, the frontier whites were alarmed about rising tensions. The Red Sticks of the Upper Towns opposed the land cessions to settlers and the Lower Towns' assimilation to European-American culture.
The mixed-blood Creek of Tensaw, one of the Lower Towns, joined European-American settlers for refuge at the stockades of Fort Mims. Both groups also brought slaves. There were about 517 settlers, including 265 armed militia., Fort Mims was located about 35 to 45 miles (50–70 km) north of Mobile on the eastern side of the Alabama River.

wn.com/Fort_Mims
France
France (English ⁱ/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

wn.com/France
Franklin, Tennessee
Franklin is a city within and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee. The population was 62,487 as of the 2010 census. Franklin is located approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of downtown Nashville.
Ewen Cameron built the first house in the town of Franklin. Cameron was born February 23, 1768 in Balgalkan, Ferintosh, Scotland. He emigrated to Virginia in 1785 and from there came to Tennessee. Cameron died February 28, 1846, having lived forty-eight years in the same log house. He and his second wife, Mary, are buried in the old City Cemetery. His descendants have lived in Franklin continuously since 1798 when his son Duncan was born.
The City of Franklin was founded October 26, 1799 by Abram Maury, Jr. (1766–1825), who was also a State Senator and is buried with his family in Founders Pointe. Maury named the town after Benjamin Franklin, a close friend of Dr. Hugh Williamson, a member of the Continental Congress for whom Williamson County was named.
The Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, resulting in almost 10,000 casualties (killed, wounded, captured and missing) and turning forty-four buildings in town into field hospitals.

wn.com/Franklin,_Tennessee
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia (ⁱ/ˈdʒɔrdʒⁱə/) is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. Named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 21, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is the 24th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the 50 United States. From 2007 to 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties ranked among the nation's 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South.Atlanta is the state's capital and its most populous city.
Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama; and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina. The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the Appalachian Mountains system. The central piedmont extends from the foothills to the fall line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the continental coastal plain of the southern part of the state. The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald, 4,784 feet (1,458 m); the lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean.

wn.com/Georgia_(U.S._state)
Hickory, Mississippi
Hickory is a town in Newton County, Mississippi. The population was 499 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Andrew Jackson, nicknamed "Old Hickory," who passed through the area on his way to fight the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.
Hickory is located at 32°19′01″N 89°01′24″W / 32.316880°N 89.023376°W / 32.316880; -89.023376.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km²), all land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 499 people, 190 households, and 137 families residing in the town. The population density was 535.9 people per square mile (207.2/km²). There were 207 housing units at an average density of 222.3 per square mile (85.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 43.69% White, 55.11% African American, 0.20% Native American, and 1.00% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.60% of the population.
There were 190 households out of which 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.1% were married couples living together, 24.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.4% were non-families. 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.10.

wn.com/Hickory,_Mississippi
Houston
Houston ( /ˈhjuːstən/) (Alibamu: Yosti ) is the largest city in the state of Texas, and the fourth-largest city in the United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of 656.3 square miles (1,700 km²). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, which is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with 6.08 million people as of July 1st, 2011.
Houston was founded in 1836 on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. It was incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837, and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas—former General Sam Houston—who had commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto, which took place 25 miles (40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.

wn.com/Houston
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County (the town of Raymond is the other),. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census. The 2010 census ascribed a population of 539,005 to the five-county Jackson metropolitan area.
The current slogan for the city is Jackson, Mississippi: City with Soul. Jackson is ranked 3rd out of America's 100 largest metro areas for the best "Bang For Your Buck" city according to Forbes magazine. The study measured overall affordability, housing rates, and more. The city is named after Andrew Jackson, who was still a general at the time of the naming but later became president. The city is the anchor of the Metro area.
USS Jackson (LCS-6) will be the first ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the city.
The region which is now the city of Jackson was historically part of the large territory occupied by the Choctaw Nation, the last of the indigenous peoples who had inhabited the area for thousands of years. The area now called Jackson was obtained by the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Doak's Stand in 1820, by which the Choctaw ceded some of their land. After the treaty was ratified, European-American settlers began to move into the area, so many that they encroached on remaining Choctaw land.

wn.com/Jackson,_Mississippi
Louisiana
Louisiana (ⁱ/luːˌiːziˈænə/ or ⁱ/ˌluːziˈænə/; French: État de Louisiane, [lwizjan] ( listen); Louisiana Creole: Léta de la Lwizyàn) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Louisiana is the 31st most extensive and the 25th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties. The largest parish by population is East Baton Rouge Parish, and the largest by land area is Cameron Parish.
Much of the state was formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp. These contain a rich southern biota; typical examples include birds such as ibis and egrets. There are also many species of tree frogs, and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. In more elevated areas, fire is a natural process in the landscape, and has produced extensive areas of longleaf pine forest and wet savannas. These support an exceptionally large number of plant species including many species of orchids and carnivorus plants.

wn.com/Louisiana
Medicine wheel
Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, were constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground. Most medicine wheels follow the basic pattern of having a center of stone(s), and surrounding that is an outer ring of stones with "spokes", or lines of rocks radiating from the center. Some ancient types of sacred architecture were built by laying stones on the surface of the ground in particular patterns common to aboriginal people.
Originally, medicine wheels are stone structures constructed by certain indigenous peoples of Africa for various astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes. Medicine wheels are still "opened" or inaugurated in Native American spirituality where they are more often referred to as "sacred hoops", which is the favored English rendering by some. There are various native words to describe the ancient forms and types of rock alignments. One teaching involves the description of the four directions.
More recently, syncretic, hybridized uses of medicine wheels, magic circles, and mandala sacred technology are employed in New Age, Wiccan, Pagan and other spiritual discourse throughout the World. The rite of the sacred hoop and medicine wheel differed and differs amongst indigenous traditions, as it now does between non-indigenous peoples, and between traditional and modernist variations. The essential nature of the rite common to these divergent traditions deserves further anthropological exploration as does an exegesis of their valence.

wn.com/Medicine_wheel
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers.
Memphis had a population of 662,897 at the 2010 census, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee, the third largest in the Southeastern United States, and the 20th largest in the United States. The greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, had a 2010 population of 1,316,100. This makes Memphis the second largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville, which has overtaken Memphis in recent years. Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee's major cities. A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian, and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as the "Mid-South".
Because it occupies a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis is a natural location for settlement. The area was first settled by the Mississippian Culture and then by the Chickasaw Indian tribe. For 10,000 years they occupied the bluffs along the river, building a large mound on the bluff. European exploration came later, beginning in the 16th century with Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.

wn.com/Memphis,_Tennessee
Mississippi
Mississippi (ⁱ/ˌmɪsɨˈsɪpi/) is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River"). Mississippi is the 32nd most extensive and the 31st most populous of the 50 United States. The state is heavily forested outside of the Mississippi Delta area, which was cleared for cotton cultivation in the 19th century. Today, its catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. The state symbol is the magnolia grandiflora tree.
Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas.
In addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, and the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake and Grenada Lake. The largest lake in Mississippi is Grenada Lake.

wn.com/Mississippi
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( /moʊˈbiːl/ moh-BEEL) is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest municipality on the Gulf Coast between New Orleans, Louisiana and St. Petersburg, Florida. Mobile is the principal municipality of the Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), a region of 412,992 residents which is composed solely of Mobile County and is the second largest MSA in the state. Mobile is included in the Mobile-Daphne–Fairhope Combined Statistical Area with a total population of 591,599 the second largest combined statistical area in the state behind Birmingham.
Mobile began as the first capital of colonial French Louisiana in 1702. The city gained its name from the Native American Mobilian tribe that the French colonists found in the area of Mobile Bay. During its first 100 years, Mobile was a colony for France, then Britain, and lastly Spain. Mobile first became a part of the United States of America in 1810, with the annexation of West Florida under President James Madison. It then left that union in 1861 when Alabama joined the Confederate States of America, which collapsed in 1865.

wn.com/Mobile,_Alabama
Natchez, Mississippi
Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi. With a total population of 18,464 (according to the 2000 census), it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County. Located on the Mississippi River, some 90 miles southwest of Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, and 85 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it is the eighteenth-largest city in the state. It is named for the Natchez tribe of Native Americans who lived in the vicinity through the arrival of Europeans in the eighteenth century.
Established by French colonists in 1716, Natchez is one of the oldest and most important European settlements in the lower Mississippi River Valley, and served as the capital of the Mississippi Territory and then the state of Mississippi. It antedates Jackson, which replaced Natchez as the capital in 1822, by more than a century. The strategic location of Natchez, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, ensured that it would become a pivotal center of trade, commerce, and the interchange of Native American, European, and African-American cultures in the region for the first two centuries of its existence. In U. S. history, it is recognized particularly for its role in the development of the Old Southwest during the first half of the nineteenth century. It was the southern terminus of the historic Natchez Trace, which provided many pilots of flatboats and keelboats a road back to their homes in the Ohio River Valley after unloading their cargo in the city. Today Natchez serves in the same capacity for the modern Natchez Trace Parkway, which commemorates this route.

wn.com/Natchez,_Mississippi
New Orleans
New Orleans ( /nuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally /nuː ˈɔrlənz/ or /ˈnɔrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city proper was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,214,932.
The city is named after Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France, and is well known for its distinct French Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in America.

wn.com/New_Orleans
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (ⁱ/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/) (Pawnee: Uukuhuúwa , Cayuga: Gahnawiyoˀgeh ) is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Oklahoma is the 20th most extensive and the 28th most populous of the 50 United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people", and it is known informally by its nickname, The Sooner State. Formed by the combination of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was the 46th state to enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans or, informally "Okies", and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.
A major producer of natural gas, oil, and agriculture, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. It has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's primary economic anchors, with nearly 60 percent of Oklahomans living in their metropolitan statistical areas.

wn.com/Oklahoma
Oklahoma Territory
Coordinates: 35°24′N 97°00′W / 35.4°N 97°W / 35.4; -97
The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as the State of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Territory's history began with the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 when the United States Congress set aside land for Native Americans. At the time, the land was unorganized territory that consisted of all the federal land "west of the Mississippi and not within the states of Missouri and Louisiana, or the territory of Arkansas..." By 1856, the territory had been reduced to the modern-day borders of the State of Oklahoma. These lands quickly became known as Indian Territory, as they had been granted to certain Indian nations under the Indian Removal Act, in exchange for their historic territories east of the Mississippi River.
Until this point, Native Americans had exclusively used the land. In 1866, after the American Civil War, the federal government required new treaties with the tribes that had supported the Confederacy, and forced them into land and other concessions. As a result of the Reconstruction Treaties, The Five Civilized Tribes were required to emancipate their slaves and offer them full citizenship in the tribes if they wanted to stay in the Nations. This forced many of the tribes in Indian Territory into making concessions. The US officials forced the cession of some 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km²) of land in the center of the Indian Nation Territory.

wn.com/Oklahoma_Territory
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 51,923. Pensacola is the principal city of the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area, an area with about 455,102 residents in 2009.
Pensacola is a sea port on Pensacola Bay, which connects to the Gulf of Mexico. A large United States Naval Air Station, the first in the United States, is located southwest of Pensacola (near the community of Warrington) and is home to the Blue Angels flight demonstration team and the National Naval Aviation Museum. The main campus of the University of West Florida is situated north of the city center.
Pensacola is nicknamed "The City of Five Flags" due to the five governments that have flown flags over it during its history: the flags of Spain (Castile), France, Great Britain, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. Other nicknames include "World's Whitest Beaches" (due to the white sand prevalent along beaches in the Florida panhandle), "Cradle of Naval Aviation" (Naval Air Station Pensacola is the home of both the legendary Blue Angels and the National Museum of Naval Aviation), "Western Gate to the Sunshine State", "America's First Settlement", "Emerald Coast", "Redneck Riviera", "Red Snapper Capital of the World", and "P-Cola"

wn.com/Pensacola,_Florida
Pueblo Bonito
Pueblo Bonito, the largest and best known Great House in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico, was built by ancestral Pueblo people and occupied between AD 828 and 1126.
In January, 1941, a section of the canyon wall known as Threatening Rock, or tse biyaa anii'ahi (leaning rock gap) in Navajo, collapsed as a result of a rock fall, destroying some of the structure's rear wall and a number of rooms. The builders of Pueblo Bonito appear to have been well aware of this threat. However, they chose to build beneath the fractured stone, which stood 97 feet (30 m) high and weighed approximately 30,000 tons, and compensated by building a structural reinforcement for the slab. Pueblo Bonito was one of the most famous Chaco Sites and was a huge D-shaped building that housed many. (Snow, 130)
In 2009, it was reported that traces of cacao from, at the nearest, 1,200 miles (1,900 km) away in Mexico, were detected in pottery shards at Pueblo Bonito. This was the first demonstration that cacao, important in rituals, had been brought into the area that became the United States at any time before the Spanish arrived around 1500. Cylindrical pottery jars, common in Central America, had previously been found, but are rare. At Pueblo Bonito, 111 jars had been found in one of the 800 or so rooms of the pueblo.

wn.com/Pueblo_Bonito
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important Atlantic seaport. It is Georgia's fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area.
Each year Savannah attracts millions of visitors, who enjoy the city's architecture and historic buildings: the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America), the Georgia Historical Society (the oldest continually operating historical society in the South), the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences (one of the South's first public museums), the First African Baptist Church (one of the oldest African American Baptist congregations in the United States), Temple Mickve Israel (the third oldest synagogue in America), and the Central of Georgia Railway roundhouse complex (the oldest standing antebellum rail facility in America).

wn.com/Savannah,_Georgia
South Carolina
South Carolina (ⁱ/ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/) is a state in the Southeastern United States. It is bordered to the north by North Carolina; to the south and west by Georgia, located across the Savannah River; and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was originally named by King Charles II of England in honor of his father Charles I (Carolus being Latin for Charles). South Carolina was the 8th state to ratify the US Constitution and become a state which it did on May 23, 1788. South Carolina later became the first state to vote to secede from the Union which it did on December 20, 1860. It was readmitted to the United States on June 25, 1868.
South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and the 24th most populous of the 50 United States. South Carolina comprises 46 counties. The capital and largest city of the state is Columbia.

wn.com/South_Carolina
Spain
Spain (ⁱ/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.

wn.com/Spain
State of Sequoyah
The State of Sequoyah was a proposed state to be established in the eastern part of present-day Oklahoma. In 1905, faced by proposals to end their tribal governments, Native Americans of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory proposed such a state as a means to retain some control of their land. Their intention was to have a state under Native American constitution and rule. The proposed state was named in honor of Sequoyah, the Cherokee who created a writing system in 1825 for the Cherokee language.
From 1890 onward, the land that now forms the State of Oklahoma was made up of the Oklahoma Territory (to the west), and the Indian Territory (to the east). The Indian Territory, as its name suggests, had a large Native American population, but European-American settlers had also continued to arrive. The territory had been reduced by required land cessions after the Civil War and through other treaties with the United States. In the 1900 US Census, Native Americans composed 13.4 percent of the population in the future state. In 1905, the Five Civilized Tribes had a total of about 60,000 persons in the Indian Territory; the total population was 600,000.

wn.com/State_of_Sequoyah
Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos (Northern Tiwa) speaking Native American tribe of Pueblo people. It is approximately 1000 years old and lies about 1-mile (1.6 km) north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico, USA. The Red Willow Creek, or Rio Pueblo de Taos (also called Rio Pueblo), is a small stream which flows through the middle of the pueblo from its source in the Sangre de Cristo Range. A reservation of 95,000 acres (380 km²) is attached to the pueblo, and about 1,900 people live in this area.
Taos Pueblo is a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos. The Taos community is known for being one of the most secretive and conservative pueblos.
Taos Pueblo's most prominent architectural feature is a multi-storied residential complex of reddish-brown adobe divided into two parts by the Rio Pueblo. According to the Pueblo's Web site, it was probably built between 1000 and 1450 A.D. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 9, 1960, and in 1992 became a World Heritage Site. As of 2006, about 150 people live in it full-time.

wn.com/Taos_Pueblo
Tchefuncte Site
The Tchefuncte Site (16ST1) is an archaeological site that is a type site for the prehistoric Tchefuncte culture period. The name is pronounced Che-funk'tuh. It is located in the southeast section of Fontainebleau State Park near Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. It was inhabited from 500 BCE to 1 CE during the Tchula period. Major excavations were directed by Clarence Johnson in 1938 and Edwin Doran in 1941.
The Tchefuncte Site is located in the marsh half a mile north of Lake Pontchartrain in extreme eastern Louisiana. The Tchefuncte Site originally contained two oval-shaped shell middens, designated Midden A and Midden B. Midden A is about 52 meters long, 15 m wide, and 1.5 m thick. Midden B was approximately 46 m (151 ft) long and 33 m (108 ft) wide, but it is no longer in existence. The middens were composed mainly of shells of the brackish-water clam Rangia cuneata. At the time of the occupation just to the east of the site was a large bayou of fresh water emptying into the lake, and shortly after the occupation it shifted its course to a point about three quarters of a mile farther east.

wn.com/Tchefuncte_Site
Tennessee
Tennessee (ⁱ/tɛnɨˈsiː/) (Cherokee: ᏔᎾᏏ) is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. Tennessee is the 36th most extensive and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 626,144.Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 670,902.
The state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, and the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war.

wn.com/Tennessee
Texas
Texas (ⁱ/ˈtɛksəs/) (Alibamu: Teksi ) is the second most populous and the second most extensive of the 50 United States, and the most extensive state of the 48 contiguous United States. The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas. Located in the South Central United States, Texas shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south, and borders the US states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²), and a growing population of 25.7 million residents.
During the Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas: La Provincia de Texas. Antonio Margil de Jesús was known to be the first person to use the name in a letter to the Viceroy of Mexico in July 20, 1716. The name was not popularly used in daily speech but often appeared in legal documents until the end of the 1800s.

wn.com/Texas
Tombigbee River
The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi (325 km) long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. It is one of two major rivers, along with the Alabama River, that unite to form the short Mobile River before it empties into Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The Tombigbee watershed encompasses much of the rural coastal plain of western Alabama and northeastern Mississippi, flowing generally southward. The river provides one of the principal routes of commercial navigation in the southern United States, navigable along much of its length through locks and connected in its upper reaches to the Tennessee River via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
The name "Tombigbee" comes from Choctaw /itumbi ikbi/, meaning "box maker, coffin maker", from /itumbi/, "box, coffin", and /ikbi/, "maker". The river formed the eastern boundary of the historical Choctaw people lands, from the 17th century when they coalesced as a people, to the forced Indian Removal by the United States in the 1830s.

wn.com/Tombigbee_River
Tucker, Mississippi
Tucker is a census-designated place (CDP) in Neshoba County, Mississippi. The population was 534 at the 2000 census.
Tucker is located at 32°42′24″N 89°3′22″W / 32.70667°N 89.05611°W / 32.70667; -89.05611 (32.706559, -89.055984).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.6 km²), of which 3.7 square miles (9.6 km²) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²) (0.55%) is water.
As of the census of 2000, there were 534 people, 154 households, and 125 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 146.4 people per square mile (56.5/km²). There were 159 housing units at an average density of 43.6/sq mi (16.8/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 5.99% White, 0.19% African American, 92.88% Native American, 0.56% from other races, and 0.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.56% of the population.
There were 154 households out of which 53.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.8% were married couples living together, 34.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.2% were non-families. 14.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.47 and the average family size was 3.76.

wn.com/Tucker,_Mississippi
United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

wn.com/United_States
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a federal district to become the national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution. The District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. It was formed from land along the Potomac River donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia; however, the Virginia portion was returned by Congress in 1846.
A new capital city named after George Washington was founded in 1791 to the east of the preexisting port of Georgetown. Congress consolidated the City of Washington, Georgetown, and the remaining unincorporated area within the District under a single municipal government in 1871. The city shares its name with the U.S. state of Washington, located on the country's Pacific coast.
Washington, D.C., had an estimated population of 617,996 in 2011. The city was the 24th most populous place in the United States as of 2010. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's population to over one million during the workweek. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District is a part, has a population of nearly 5.6 million, the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country.

wn.com/Washington,_D.C.
Yazoo River
The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
The Yazoo River was named by French explorer La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's mouth. The exact meaning of the term is unclear. One long held belief is that it means "river of death".
The river is 188 miles (303 km) long and is formed by the confluence of the Tallahatchie River and the Yalobusha River in Greenwood. The river parallels the Mississippi River in the latter's floodplain for some distance before joining it north of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Natural levees which flank the Mississippi prevent the Yazoo from joining it before Vicksburg. A "yazoo stream" is a hydrologic term which was coined to describe any river or major stream with similar characteristics.
The French (and later European Americans) historically called the surrounding area of Mississippi and Alabama the Yazoo lands, after the river. This became the basis for naming the Yazoo Land Scandal of the late 18th and early 19th century.

wn.com/Yazoo_River

African Americans
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.
African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.
African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.

wn.com/African_Americans
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.
African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.
African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.

wn.com/African-American
Alachua culture
The Alachua culture is defined as a Late Woodland Southeast period archaeological culture in north-central Florida, dating from around AD700 to 1700. It is found in an area roughly corresponding to present-day Alachua County, the northern half of Marion County and the western part of Putnam County. It was preceded by the Cades Pond culture, which inhabited approximately the same area.
The archeologist Jerald Milanich suggests that the people of the Alachua culture were immigrants from what is now Georgia. Early Alachua culture pottery resembled that of the Ocmulgee culture found along the Ocmulgee River. The Ocmulgee immigrants were either already practicing agriculture or adopted it shortly after arriving, and settled in upland areas suitable for agriculture. These areas had been little used by the Cades Pond people, who had occupied areas in wetlands. The Cades Pond people disappeared soon after the arrival of the Alachua culture people.
The Alachua culture period has been divided into four sub-periods; the Hickory Pond period (700 to 1250), Alachua period (1250-1585), Potano I period (1585-1630), and Potano II period (1630-1702). At the time of first contact with Spanish explorers, the Alachua culture area was occupied by the historical Potano Indians, a branch of the Timucua. They spoke the Potano dialect of the Timucua language. The Potano I and II periods correspond to the presence of Spanish missions in Potano villages.

wn.com/Alachua_culture
Albert Pike
Albert Pike (December 29, 1809–April 2, 1891) was an attorney, Confederate officer, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C.^{[citation needed]} (in Judiciary Square).
Pike was born in Boston, Massachusetts, son of Ben and Sarah (Andrews) Pike, and spent his childhood in Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. His colonial ancestors included John Pike (1613-1688/1689), the founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey. He attended school in Newburyport and Framingham until he was 15. In August 1825, he passed entrance exams at Harvard University, though when the college requested payment of tuition fees for the first two years which he had successfully challenged by examination, he chose not to attend. He began a program of self-education, later becoming a schoolteacher in Gloucester, North Bedford, Fairhaven and Newburyport.
In 1831, Pike left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in St. Louis and later moving on to Independence, Missouri. In Independence, he joined an expedition to Taos, New Mexico, hunting and trading. During the excursion his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining 500 miles to Taos. After this he joined a trapping expedition to the Llano Estacado in New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal and, after traveling about 1300 miles (650 on foot), he finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

wn.com/Albert_Pike
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837). Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814), and the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815). A polarizing figure who dominated the Second Party System in the 1820s and 1830s, as president he destroyed the national bank and relocated most Indian tribes from the Southeast to west of the Mississippi River. His enthusiastic followers created the modern Democratic Party. The 1830–1850 period later became known as the era of Jacksonian democracy.
Jackson was nicknamed "Old Hickory" because of his toughness and aggressive personality; he fought in duels, some fatal to his opponents. He was a rich slaveholder, who appealed to the common men of the United States, and fought politically against what he denounced as a closed, undemocratic aristocracy. He expanded the spoils system during his presidency to strengthen his political base.

wn.com/Andrew_Jackson
Apuckshunubbee
Apuckshunubbee (ca. 1740–October 18, 1824) was one of three principal chiefs of the Choctaw Native American tribe in the early nineteenth century, from before 1800. He led the western or Okla Falaya (Tall People) District in present-day Mississippi. There were also the eastern and southern districts.
During the early 1800s, Apuckshunubbee and the other two division chiefs signed several treaties with the United States, ceding land to settlers in the hope of ending their encroachment on Choctaw territory. On his way to Washington, DC in 1824 with the other two division chiefs and a Choctaw delegation to meet with US officials, Apukshunubbee suffered a fall and died. His name was also spelled as Apvkshvnvbbee, Apυkshυnυbbee, Puckshenubbee, Pukshunnubbu, and Pukshunnubbee.
Apuckshunubbee was likely born into a high-status family and clan; the Choctaw had a matrilineal system of property and hereditary leadership. Children belonged to their mother's clan, and her brothers would have been more important to his upbringing than his biological father, who belonged to a different clan.

wn.com/Apuckshunubbee
B.F. Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts. In 1868, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Butler had a prominent role in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson . As Chairman of the House Committee on Reconstruction, Butler authored the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant, that gave federal authority to prosecute and destroy the Klan in the South. Butler authored, along with Sen. Charles Sumner, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, signed into law by President Grant. This law, a final act of Reconstruction, gave African American U.S. citizens the right to public accommodation such as hotels, restaurants, lodging, and public entertainment establishments.

wn.com/B.F._Butler
Belle Glade culture
The Belle Glade culture, or Okeechobee culture, is an archaeological culture that existed from as early as 1000 BCE until about 1700 in the area surrounding Lake Okeechobee and in the Kissimmee River valley in the U.S. state of Florida.
Major archaeological sites of the Belle Glade culture include Belle Glade, Big Mound City, the Boynton Mound complex, Fort Center, Ortona and Tony's Mound. The Belle Glade site, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of the city of Belle Glade, which gave its name to the culture, and Big Mound City, 15 miles (24 km) south of Belle Glade, were partially excavated in 1933 and 1934 by a Civil Works Administration project supervised by Matthew Stirling. A report and analysis of the two sites was published by Gordon Willey in 1948. The best known site, Fort Center, was the subject of major excavations under the direction of William Sears during the 1970s. Other sites are known from test excavations and/or aerial surveys.
The cultural area is defined on the basis of a unique combination of mounds, earthworks and pottery, which have been found around Lake Okeechobee and as far north as Lake Kissimmee. The area has poor, sandy soils, low elevation with low relief (with some higher relief along the western and northern edges of the Kissimmee Valley), and many bodies of water and wetlands. The area consists of pine and palmetto flatlands, wet prairies, hammocks of live oak and cabbage palm, and cypress swamps. The pine and palmetto flatwoods of eastern Martin and Palm Beach counties, sometimes called the East Okeechobee area, and the Kissimmee Valley north of Lake Kissimmee to Lake Tohopekaliga may have also been part of the Belle Glade culture, based on the presence of high numbers of Belle Glade type pottery, and in the northern Kissimmee Valley, similar mounds and earthworks.

wn.com/Belle_Glade_culture
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901) was the 23rd President of the United States (1889–1893). Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there. During the American Civil War, he served the Union as a Brigadier General in the XX Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. After the war he unsuccessfully ran for the governorship of Indiana, and was later appointed to the U.S. Senate from that state.
Harrison, a Republican, was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland. His administration is most remembered for economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Antitrust Act, and for annual federal spending that reached one billion dollars for the first time. Democrats attacked the "Billion Dollar Congress", and used the issue, along with the growing unpopularity of the high tariff, to defeat the Republicans, both in the 1890 mid-term elections and in Harrison's bid for re-election in 1892. Harrison advocated, although unsuccessfully, for federal education funding and legislation to protect voting rights for African Americans. He also saw the admittance of six states into the Union.

wn.com/Benjamin_Harrison
Benjamin Hawkins
Benjamin Hawkins (August 15, 1754 – June 6, 1816) was an American planter, statesman, and United States Indian agent . He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a United States Senator from North Carolina, having grown up among the planter elite. Appointed by George Washington as General Superintendent for Indian Affairs (1796–1818), he had responsibility for the territory of the Southeast south of the Ohio River, and was principal Indian agent to the Creek Indians.
Hawkins established the Creek Agency and his plantation in present-day Georgia, where he lived in what became Crawford County. He learned the Muscogee language, was adopted by the tribe and married Lavinia Downs, a Creek woman, with whom he had seven children. He wrote extensively about the Creek and other Southeast tribes: the Choctaw, Cherokee and Chickasaw. He eventually built a large complex with African slave labor, including mills, and raised considerable livestock in cattle and hogs.
Hawkins was born to Philemon and Delia Martin Hawkins on August 15, 1754, the third of four sons. The family farmed and operated a plantation in what was then Granville County, North Carolina, but is now Warren County. He attended the College of New Jersey, later to become Princeton, but left in his last year to join the Continental Army. Hawkins was commissioned a Colonel and served for several years on George Washington's staff as his main interpreter of French.

wn.com/Benjamin_Hawkins
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens ( /ˈtʃɑrlz ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic who is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period and the creator of some of the world's most memorable fictional characters. During his lifetime Dickens' works enjoyed unprecedented popularity and fame, but it was in the twentieth century that his literary genius was fully recognized by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to enjoy an enduring popularity among the general reading public.
Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens left school to work in a factory after his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Though he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. He edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

wn.com/Charles_Dickens
Cherokee
The Cherokee (/ˈtʃɛrəkiː/; Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩ Tsalagi) are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States (principally Georgia, the Carolinas and East Tennessee). Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family. In the 19th century, historians and ethnographers recorded their oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples were located. They began to have contact with European traders in the 18th century.
In the 19th century, white settlers in the United States called the Cherokee one of the "Five Civilized Tribes", because they had assimilated numerous cultural and technological practices of European American settlers. The Cherokee were one of the first, if not the first, major non-European ethnic group to become U.S. citizens. Article 8 in the 1817 treaty with the Cherokee stated Cherokees may wish to become citizen of the United States. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 members, the largest of the 565 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States.

wn.com/Cherokee
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee). They are of the Muskogean language family and are federally recognized as the Chickasaw Nation.
Sometime prior to the first European contact, the Chickasaw migrated from western regions and moved east of the Mississippi River, where they settled mostly in present-day northeast Mississippi. That is where they encountered European explorers and traders, having relationships with French, English and Spanish during the colonial years. The Chickasaw were considered by the United States (US) as one of the Five Civilized Tribes, as they adopted numerous practices of European Americans. Resisting European-American settlers encroaching on their territory, the Chickasaw were forced by the US to sell their country in 1832 and move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) during the era of Indian Removal in the 1830s.
Most Chickasaw now live in Oklahoma. The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma is the 13th largest federally recognized tribe in the United States. They are related to the Choctaw and share a common history with them. The Chickasaw are divided in two groups (moities): the Impsaktea and the Intcutwalipa. They traditionally had a matrilineal system, in which children were considered to be part of the mother's clan, where they gained their status. Some property was controlled by women, and it and hereditary leadership among the tribe passed through the maternal line.

wn.com/Chickasaw
Chief Tuscaloosa
Tuskaloosa (aka Tuskalusa, Tastaluca, Tuskaluza) (died 1540) was a paramount chief of a Mississippian chiefdom in what is now the U.S. state of Alabama. His people were possibly ancestors to the several southern Native American confederacies (the Choctaw and Creek peoples) who later emerged in the region. The modern city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama is named for him.
Tuskaloosa is notable for leading the Battle of Mabila at his fortified village against the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto. After being taken hostage by the Spanish as they passed through his territory, Tuskaloosa organized a surprise attack on his captors at Mabila, but was ultimately defeated.
Contemporary records describe the paramount chief as being very tall and well built, with some of the chroniclers saying Tuaskaloosa stood a foot and a half taller than the Spaniards. His name, derived from the western Muskogean language elements taska and losa, means "Black Warrior".
Tuskaloosa and his chiefdom are recorded in the chronicles of Hernando de Soto's expedition, which arrived in North America in 1539. De Soto had been appointed Governor of Cuba by Carlos I of Spain, who directed him to conquer Florida, which was taken to comprise what is now the Southern United States, as adelantado. In 1539, De Soto landed near Tampa, Florida with 600-1,000 men and 200 horses and began a circuitous exploration of modern-day Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, often engaging in violent conflict with the indigenous American Indians. As they traveled, the expedition kidnapped natives to act as bearers and interpreters of the many different language families (Muskogean, Yamasee, Iroquoian Cherokee, and others) of the Southeast. The conquistadors frequently would take a local chief hostage to guarantee safe passage through his territory. By October 1540, the Expedition had reached the middle of modern-day Alabama.

wn.com/Chief_Tuscaloosa
Choctaw mythology
Choctaw mythology is related to Choctaws, a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States (Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana). In the 19th century, Choctaws were known as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" because they had integrated numerous cultural and technological practices of their European American neighbors. Today the Choctaws have four tribes, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians.
The Choctaw and their ancestors have lived in the Mississippi region for about 4000 to 8000 years. Thousands of years of myth and story-making have contributed to a rich collection of history that spans the centuries. The Choctaw continue to tell and write about the legends that many have experienced in the American Deep South.
The Choctaw who remain in Mississippi tell this story as an explanation of how they came to the land where they live now and of how Nanih Waiya Mound came to be.

wn.com/Choctaw_mythology
Code talker
Code talkers was a term used to describe people who talk using a coded language. It is frequently used to describe 400 Native American Marines who served in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages. Code talkers transmitted these messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using formal or informally developed codes built upon their native languages. Their service improved communications in terms of speed of encryption at both ends in front line operations during World War II.
The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by Choctaw Indians serving in the U.S. Army during World War I. These soldiers are referred to as Choctaw Code Talkers.
Other Native American code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Lakota Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers. Soldiers of Basque ancestry were used for code talking by the U.S. Marines during World War II in areas where other Basque speakers were not expected to be operating.

wn.com/Code_talker
Codetalkers
Code talkers was a term used to describe people who talk using a coded language. It is frequently used to describe 400 Native American Marines who served in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages. Code talkers transmitted these messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using formal or informally developed codes built upon their native languages. Their service improved communications in terms of speed of encryption at both ends in front line operations during World War II.
The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by Choctaw Indians serving in the U.S. Army during World War I. These soldiers are referred to as Choctaw Code Talkers.
Other Native American code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Lakota Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers. Soldiers of Basque ancestry were used for code talking by the U.S. Marines during World War II in areas where other Basque speakers were not expected to be operating.

wn.com/Codetalkers
Cyrus Byington
Cyrus Byington was a White Christian missionary from Massachusetts who worked with the Choctaw in Mississippi and later in Indian Territory, later called Oklahoma, during 19th century. He set out to construct a lexicon of the Choctaw language in order to translate Christian prayers, hymns, and bible passages. Byington's work is considered one of the most complete lexicons for a Native American language. He worked for nearly fifty years translating Choctaw as a written language.
The Choctaw language is a member of the Muskogean family and was well known among the frontiersmen, such as U.S. President Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison, of the early 19th century. The language is closely related to Chickasaw and some linguists consider the two dialects a single language. The following table is an example of Choctaw text and its translation:
The written Choctaw language is based upon English version of the Roman alphabet and was developed in conjunction with the civilization program of the United States in the early 19th century. Byington's alphabet and a version modified by John Swanton is seen here.

wn.com/Cyrus_Byington
Deptford culture
The Deptford culture (800 BCE—700 CE) was characterized by the appearance of elaborate ceremonial complexes, increasing social and political complexity, mound burial, permanent settlements, population growth, and an increasing reliance on cultigens.
Deptford is named for the Deptford area near Savannah, Georgia. The culture is defined by the presence of sand-tempered pottery decorated with the impressions of carved wooden paddles that were pressed against the vessels before they were fired. The sand-tempering distinguishes Deptford ceramics from the fiber-tempered ceramics of the late-Archaic Stallings Island/St. Simons, Orange, and Norwood cultures that preceded it. Other contemporary cultures of the southeastern United States also produced paddle decorated ceramics.(Milanich 1973, p. 51)(Milanich 1994, pp. 111-12)
The Deptford culture was oriented to the coast. From northern Georgia it spread along the Atlantic coast, reaching Cape Fear, North Carolina to the north and the mouth of the St. Johns River to the south. The Deptford culture also spread along the Gulf of Mexico coast, reaching from the Perdido River on the western border of Florida to Tampa Bay on the lower west coast of Florida. Deptford culture appeared in Florida around 500 BCE. The Deptford culture in the Gulf region (Florida Panhandle, southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia) evolved into the Swift Creek and Santa Rosa-Swift Creek cultures around 200 CE, while the culture in the Atlantic coastal region continued until about 700.(Milanich 1973, p. 51)(Milanich 1994, pp. 112, 114-15, 142-44)

wn.com/Deptford_culture
Donna Ladd
Donna Ladd (born 1961 in Philadelphia, Mississippi) is an American investigative journalist who helped create The Jackson Free Press, an award-winning freely distributed newsweekly. She has received international recognition for her racial reconciliation efforts in Mississippi and nationally^{[citation needed]}, helping bring "cold" civil rights cases to justice^{[citation needed]} and for her coverage of Frank Melton, the controversial mayor of Jackson, Mississippi.
Ladd was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi. In 1983, Ladd completed her B.A. in Political Science at Mississippi State University^{[citation needed]} and left to pursue a career in journalism. She helped start The Colorado Springs Independent,Colorado Springs' first alternative newsweekly^{[citation needed]}, in 1993. After editing and then writing for the paper for several years, she moved to New York City where she wrote for The Village Voice[5] and pursued a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Ladd returned to Jackson, Mississippi. She lives with author and Jackson Free Press publisher and technology/blogging consultant Todd Stauffer, her partner of 10 years.

wn.com/Donna_Ladd
Effigy mound
An effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, human, or other figure. Effigy mounds were primarily built during the Late Woodland Period (AD 350-1300).
Effigy mounds were constructed in many Native American cultures. Scholars believe they were primarily for religious purposes, although some also fulfilled a burial mound function. The builders of the effigy mounds are usually referred to as the Mound Builders. Native American societies in Wisconsin built more effigy mounds than did those in any other region of North America—between 15,000 and 20,000 mounds, at least 4,000 of which remain today.^{[citation needed]}
Native North American effigy mounds have been compared to the large-scale geoglyphs such as the Nazca Lines of Peru.
Effigy mounds may have been observed by the Spanish during Hernando de Soto's exploration of the North American continent between 1539 and 1543. This expedition discovered Indian mounds of varying shapes and sizes all over what is now the Southern and Central United States, stretching from Florida to Ohio to Texas, but most likely did not travel far north enough to discover animal-shaped mounds. Effigy mounds are limited to the Northern and Eastern United States, and most likely the French were the first Europeans to see them in their expeditions southward from Canada after 1673.

wn.com/Effigy_mound
Ernest Istook
Ernest James Istook Jr. (born February 11, 1950, in Fort Worth, Texas) is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 5th congressional district. He held his congressional seat for 14 years, completing seven terms in the House. Currently, Istook is a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and also a talk radio host. In 2010 Istook became a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School leading a study on Propaganda in American Politics
Istook was a member of the Appropriations and the Homeland Security committees. He was the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2006, running against incumbent Democratic Gov. Brad Henry. Istook lost the gubernatorial race by a very wide margin, getting only 33.5% of the vote to Henry's 66.5%.
Istook's grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Hungary through Ellis Island and spoke Hungarian at home. He graduated from Castleberry High School in Fort Worth, Texas in 1967 and received a bachelor of arts degree from Baylor University (in Waco, Texas) in 1971. He eventually moved to Warr Acres, a suburb of Oklahoma City.

wn.com/Ernest_Istook
Fremont culture
The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah where the first Fremont sites were discovered. The Fremont River itself is named for John Charles Frémont, an American explorer. It inhabited sites in what is now Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from AD 700 to 1300. It was adjacent to, roughly contemporaneous with, but distinctly different from the Anasazi culture.
Fremont Indian State Park in the Clear Creek Canyon area in south-central Utah contains the biggest Fremont culture site in Utah. A recent, major discovery of a new site at Range Creek, Utah, has drawn a great deal of interest because it has stayed undisturbed for centuries. Nearby Nine Mile Canyon has long been known for its large collection of Fremont rock art. Other sites are found in Dinosaur National Monument, Zion National Park and Arches National Park.

wn.com/Fremont_culture
George Catlin
George Catlin (July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.
Catlin was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. As a child growing up in Pennsylvania, Catlin had spent many hours hunting, fishing, and looking for American Indian artifacts. His fascination with Native Americans was kindled by his mother, who told him stories of the western frontier and how she was captured by a tribe when she was a young girl. Years later, a group of Native Americans came through Philadelphia dressed in their colorful costumes and made quite an impression on Catlin.
His early work included engravings drawn from nature of sites along the route of the Erie Canal in New York State. Several of his renderings were published in one of the first printed books to use lithography, Cadwallader D. Colden's Memoir, Prepared at the Request of a Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, and Presented to the Mayor of the City, at the Celebration of the Completion of the New York Canals, published in 1825, with early images of the City of Buffalo.

wn.com/George_Catlin
George W. Harkins
George W. Harkins (1810–1861) was an attorney and prominent chief of the Choctaw tribe during the Indian removals. Elected as principal chief after the national council deposed his maternal uncle, Greenwood LeFlore, in 1834 Harkins was elected judge of the Red River District in Indian Territory. In 1850, he was chosen as chief of the Apukshunnubbee District (one of three) of the Choctaw Nation, where he served until 1857.
George Washington Harkins was born into a high-status Choctaw clan through his mother, Louisa "Lusony" LeFlore. His father was John Harkins, a European American. His oldest maternal uncle, traditionally the most important mentor to a boy child, was Greenwood LeFlore, chief of the Choctaw. Harkins learned from both his cultures, but identified as Choctaw first and foremost.
Harkins was educated at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. He earned a law degree from Cumberland University.
Harkins married a total of three women: Lilly Spring, Mary Wilson and Lily Folsom, whose mother was part-Choctaw and from a prominent clan. He had several children with them who survived to adulthood: Richard, Sarah, Catherine, Ellen, David Folsom "Dave" Harkins (1828 - 1879), Susan (b. 1830- ), Cornelia, Henry Clay Harkins (1833-1886), Loren (b. 1835- ), and Mary Jane Harkins (b. 1837- ). All belonged to their mother's clans and gained status in the tribe through them.

wn.com/George_W._Harkins
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States of America, serving from 1789 to 1797, and the dominant military and political leader of the United States from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of the Constitution in 1787. Washington became the first president, by unanimous choice, and oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types. His leadership style established many forms and rituals of government that have been used since, such as using a cabinet system and delivering an inaugural address. Washington is universally regarded as the "Father of his country."

wn.com/George_Washington
Gideon Lincecum
Gideon Lincecum (Born in France 22 April 1793 – 28 November 1874) was an American pioneer, historian, physician, philosopher, and naturalist. Lincecum is known for his exploration and settlement of what are now the U.S. states of Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies. Lincecum had good relations with American Indians as he explored the wilderness in the American Deep South. He was son of Hezekiah and Sally (Hickman) Lincecum, and was born in Warren County, Georgia, on April 22, 1793. Lincecum was self-educated. He spent his boyhood principally in the company of Muskogees. After successive moves, he and his wife, the former Sarah Bryan, moved in 1818 with his parents and siblings to the Tombigbee River above the site of present Columbus, Mississippi.
While living among the Choctaw in Mississippi, he recorded their legends and traditions in the Choctaw language. After moving to Texas, he translated it to English as the Chahta Tradition.

wn.com/Gideon_Lincecum
Greenwood Leflore
Greenwood LeFlore or Greenwood Le Fleur (June 3, 1800 – August 31, 1865) was elected Principal Chief of the Choctaw in 1830 before removal. Before that, the nation was governed by three district chiefs and a council of chiefs. A wealthy and regionally influential Choctaw of mixed-race, who belonged to the Choctaw elite due to his mother's rank, LeFlore had many connections in state and federal government. In 1830 LeFlore led other chiefs in signing the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which ceded the remaining Choctaw lands in Mississippi to the US government and agreed to removal to Indian Territory. It also provided that Choctaw who chose to stay in Mississippi would have reserved lands, but the United States government failed to follow through on this provision.
While many of the leaders realized removal was inevitable, others opposed the treaty and made death threats against LeFlore. He stayed in Mississippi, where he settled in Carroll County and accepted United States citizenship. He was elected to the state government as a legislator and senator in the 1840s. During the American Civil War, he sided with the Union.

wn.com/Greenwood_Leflore
Greenwood LeFlore
Greenwood LeFlore or Greenwood Le Fleur (June 3, 1800 – August 31, 1865) was elected Principal Chief of the Choctaw in 1830 before removal. Before that, the nation was governed by three district chiefs and a council of chiefs. A wealthy and regionally influential Choctaw of mixed-race, who belonged to the Choctaw elite due to his mother's rank, LeFlore had many connections in state and federal government. In 1830 LeFlore led other chiefs in signing the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which ceded the remaining Choctaw lands in Mississippi to the US government and agreed to removal to Indian Territory. It also provided that Choctaw who chose to stay in Mississippi would have reserved lands, but the United States government failed to follow through on this provision.
While many of the leaders realized removal was inevitable, others opposed the treaty and made death threats against LeFlore. He stayed in Mississippi, where he settled in Carroll County and accepted United States citizenship. He was elected to the state government as a legislator and senator in the 1840s. During the American Civil War, he sided with the Union.

wn.com/Greenwood_LeFlore
Grover Norquist
Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is best known as the promoter of the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", which was signed by 95% of all Republican Congressmen and all but one of the 2012 Republican presidential candidates, to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, as well as net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate.
Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (née Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist, a vice president of Polaroid Corporation. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age and in his early teenage years he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts. He graduated from Weston High School and enrolled at Harvard University in 1974, where he obtained both a B.A. and an M.B.A.. While in college, Norquist was an editor at the Harvard Crimson and helped to publish the libertarian-leaning Harvard Chronicle. Norquist has said: "When I became 21, I decided that nobody learned anything about politics after the age of 21." He attended the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia, an organization that teaches conservative Americans how to influence public policy through activism and leadership.

wn.com/Grover_Norquist
Henry Knox
Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War.
Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, he owned and operated a bookstore there, cultivating an interest in military history and joining a local artillery company. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, he befriended General George Washington, and quickly rose to become the chief artillery officer of the Continental Army. In this role he accompanied Washington on most of his campaigns, and had some involvement in many major actions of the war. He established training centers for artillerymen and manufacturing facilities for weaponry that were valuable assets to the fledgling nation.
Following the adoption of the United States Constitution, he became President Washington's Secretary of War. In this role he oversaw the development of coastal fortifications, worked to improve the preparedness of local militia, and oversaw the nation's military activity in the Northwest Indian War. He was formally responsible for the nation's relationship with the Indian population in the territories it claimed, articulating a policy that established federal government supremacy over the states in relating to Indian nations, and called for treating Indian nations as sovereign. Knox's idealistic views on the subject were frustrated by ongoing illegal settlements and fraudulent land transfers involving Indian lands.

wn.com/Henry_Knox
Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto (c.1496/1497–1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River.
A vast undertaking, de Soto's North American expedition ranged throughout the southeastern United States searching for gold and a passage to China. De Soto died in 1542 on the banks of the Mississippi River in Arkansas or Louisiana.
Hernando de Soto was born to parents who were hidalgos of modest means in Extremadura, a region of poverty and hardship from which many young people looked for ways to seek their fortune elsewhere. Two towns—Badajoz and Barcarrota—claim to be his birthplace. He spent time as a child at each place, and he stipulated in his will that his body be interred at Jerez de los Caballeros, where other members of his family were interred. The age of the Conquerors came on the heels of the Spanish reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from Islamic forces. Spain and Portugal were filled with young men seeking a chance for military fame after the Moors were defeated. With discovery of new lands to the west (which they thought at the time to be East Asia), the poor young men were attracted to whispers of glory and wealth.

wn.com/Hernando_de_Soto
Hohokam
Hohokam (hə-hō'kəm) is one of the four major prehistoric archaeological Oasisamerica traditions of what is now the American Southwest. Many local residents put the accent on the first syllable (ho'-ho-kahm). Variant spellings in current, official usage include Hobokam, Huhugam and Huhukam. The culture was differentiated from others in the region in the 2000s by archaeologist Harold S. Gladwin, who applied the existing O'odham term, to classify the remains he was excavating in the Lower Gila Valley. According to the U.S. National Park Service Website, Hohokam is a Pima (O'odham) word used by archaeologists to identify a group of people who lived in the Sonoran Desert of North America.
According to local oral tradition, the Hohokam may be the ancestors of the historic Akimel O'odham and Tohono O'odham peoples in Southern Arizona. Recent work among the Sobaipuri, ancient ancestors of the modern Pima, indicates that Pima groups were present in this region at the end of the Hohokam sequence.

wn.com/Hohokam
Hopewell tradition
The Hopewell tradition (also incorrectly called the "Hopewell culture"^{[citation needed]}) is the term used to describe common aspects of the Native American culture that flourished along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States from 200 BCE to 500 CE. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society, but a widely dispersed set of related populations. They were connected by a common network of trade routes, known as the Hopewell Exchange System. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell exchange system ran from the Southeastern United States into the southeastern Canadian shores of Lake Ontario. Within this area societies participated in a high degree of exchange with the highest amount of activity along waterways. The Hopewell exchange system received materials from all over the United States. Most of the items traded were exotic materials and were received by people living in the major trading and manufacturing areas. These people then converted the materials into products and exported them through local and regional exchange networks. The objects created by the Hopewell exchange system spread far and wide and have been seen in many burials outside the Midwest.

wn.com/Hopewell_tradition
Horned Serpent
The Horned Serpent appears in the mythologies of many Native Americans. Details vary among tribes, with many of the stories associating the mystical figure with water, rain, lightning and/or thunder. Horned Serpents were major components of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of North American prehistory.
Horned serpents also appear in European and Near Eastern mythology.
Horned serpents appear in the oral history of numerous Native American cultures, especially in the Southeastern Woodlands and Great Lakes.
Muscogee Creek traditions include a Horned Serpent and a Tie-Snake, estakwvnayv in the Muscogee Creek language. These are sometimes interpreted as being the same creature and sometimes different — similar, but the Horned Serpent is larger than the Tie-Snake. To the Muscogee people, the Horned Serpent is a type of underwater serpent covered with iridescent, crystalline scales and a single, large crystal in its forehead. Both the scales and crystals are prized for their powers of divination. The horns, called chitto gab-by, were used in medicine. Jackson Lewis, a Muscogee Creek informant to John R. Swanton, said, "This snake lives in the water has has horns like the stag. It is not a bad snake. ... It does not harm human beings but seems to have a magnetic power over game." In stories, the Horned Serpent enjoyed eating sumac, Rhus glabra.

wn.com/Horned_Serpent
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forager society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species.
Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were hunter-gatherers until around 10,000 years ago. Following the invention of agriculture hunter-gatherers have been displaced by farming or pastoralist groups in most parts of the world. Only a few contemporary societies are classified as hunter-gatherers, and many supplement, sometimes extensively, their foraging activity with farming and/or keeping animals.
The earliest humans probably lived primarily on scavenging, not actual hunting. Early humans in the Lower Paleolithic lived in mixed habitats which allowed them to collect seafood, eggs, nuts, and fruits besides scavenging. Rather than killing large animals themselves for meat, they used carcasses of large animals killed by other predators or carcasses from animals that died by natural causes.

wn.com/Hunter-gatherer
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as "indigenous" according to one of the various definitions of the term, though there is no universally accepted definition.
In the late twentieth century, the term began to be used primarily to refer to ethnic groups that have historical ties to groups that existed in a territory prior to colonization or formation of a nation state, and which normally preserve a degree of cultural and political separation from the mainstream culture and political system of the nation state within the border of which the indigenous group is located. The political sense of the term defines these groups as particularly vulnerable to exploitation and oppression by nation states. As a result, a special set of political rights in accordance with international law have been set forth by international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. The United Nations have issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and natural resources. Depending on which precise definition of "indigenous people" used, and on the census, estimates of a world total population of Indigenous people range from 220 million Indigenous peoples in 1997 to 350 million in 2004.

wn.com/Indigenous_peoples
James Monroe
James Monroe (April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831) was the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation. His presidency was marked both by an "Era of Good Feelings" – a period of relatively little partisan strife – and later by the Panic of 1819 and a fierce national debate over the admission of the Missouri Territory. Monroe is most noted for his proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which stated that the United States would not tolerate further European intervention in the Americas.
Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was injured in the Battle of Trenton with a musket ball to his shoulder. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress. As an anti-federalist delegate to the Virginia convention that considered ratification of the United States Constitution, Monroe opposed ratification, claiming it gave too much power to the central government. Nonetheless, Monroe took an active part in the new government and in 1790 he was elected to the Senate of the first United States Congress, where he joined the Jeffersonians. He gained experience as an executive as the Governor of Virginia and rose to national prominence when as a diplomat in France he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Monroe was of French and Scottish descent.

wn.com/James_Monroe
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history. Davis was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane (Cook) Davis. After attending Transylvania University, Davis graduated from West Point and fought in the Mexican–American War as a colonel of a volunteer regiment. He served as the United States Secretary of War under Democratic President Franklin Pierce. Both before and after his time in the Pierce administration, he served as a Democratic U.S. Senator representing the State of Mississippi. As a senator, he argued against secession, but did agree that each state was sovereign and had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union.

wn.com/Jefferson_Davis
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun (/kælˈhuːn/; March 18, 1782 – March 31, 1850) was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. After 1830 he switched to states' rights, limited government, nullification and free trade. He is best known for his intense and original defense of slavery as something positive, his distrust of majoritarianism, and for pointing the South toward secession from the Union.
Devoted to the principle of liberty (though not for slaves) and fearful of corruption, Calhoun built his reputation as a political theorist by his redefinition of republicanism to include approval of slavery and minority rights—with the white South the minority in question. To protect minority rights against majority rule he called for a "concurrent majority" whereby the minority could sometimes block offensive proposals. Increasingly distrustful of democracy, he minimized the role of the Second Party System in South Carolina. Calhoun's defense of slavery became defunct, but his concept of concurrent majority, whereby a minority has the right to object to or even veto hostile legislation directed against it, has been incorporated into the American value system. Calhoun asserted that Southern whites, outnumbered in the United States by voters of the more densely-populated Northern states were one such "minority" deserving special protection in the legislature.

wn.com/John_C._Calhoun
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy pronunciation (help·info) (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.
After military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boats PT-109 and PT-59 during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat. Thereafter, he served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated then Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. He was the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43, the second-youngest President (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president. Kennedy is the only Catholic president, and is the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize. Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African American Civil Rights Movement, and early stages of the Vietnam War.

wn.com/John_F._Kennedy
John Pitchlynn
John Pitchlynn was a Scottish-American who served as the official U.S. Interpreter for relations between the government of the United States and the Choctaw Nation, an office known at the time as the Choctaw Agency. His interactions extended from the time of George Washington through the administration of Andrew Jackson. He built a home on the west bank of the Tombigbee River that became the nucleus of the abortive village of Plymouth, Mississippi. The site is now part of the Plymouth Bluff Environmental Center.
Pitchlynn married Sophia Folsom, a mixed-race Choctaw of partly Anglo-American descent, whose father was Ebenezer Folsom, and mother Natika was Choctaw. Sophia's Choctaw name was Lk-lo-ha-wah (loved but lost). The couple married in 1804.
The Pitchlynns had ten children. The most notable of these was their son Peter Pitchlynn, who later became principal chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma after the removal of the 1831 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

wn.com/John_Pitchlynn
John R. Swanton
John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethnohistory. He is particularly noted for his work with indigenous peoples of the Southeast and Pacific Northwest.
Born in Gardiner, Maine, Swanton attended local schools and then entered Harvard University. He earned a Masters in 1897 and a doctorate in 1900. His mentor at Harvard was Frederic Ward Putnam. He studied linguistics with Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1898 and 1899.
Following his education, Swanton first did fieldwork in the Northwest. In his early career, he worked mostly with the Tlingit and Haida. He produced two extensive compilations of Haida stories and myths, and transcribed many of them into Haida. These transcriptions have served as the basis for Robert Bringhurst's recent (1999) translation of the poetry of Haida mythtellers Skaay and Gandl. Swanton spent roughly a year with the Haida.

wn.com/John_R._Swanton
John Swanton
John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethnohistory. He is particularly noted for his work with indigenous peoples of the Southeast and Pacific Northwest.
Born in Gardiner, Maine, Swanton attended local schools and then entered Harvard University. He earned a Masters in 1897 and a doctorate in 1900. His mentor at Harvard was Frederic Ward Putnam. He studied linguistics with Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1898 and 1899.
Following his education, Swanton first did fieldwork in the Northwest. In his early career, he worked mostly with the Tlingit and Haida. He produced two extensive compilations of Haida stories and myths, and transcribed many of them into Haida. These transcriptions have served as the basis for Robert Bringhurst's recent (1999) translation of the poetry of Haida mythtellers Skaay and Gandl. Swanton spent roughly a year with the Haida.

wn.com/John_Swanton
Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León (/ˈpɒns də ˈliən/Spanish pronunciation: [ˈponθe ðe leˈon]; 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named. He is associated with the legend of the Fountain of Youth, reputed to be in Florida.
Juan Ponce de León was born in the village of Santervás de Campos in the northern part of what is now the Spanish province of Valladolid. Although early historians placed his birth in 1475, more recent evidence shows he was likely born in 1474. The surname 'Ponce de León' is of Basque origin, and dates from the XI century. He was descended from Ponce Vélaz, a nobleman from León, who was the son of Vela Gutiérrez and Sancha de Cabrera. Vela Gutiérrez was the great-grandson of Vermudo Nuñez, fifth child of Nuño Vela, count of Álava, who was descended from the kings of Vasconia.
The identity of his parents is unknown, but he appears to have been a member of a distinguished and influential noble family. His relatives included Rodrigo Ponce de León, Marquis of Cádiz, a celebrated figure in the Moorish wars.

wn.com/Juan_Ponce_de_León
Kennewick man
Kennewick Man is the name for the skeletal remains of a prehistoric (Paleo-Indian) man found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, USA, on July 28, 1996. The discovery of Kennewick Man was accidental; a pair of spectators (Will Thomas and David Deacy) found his skull while attending the annual hydroplane races.
One of the most complete ancient skeletons ever found, bone tests have shown the skeleton to be somewhere between 5650 and 9510 years old. These findings triggered a nine-year legal clash between scientists, the American government and Native American tribes who claim Kennewick Man as their ancestor. The long dispute has made him an international celebrity.
In February 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a cultural link between any of the Native American tribes and the Kennewick Man was not genetically justified, allowing scientific study of the remains to continue.
In July 2005, a team of scientists from around the United States convened in Seattle for ten days to study the remains, making many detailed measurements and determining the cause of death.

wn.com/Kennewick_man
Kirk Fordice
Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice, Jr. (February 10, 1934 – September 7, 2004) was a politician from the US state of Mississippi. He was the 61st Governor of Mississippi from January 14, 1992, until January 11, 2000.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Fordice studied engineering at Purdue University, becoming a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and earning a BS and MS in 1956 and 1957, respectively. After graduation he served with the United States Army as an engineer officer in the 1st Infantry Division for two years. He remained in the Army Reserve until 1977, retiring with the rank of colonel.
Fordice settled in Vicksburg and began a career in heavy construction, eventually founding his own construction company and becoming a millionaire. He won the governorship of Mississippi in the 1991 election, first winning the Republican primary against state auditor Pete Johnson and in the general election against Democratic incumbent Ray Mabus, making him the first Republican to be elected Mississippi governor since Reconstruction-era governor Adelbert Ames, who served from 1874 to 1876. Fordice was re-elected in 1995 against Democratic Mississippi secretary of state Dick Molpus. His second inauguration was on January 16, 1996.

wn.com/Kirk_Fordice
Kiva
A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square-walled and underground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies.
Similar subterranean rooms are found among ruins in the American southwest, indicating ritual or cultural use by the ancient peoples of the region including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples, the Mogollon and the Hohokam. Those used by the ancient Pueblos of the Pueblo I Era and following, designated by the Pecos Classification system developed by archaeologists, were usually round, and generally believed to have been used for religious and other communal purposes.
When designating an ancient room as a kiva, archaeologists make assumptions about the room's original functions and how those functions may be similar to or differ from kivas used in modern practice. The kachina belief system appears to have emerged in the Southwest at approximately AD 1250, while kiva like structures occurred much earlier. This suggests that the room's older functions may have been changed or adapted to suit the new religious practice.

wn.com/Kiva
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963–1969), a position he assumed after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States (1961–1963). He is one of only four people who served in all four elected federal offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President. Johnson, a Texas Democrat, served as a United States Representative from 1937–1949 and as a Senator from 1949–1961, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was asked by John F. Kennedy to be his running mate for the 1960 presidential election.
Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, completed the rest of Kennedy's term and was elected President in his own right, winning by a large margin in the 1964 election. Johnson was greatly supported by the Democratic Party and as President, he was responsible for designing the "Great Society" legislation that included laws that upheld civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protection, aid to education, and his "War on Poverty." He was renowned for his domineering personality and the "Johnson treatment," his coercion of powerful politicians in order to advance legislation.

wn.com/Lyndon_Johnson
Mahican
The Mahican (/məˈhikən/; also Mohican /moʊˈhikən/) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley (around Albany, NY). After 1680, many moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the early 1820s and 1830s, most of the Mahican descendants migrated westward to northeastern Wisconsin. The tribe's name for itself (autonym) was Muh-he-con-neok, or "People of the waters that are never still." Joining with the Munsee in Wisconsin, they have formed a federally recognized tribe known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.
The Mahican were living in and around the Hudson Valley at the time of their first contact with Europeans after 1609, during the settlement of New Netherland. The Mahican were a confederacy rather than a single tribe, and at the time of contact, there were five main divisions: Mohican proper, Westenhuck, Wawayachtonoc, Mechkentowoon, and Wiekagjoc. Over the next hundred years, tensions between the Mahican and the Iroquois Mohawk, as well as Dutch and English settlers, caused the Mahican to migrate eastward across the Hudson River into western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Many settled in the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where they gradually became known as the Stockbridge Indians.

wn.com/Mahican
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (née Bourke) (Irish: Máire Mhic Róibín; born 21 May 1944) served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate (1969–1989). She defeated Fianna Fáil's Brian Lenihan and Fine Gael's Austin Currie in the 1990 presidential election becoming, as an Independent candidate nominated by the Labour Party, the Workers' Party and independent senators, the first elected president in the office's history not to have had the support of Fianna Fáil.
She is widely regarded as a transformative figure in the presidency of Ireland, who revitalised and liberalised a previously conservative, low-profile political office. She resigned the presidency two months ahead of the end of her term of office to take up her post in the United Nations. Robinson has been Honorary President of Oxfam International since 2002 and of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation EIUC since 2005, she is Chair of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and is also a founding member and Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders. Robinson was a member of the European members of the Trilateral Commission.

wn.com/Mary_Robinson
Medicine man
"Medicine man" or "medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples. Anthropologists tend to prefer the term "shaman," a specific term for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of Siberia.
The primary function of these "medicine elders" (who are not always male) is to secure the help of the spirit world, including the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka in the language of the Lakota Sioux), for the benefit of the entire community.
Sometimes the help sought may be for the sake of healing disease, sometimes it may be for the sake of healing the psyche, sometimes the goal is to promote harmony between human groups or between humans & nature. So the term "medicine man/woman" is not entirely inappropriate, but it greatly oversimplifies and also skews the depiction of the people whose role in society complements that of the chief. These people are not the Native American equivalent of the Chinese "barefoot doctors", herbalists, nor of the emergency medical technicians who ride rescue vehicles.

wn.com/Medicine_man
Medicine wheel
Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, were constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground. Most medicine wheels follow the basic pattern of having a center of stone(s), and surrounding that is an outer ring of stones with "spokes", or lines of rocks radiating from the center. Some ancient types of sacred architecture were built by laying stones on the surface of the ground in particular patterns common to aboriginal people.
Originally, medicine wheels are stone structures constructed by certain indigenous peoples of Africa for various astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes. Medicine wheels are still "opened" or inaugurated in Native American spirituality where they are more often referred to as "sacred hoops", which is the favored English rendering by some. There are various native words to describe the ancient forms and types of rock alignments. One teaching involves the description of the four directions.
More recently, syncretic, hybridized uses of medicine wheels, magic circles, and mandala sacred technology are employed in New Age, Wiccan, Pagan and other spiritual discourse throughout the World. The rite of the sacred hoop and medicine wheel differed and differs amongst indigenous traditions, as it now does between non-indigenous peoples, and between traditional and modernist variations. The essential nature of the rite common to these divergent traditions deserves further anthropological exploration as does an exegesis of their valence.

wn.com/Medicine_wheel
Michael Scanlon
Michael Scanlon, AKA "Sean Scanlon", is a former communications director for Rep. Tom DeLay, lobbyist, and public relations executive who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges related to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He is currently assisting in the investigation of his former partners Abramoff, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed by separate state and federal grand jury investigations related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials. In addition to the allegation of dishonest dealing arising from the consulting contracts themselves, Abramoff and Scanlon are accused of illegally giving favors to senior Republicans Tom DeLay, Conrad Burns, John Doolittle and Bob Ney. In 2005 Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials. On February 11, 2011, he was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and 300 hours of community service.
In 1994, Scanlon worked as press secretary for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ross Pierpont of Maryland. Pierpont failed to gain the party's nomination.

wn.com/Michael_Scanlon
Mogollon culture
The Mogollon ( /mʌɡɨˈjoʊn/ or /moʊɡəˈjoʊn/) is one of the four major prehistoric archaeological Oasisamerica culture areas of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. The American Indian culture known as the Mogollon lived in the southwest from approximately AD 150 until sometime between AD 1400 and AD 1450. The name Mogollon comes from the Mogollon Mountains, which were named after Don Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollón, Spanish Governor of New Mexico from 1712-1715.
The Mogollon archaeological area was first recognized by Emil Haury, following work at two archaeological sites (the Harris Village in the town of Mimbres, New Mexico, and the Mogollon Village, on the upper San Francisco River) in southwestern New Mexico in 1933 and 1934. Haury recognized that superficial similarities with the Hohokam archaeological culture and the Ancient Pueblo ("Anasazi") archaeological culture, including (initially unpainted) brown-paste pottery and the use of surface "pueblo" dwellings were insufficient to firmly characterize the inhabitants of the Mogollon region as subdivisions of these other archaeologically known cultures. Five decades of subsequent research conducted by teams based out of the Field Museum of Natural History, the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona, the Amerind Foundation, and the Mimbres Foundation, confirmed Haury's initial findings. Today, the distinctiveness of the Mogollon culture area in pottery manufacture, architectural construction, ground-stone tool design, and habits and customs of residence location and mortuary treatment are generally recognized.

wn.com/Mogollon_culture
Mushulatubbee
Mushulatubbee (Choctaw AmoshuliTabi, "Determined to Kill") (1750-1770–ca. 1838) was the chief of the Choctaw Okla Tannap ("Lower Towns"), one of the three major Choctaw divisions during the early 19th century. When the Principal Chief Greenwood LeFlore stayed in Mississippi at the time of removal, Mushulatubbee was elected as Principal Chief, leading the tribe to Indian Territory.
In 1812 he had led his warriors to assist General Andrew Jackson in the war against the Creek Red Sticks, known as the Creek Wars.
In December 1824 Mushulatubbee was one of three principal chiefs leading a Choctaw delegation to Washington to seek help against encroaching European-American settlers. Pushmataha and Apuckshunubbee were the other chiefs; Apuckshunubbee, age 80, died before they reached Washington, and Pushmataha died of illness in the capital soon after their meeting with the government.
On 26 September 1830, together with the Principal Chief Greenwood LeFlore and others, Mushulatubbee signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which ceded to the US government most of the remaining Choctaw territory in Mississippi and Alabama in exchange for territory in Indian Territory. Other spellings for his name include: Mosholetvbbi, AmoshuliTvbi, Musholatubbee, Moshaleh Tubbee, and Mushulatubba.

wn.com/Mushulatubbee
Nanih Waiya
Nanih Waiya (alternately spelled Nunih Waya) is an ancient earthwork mound in Winston County, Mississippi, constructed by indigenous people during the Middle Woodland period, about 0-300 CE. Since the 17th century, the historic Choctaw have venerated Nanih Waiya as their sacred origin location in traditional beliefs.
Today the mound of Nanih Waiya is about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall, 140 feet (43 m) wide, and 220 feet (67 m) long. Evidence suggests that it was originally a platform mound, which has eroded into the present shape. At one time it was bounded on three sides by a circular earthwork enclosure about ten feet tall, which encompassed about a square mile. In 2008 the state of Mississippi returned Nanih Waiya and its associated 150-acre park to the control of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a federally recognized tribe. Nanih Waiya has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The first archaeological evidence of occupation at Nanih Waiya is dated to 0-300 CE, during the Middle Woodland culture, when it was likely constructed. This made Nanih Waiya contemporaneous with the Hopewell culture, as well as ancient sites such as the Pinson Mounds in Tennessee and Igomar Mound in Mississippi. The dating was based on surface artifacts; no archeological excavation of the mound has been undertaken. Occupation apparently continued at least through 700 CE, the Late Woodland period. Originally the site included a large earthwork circular enclosure on three sides, about ten feet high and encompassing a square mile.

wn.com/Nanih_Waiya
Paleo-Indians
Paleo-Indians (Paleoindians) or Paleoamericans is a classification term given to the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the American continents during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period. The prefix "paleo" comes from the Greek adjective palaios (παλαιός) meaning "old." The term Paleo-Indians applies specifically to the lithic period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term Paleolithic.
Evidence suggests big-game hunters crossed the Bering Strait from Asia (Eurasia) into North America over a land and ice bridge (Beringia), that existed between 45,000 BCE–12,000 BCE (47,000 – 14,000 years ago). Small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska. From 16,500 BCE – 13,500 BCE (18,500 – 15,500 years ago), ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and valleys of North America. This allowed animals, followed by humans, to migrate south into the interior. The people went on foot or used primitive boats along the coastline. The precise dates and routes of the peopling of the New World are subject to ongoing debate.

wn.com/Paleo-Indians
Patayan
Patayan is a term used by archaeologists to describe prehistoric and historic Native American cultures who inhabited parts of modern day Arizona, west to Lake Cahuilla in California, and in Baja California, between 700–1550 CE. This included areas along the Gila River, Colorado River and in the Lower Colorado River Valley, the nearby uplands, and north to the vicinity of the Grand Canyon.
Patayan culture is sometimes known as the Hakataya culture. Their nearest cultural neighbors were the Hohokam in central and eastern Arizona. The historic Yuman-speaking peoples in this region were skilled warriors and active traders, maintaining exchange networks with the Pima in southern Arizona and with the Californian Pacific Coast tribes.
The name "Patayan" comes from the Quechan language and means "old people." However, alternative terms have been proposed for the culture group, as the archaeological record of the Patayan is poorly understood. Archaeologist Malcolm Rogers first identified the Patayan, publishing a definition and chronology of the culture group in 1945. His survey records identified hundreds of desert sites. The harsh environment limits the amount of ongoing archaeological fieldwork in the area and there are not many remains to find. Most Patayan people appear to have been highly mobile and did not build large structures or accumulate numerous possessions. Patayan sites may also have been destroyed by floods in river valleys where some of them raised crops.

wn.com/Patayan
Pequot
Pequot people (pronounced /ˈpiːˌkwɒt/) are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England. Today the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe of Connecticut are a federally recognized tribe, and the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation are a state recognized tribe in Connecticut.
Pequot is an Algonquian word, the meaning of which is in dispute among language specialists. Considerable scholarship pertaining to the Pequot claims that the name came from Paquatauoq, meaning, "the destroyers," or "the men of the swamp". This relies on speculations of an early twentieth century authority on Algonquian languages. However, Frank Speck, a leading early 20th century specialist of Pequot-Mohegan, had doubts. He believed that another term meaning "the shallowness of a body of water" seemed much more plausible, given their territory along the coast of Long Island Sound.

wn.com/Pequot
Peter Pitchlynn
Peter Perkins Pitchlynn (January 30, 1806 – January 17, 1881), or Hat-choo-tuck-nee ("The Snapping Turtle"), was a Choctaw chief of Choctaw and Anglo-American ancestry. He was principal chief of the Choctaw from 1864-1866 and surrendered to the Union on behalf of the nation at the end of the Civil War.
Educated in Choctaw culture and American schools, in 1825 he helped found a school for Choctaw boys: the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky. He also worked to reduce the sale of alcohol in their territory. After removal to Indian Territory in the 1830s, he was appointed by the National Council in 1845 as the Choctaw Delegate to Washington, DC. At the time, the Nation was proposing to be recognized by the US Congress as a territory.
After the war, Pitchlynn returned to Washington, DC, to represent Choctaw interests and work for concessions from the government for the Choctaw lands sold under pressure to the United States in 1830 during Indian Removal. He died in Washington, DC.
Peter P. Pitchlynn was born in Noxubee County, Mississippi, January 30, 1806 as the first son of Sophia Folsom, a Choctaw of partly Anglo-American descent; her mother Natika was Choctaw and her father was Ebenezer Folsom, a trader. Sophia's Choctaw name was Lk-lo-ha-wah (Loved but lost). Sophia Folsom and John Pitchlynn married in 1804. As the Choctaw had a matrilineal system of property and hereditary leadership, Peter was born into his mother's clan and people; through her family, he gained status in the tribe.

wn.com/Peter_Pitchlynn
Piasa
The Piasa or Piasa Bird is a Native American dragon depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on bluffs (cliffsides) above the Mississippi River. Its original location was at the end of a chain of limestone bluffs in Madison County, Illinois at present-day Alton, Illinois. The original Piasa illustration no longer exists; a newer 20th Century version, based partly on 19th-century sketches and lithographs, has been placed on a bluff in Alton, Illinois, several hundred yards upstream from its origin. The limestone rock quality on the new site is unsuited for holding an image, and the painting must be regularly restored. The original site of the painting was a high-quality (6–8 foot thick) layer of lithographic limestone, which was predominantly quarried away in the late 1870s by the Mississippi Lime Company.
The ancient mural was created prior to the arrival of any European explorers in the region, and possibly before 1200 CE. It may have been an older iconograph from the large Mississippian culture city of Cahokia, which began developing about 900 CE. The location of the image was at a river-bluff terminus of the American Bottoms floodplain, the site of the Cahokians, the largest prehistoric city north of Mexico and a major chiefdom. Cahokia was at its peak about 1200 CE, with 20,000 to 30,000 residents. Icons and animal pictographs, such as falcons, thunder-birds, bird men, and monstrous snakes were common motifs of the Cahokia culture. The Piasa creature may have been painted as a graphic symbol to warn strangers traveling down the Mississippi River that they were entering Cahokian territory.

wn.com/Piasa
Pinson Mounds
The Pinson Mounds comprise a prehistoric Native American complex located in Madison County, Tennessee in the region that is known as the Eastern Woodlands. The complex, which includes 17 mounds, an earthen geometric enclosure, and numerous habitation areas, was most likely built during the Middle Woodland period (c. 1-500 A.D.). The complex is the largest group of Middle Woodland mounds in the United States. Sauls' Mound, at 72 feet, is the second-highest surviving mound in the United States.
The Pinson Mounds are now part of Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, one of two archaeological parks in Tennessee (the other being Old Stone Fort near Manchester). Pinson Mounds is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Pinson Mounds are located on a plateau-like upland above the wetlands that line the banks of the South Fork of the Forked Deer River. The river and its wetlands form the complex's southern boundary. The Pinson Mounds are located amidst three distinctive biotic zones: the oak forests atop the plateau, the cypress forests in the wet bottomlands, and the beech forests on the slopes between the uplands and the bottomlands. The ground is mostly composed of Tertiary period rocks known for producing high-quality clay.

wn.com/Pinson_Mounds
Pre-Columbian era
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the Early Modern period.
While the phrase "pre-Columbian era" literally refers only to the time preceding Christopher Columbus's voyages of 1492, in practice the phrase usually is used to denote the entire history of American indigenous cultures until those cultures were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or centuries after Columbus's first landing. For this reason the alternative terms of Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are also in use. In areas of Hispanic America the term usually used is Pre-Hispanic.
Many pre-Columbian civilizations established hallmarks which included permanent settlements, cities, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, major earthworks, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with the colonial period, and were described in historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya, had their own written records. Because most Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, they destroyed many texts in pyres. Only a few hidden documents have survived, giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

wn.com/Pre-Columbian_era
Pushmataha
Pushmataha (c. 1760s – December 24, 1824; also spelled Pooshawattaha, Pooshamallaha, or Poosha Matthaw), the "Indian General", was one of the three regional chiefs of the major divisions of the Choctaw in the nineteenth century. Many historians considered him the "greatest of all Choctaw chiefs". Pushmataha was highly regarded among Native Americans, Europeans, and white Americans for his skill and cunning in both war and diplomacy.
Rejecting the offers of alliance and reconquest proffered by Tecumseh, Pushmataha led the Choctaw to fight on the side of the United States in the War of 1812. He negotiated several treaties with the United States.
In 1824, he traveled to Washington to petition the Federal government against further cessions of Choctaw land; he met with John C. Calhoun and Marquis de Lafayette, and his portrait was painted by Charles Bird King. He died at the capital and was buried with full military honors in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
The exact meaning of Pushmataha's name is unknown, though scholars agree that it suggests connotations of "ending". Many possible etymologies have been suggested:

wn.com/Pushmataha
Ray Mabus
Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. (born October 11, 1948) is the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy. Mabus served as the 60th Governor of the U.S. state of Mississippi from 1988 to 1992 and as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996.
Mabus was born in Starkville and is a fourth-generation Mississippian; he grew up in Ackerman, the only child of the owner of the local hardware store. After attending public schools, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, with a B.A. in English and political science. He earned an M.A. in political science from Johns Hopkins University and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He also served two years in the Navy as a surface warfare officer from 1970 to 1972 aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock, and worked as a law clerk in the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mabus began his professional career working in Washington as legal counsel to the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. Following the election of Governor William Winter, he returned to Mississippi to work in the governor's office, where the youthful staff– which included Mabus, Dick Molpus, John Henegan and Andy Mullins– earned the nickname "Boys of Spring" from a rival state legislator.

wn.com/Ray_Mabus
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937, and returned to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon, moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942. He subsequently served in the United States Navy during World War II. Nixon was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Hiss Case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election. Nixon served for eight years as vice president. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and lost a race for Governor of California in 1962. In 1968, he ran again for the presidency and was elected.

wn.com/Richard_Nixon
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily there and in Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creek from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in the early 18th century. The word Seminole is a corruption of cimarrón, a Spanish term for "runaway" or "wild one", historically used for certain Native American groups in Florida. The Seminole are closely related to the Miccosukee, who were recognized as a separate tribe in 1962.
After an initial period of colonization in Florida, during which they distanced themselves increasingly from other Creek groups, the Seminole established a thriving trade network during the British and second Spanish periods (roughly 1767–1821). The tribe expanded considerably during this time, and was further supplemented from the late 18th century with the appearance of the Black Seminoles – free blacks and escaped slaves who settled in communities near Seminole towns, where they paid tribute to the Native Americans in exchange for protection. However, tensions grew between the Seminole and the United States to the north, leading to a series of conflicts known as the Seminole Wars (1818–1858). Over the course of the wars most Seminoles were forced to relocate west of the Mississippi River in a process of Indian removal. Perhaps fewer than 200 Seminoles remained in Florida, but those who did fostered a resurgence in traditional customs and a culture of staunch independence.

wn.com/Seminole
St. Johns culture
The St. Johns culture was an archaeological culture in northeastern Florida, USA that lasted from about 500 BCE (the end of the Archaic period) until shortly after European contact in the 17th century. The St. Johns culture was present along the St. Johns River and its tributaries (including the Oklawaha River, and along the Atlantic coast of Florida from the mouth of the St. Johns River south to a point east of the head of the St. Johns River, near present-day Cocoa Beach, Florida. At the time of first European contact, the St. Johns culture area was inhabited by speakers of the Mocama (or Agua Salada), Agua Fresca and Acuera dialects of the Timucua language and by the Mayacas.
The St. Johns culture is defined in terms of pottery styles. Plain chalky ware was the dominant St. Johns ceramic type. ("Chalky" ware was made from clay taken from fresh water sources, which contained spicules from fresh water sponges. The spicules in the clay helped strengthen the pottery, and created a "chalky" surface, soft enough to be scratched with a fingernail.) "Exotic" ceramic ware is common, especially in ceremonial contexts. These "exotic" ceramics represent types from the Deptford, Glades, Belle Glade, Swift Creek, Weeden Island, Savannah, Safety Harbor, and Fort Walton cultures. There was a transitional area from the mouth of the St. Johns River extending into southeastern Georgia where St. Johns ware overlapped with Savannah ware, and another transitional area, the Indian River region (southern Brevard County, and Indian River and St. Lucie counties), where St. Johns ware overlapped with Belle Glade and Glades ware.

wn.com/St._Johns_culture
Stomp dance
The Stomp Dance (Caddo: Kaki?tihánnakah) is performed by various Eastern Woodland tribes and Native American communities, including the Muscogee, Yuchi, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Delaware, Miami, Caddo, Ottawa, Peoria, Shawnee, Seminole,Natchez, and Seneca-Cayuga tribes. Stomp Dance communities are active in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
The Stomp Dance is a ceremony that contains both religious and social meaning. To the Muscogee Creeks, Cherokees, and other Southeastern Indians the Stomp Dance is affiliated with the Green Corn Ceremony.
The term "Stomp Dance" is an English term, which refers to the "shuffle and stomp" movements of the dance. In the native Muskogee language the dance is called Opvnkv Haco, which can mean "drunken," "crazy," or "inspirited" dance. This usually refers to the exciting, yet meditative effect the dance and the medicine have on the participants. In the native Shawnee language, the dance is called Nikanikawe which refers to a dance involving friends or nikane. It is also called the Leading Dance by many Shawnees, but most simply call it the "Stomp Dance."

wn.com/Stomp_dance
Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos (Northern Tiwa) speaking Native American tribe of Pueblo people. It is approximately 1000 years old and lies about 1-mile (1.6 km) north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico, USA. The Red Willow Creek, or Rio Pueblo de Taos (also called Rio Pueblo), is a small stream which flows through the middle of the pueblo from its source in the Sangre de Cristo Range. A reservation of 95,000 acres (380 km²) is attached to the pueblo, and about 1,900 people live in this area.
Taos Pueblo is a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos. The Taos community is known for being one of the most secretive and conservative pueblos.
Taos Pueblo's most prominent architectural feature is a multi-storied residential complex of reddish-brown adobe divided into two parts by the Rio Pueblo. According to the Pueblo's Web site, it was probably built between 1000 and 1450 A.D. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 9, 1960, and in 1992 became a World Heritage Site. As of 2006, about 150 people live in it full-time.

wn.com/Taos_Pueblo
Tecumseh
Tecumseh (March 1768 – October 5, 1813) was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy (known as Tecumseh's Confederacy) which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812. Tecumseh has become an icon and heroic figure in American Indian and Canadian history.
Tecumseh grew up in the Ohio Country during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War, where he was constantly exposed to warfare. With Americans continuing to encroach on Indian territory after the British ceded the Ohio Valley to the new United States in 1783, the Shawnee moved farther northwest. In 1808, they settled Prophetstown in present-day Indiana. With a vision of establishing an independent American Indian nation east of the Mississippi, Tecumseh worked to recruit additional tribes to the confederacy from the southern United States.
During the War of 1812, Tecumseh's confederacy allied with the British in The Canadas (the collective name for the colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada), and helped in the capture of Fort Detroit. Tecumseh was killed in the Battle of the Thames, in October 1813.

wn.com/Tecumseh
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt ( /ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROH-zə-velt; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919) was the 26th President of the United States of America (1901–1909). He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party of 1912. Before becoming President, he held offices at the city, state, and federal levels. Roosevelt's achievements as a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier are as much a part of his fame as any office he held as a politician. Roosevelt was 42 years old when sworn in as President of the United States in 1901, making him the youngest president ever; he beat out the youngest elected president, John F. Kennedy, by only one year. Roosevelt was also one of only three sitting presidents to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the other two being Woodrow Wilson and Barack Obama.

wn.com/Theodore_Roosevelt
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris, initially as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) during the administration of President George Washington. Upon resigning his office, with his close friend James Madison he organized the Democratic-Republican Party. Elected Vice-President in 1796, under his opponent John Adams, Jefferson with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

wn.com/Thomas_Jefferson
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay (/dəˈleɪ/; born April 8, 1947) is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party (GOP) House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in connection with a campaign finance investigation. He was convicted of money laundering in January 2011 and sentenced to three years in prison but is free on bail while appealing his conviction.
Tom DeLay began his career as a politician in 1978 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. In 1985, he became a born-again Christian. In 1988, after just a few years in the U.S. House, Tom DeLay was appointed Deputy Minority Whip. In 1994 he helped Newt Gingrich effect the Republican Revolution, which gave the Republicans the victory in the 1994 midterm election and swept Democrats from power in both houses of Congress, putting Republicans in control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. In 1995, he was elected House Majority Whip.

wn.com/Tom_DeLay
Underwater panther
An Underwater panther is a powerful creature in the mythological traditions of some Native American tribes, particularly Anishinaabe tribes, the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi, of the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. In addition to the Anishinaabeg, Innu also have Mishibizhiw stories.
To the Algonquins, the underwater panther, or Mishibijiw, was the most powerful underworld being. The Ojibwe traditionally held them to be masters of all water creatures, including snakes. Some versions of the Nanabozho creation legend refer to whole communities of water lynx.
Archaeologists believe that underwater panthers were major components of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex of the Mississippian culture in the prehistoric American Southeast
In the Ojibwe language, this creature is sometimes called "Mishibizhiw", "Mishipizhiw", "Mishipizheu", "Mishupishu", "Mishepishu", "Michipeshu", or "Mishibijiw", which translates as "Great Lynx," or Gichi-anami'e-bizhiw ("Gitche-anahmi-bezheu"), which translates as "the fabulous night panther." However, it is also commonly referred to as the "Great underground wildcat" or "Great under-water wildcat."

wn.com/Underwater_panther
Van T. Barfoot
Van Thomas Barfoot (born Van Thurman Barfoot; June 15, 1919 – March 2, 2012) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his actions in World War II.
Barfoot was born on June 15, 1919, in Edinburg, Mississippi. His grandmother was Choctaw, but Barfoot himself was not an official member of the Choctaw Nation. Although he was eligible, his parents had never enrolled him.
After enlisting in the Army from Carthage, Mississippi, in 1940 and completing his training, Barfoot served with the 1st Infantry Division in Louisiana and Puerto Rico. In December 1941, he was promoted to sergeant and re-assigned to the Headquarters Amphibious Force Atlantic Fleet in Quantico, Virginia, where he served until the unit was deactivated in 1943. He next joined the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, and was shipped to Europe.

wn.com/Van_T._Barfoot
Will Campbell
Will Davis Campbell (born 1924 in Amite County, Mississippi, United States) is a Baptist minister, activist, author, and lecturer. Throughout his life, he has been a notable white supporter of civil rights in the Southern United States. In addition to his activism, Campbell also is a noted author, particularly with his autobiographical work Brother to a Dragonfly, a finalist for the National Book Award in 1978. He was the late cartoonist Doug Marlette's inspiration for the character "Will B. Dunn" in his comic strip, Kudzu.

wn.com/Will_Campbell
William Bartram
William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American naturalist. The son of Ann (née Mendenhall) and John Bartram, William Bartram and his twin sister Elizabeth were born in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. As a boy, he accompanied his father on many of his travels, to the Catskill Mountains, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, New England, and Florida. From his mid-teens, Bartram was noted for the quality of his botanic and ornithological drawings. He also had an increasing role in the maintenance of his father's botanic garden, and added many rare species to it.
In 1773, he embarked upon a four-year journey through eight southern colonies. Bartram made many drawings and took notes on the native flora and fauna, and the native American Indians. In 1774, he explored the St. Johns River, where he had memorable encounters with aggressive alligators which he recorded in one of his journals, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, and also visited a principal Seminole village at Cuscowilla, where his arrival was celebrated with a great feast. He met Ahaya the Cowkeeper, chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe. When Bartram explained to the Cowkeeper that he was interested in studying the local plants and animals, the chief was amused and began calling him Puc-puggee (the flower hunter). Bartram continued his explorations of the Alachua Savannah, or what is today Payne's Prairie.

wn.com/William_Bartram
World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.

wn.com/World_War_I

Voices of Choctaw Indians

View more at: echospace.org...

published: 18 Aug 2010

author: EchospaceDotOrg

Choctaw Tribe

A video of Choctaw Tribe, alittle tribute to all the natives out there....

published: 12 Aug 2007

author: ShaniaRichards

Choctaw Indians of Amite, Louisiana

The Choctaw's of Amite, Louisiana....

published: 19 Dec 2009

author: NurturingOurRoots101

James McMurtry "Choctaw Bingo"

musicfog.com James McMurtry performs on the Music Fog stage at Threadgill's south. SXSW 20...

published: 09 Apr 2009

author: MusicFog

real choctaw stickball

THE OLDEST NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN SPORT IN AMERICA. YOU THINK FOOTBALL AND RUGBY IS TOUGH?...

published: 13 Mar 2007

author: Chata48

Choctaw Poem flute music. I am listening.

Okhisa-yvt tiwa-tuk. Hikia ilvppvt li! Kata-hosh washoha ho? Li kiyo. Sv haklo li... (Engl...

published: 20 Mar 2011

author: ChoctawFlute

MISSISSIPPI CHOCTAW/BLACK INDIANS.mpg

THESE ARE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY PHOTOS OF MISSISSIPPI CHOCTAWS;,A CREEK; NEZ PERCE A...

published: 16 Dec 2011

author: kbull612

Choctaw Days: Four Directions Ceremony

Join the Choctaw Princess of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for a special presentation of ...

published: 20 Jun 2012

author: SmithsonianNMAI

Alison Krauss & Union Station - Choctaw Hayride

Live at the Louisville Palace Kentucky...

published: 20 Aug 2007

author: zone003

Choctaw Dances

This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, illustrates some of the t...

published: 26 Feb 2009

author: echospaces

James McMurtry "Choctaw Bingo" - Live in Europe

James McMurtry and his band performing "Choctaw Bingo" in Amsterdam. Ian McLagan is joinin...

published: 20 Nov 2009

author: lightningrodrecords

Choctaw Nation

My tribute to the Choctaw Nation for my friend Ladychoctaw. Enjoy!! Trail Of Tears Billy R...

published: 30 Sep 2007

author: japanime99

OK Choctaw Stickball 2011

Choctaw Nation Stickball. OK Choctaws A small glimpse of the sight and sounds of Choctaw S...

published: 23 Aug 2011

author: Steve Jacob

Choctaw 2012

BUMYOUTH mission trip to Choctaw 2012...

published: 31 Jul 2012

author: Tim Craft

Choctaw Labor Day Festival

published: 23 Aug 2010

author: Choctaw Cinema

Being Choctaw

published: 02 Mar 2011

author: Choctaw Cinema

Choctaw Artifacts

published: 01 Jun 2011

author: Choctaw Cinema

Choctaw Defense

published: 16 Jul 2012

author: Choctaw Cinema

<li class="playlistitemli thumbnail border_color">
        <div class="video_facebook">
            <a href="http://web.archive.org./web/20121210201517/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://wn.com/choctaw&t=<%= title %>" title="Share this video" data-title="Share this video" target="_blank" style="target-name: new; target-new: tab;"></a>
        </div>

photo: AP / Todd Williamson

Jenni Rivera attends a press conference on Friday, Aug. 24, 2012, in Woodland Hills, California.

Lamentan muerte de Jenni Rivera

Yahoo Daily News

10 Dec 2012

MÉXICO, D.F., diciembre 9 (EL UNIVERSAL).- La Voz México, programa de talentos de Televisa, confirmó la muerte de la cantante Jenni Rivera, a través de su Twitter. "Que toquen fuerte las bandas, suelten por mí mariposas, apláudanme con sus palmas... http.//twitpic.com/bkmhl0 .Descanse en paz Jenni Rivera" ... Además, anunció un homenaje luctuoso dedicado a la cantante ... Descanse en Paz" ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)

photo: AP / Khalil Hamra

A Syrian gunman shoots in the air during the funeral of 29 year-old Free Syrian Army fighter, Husain Al-Ali, who was killed during clashes in Aleppo, in the town of Marea on the outskirts of Aleppo city, Syria, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012.

Syrian fighters join forces against al-Assad

Al Jazeera

09 Dec 2012

Syria's rebel leaders have agreed to come under a united command in a bid to integrate diverse fighting groups and streamline the route for arms essential to their struggle against President Bashar al-Assad. The new body, expected to be announced officially on Sunday, hopes to form the basis of a united rebel front ... "It also aims to get the situation under control once the regime falls." ... 378 Source .. Agencies. Share ... News ... Egypt....(size: 18.6Kb)

photo: AP / Maya Alleruzzo

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is seen during a photo opportunity in his office at the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt

Egypt: President Morsi cancels decree that sparked protests

IBN Live

09 Dec 2012

Cairo. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has cancelled a decree that gave him sweeping powers and sparked huge protests, but did not delay a referendum on a constitution as his opponents had demanded ... Video Photo Gallery ....(size: 1.2Kb)

photo: AP / Gustavo Ferrari

File - Islamist, nationalist and liberal opposition groups carry a large national flag as they gather to protest the Kuwait government's amendment of the electoral law and support a boycott on the country's election on Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 in Kuwait City.

Thousands protest in Kuwait City

Al Jazeera

09 Dec 2012

Tens of thousands of Kuwaitis have staged a peaceful protest against the parliament elected last week under voting rules deemed unfair by the opposition. The opposition supporters demonstrated for the second week in a row as police watched the protest without interfering on Saturday ... The opposition says the amendments of the electoral law enables the government to control the outcome of polls ... 349 Source .. Agencies. Share ... News ... ....(size: 18.5Kb)

photo: US Navy / Electronics Technician Seaman Sean Roozen

File - Builder Constructionman Mohamed Farah and Builder Constructionman Michael Capcino, both assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 5, adjust pipes removing flood water from the basements of homes that were flooded during Hurricane Sandy, 10 November, 2012.

White House proposes $60 billion for Superstorm Sandy recovery

The Los Angeles Times

08 Dec 2012

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday proposed $60 billion in spending to help the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states recover from Superstorm Sandy and shore up defenses against future disasters. Congress is expected to begin consideration of the relief measure as soon as next week, with lawmakers from states still reeling from the October storm eager for action by the end of the year ... New Jersey Gov ... Andrew M ... New York Reps ... Rep ... 0....(size: 32.2Kb)

timeline:
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001

Alaska Native & Native American Hold Keys to Re-Building America's Economy

The Examiner

10 Dec 2012

Alaska Native & Native American Hold Keys to Re-building America’s Economy. By – Terrance H. Booth, Sr. – Tsimshian Tribe ... 25 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 151, Land Acquisitions, outlines how a Tribe can purchase land other that Native Lands and the land will revert to being Tribal Trust land ... One model stands out and still is very successful today. This is what was developed for the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe ... [2] ... COOS BAY, Ore ... 1 ... ....(size: 5.9Kb)

High school basketball scoreboard

Tulsa World

09 Dec 2012

ADAIR. Jay 55, Salina 37 (7th). Cl. Sequoyah 65, Decatur, Ark. 34 (5th). Adair 71, Westville 58 (3rd). Dewey 39, Chouteau 35 (1st). AFTON. Fairland 60, South Coffeyville 51, OT (5th). Kansas 70, Afton 35 (3rd). Oklahoma Union 61, Quapaw 52 (1st). AGRA. Shidler 51, Olive 46 (5th). Wellston 50, Cashion 36 (3rd) ... ALLEN, TEXAS ... BIXBY ... CHOCTAW NATION INVITATIONAL ... Mustang 58, Choctaw 53 (1st) ... CHOCTAW NATION INVITATIONAL ... Carl Albert 38, Choctaw 26 (5th) ... ....(size: 21.4Kb)

Man convicted of shooting Oklahoma County deputy

San Francisco Chronicle

08 Dec 2012

The jury recommended a sentence of life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb ... Juror Jenny Cox of Choctaw told The Oklahoman (http.//bit.ly/XCx0Pv ) that "justice was done" in the case....(size: 0.9Kb)

Dense fog advisory for much of Mississippi through mid-morning Saturday

The Examiner

08 Dec 2012

The counties on the look out for dense fog are Adams, Amite, Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Neshoba, ......(size: 2.3Kb)

Secretary of State Coffee says he plans to resign

Houston Chronicle

07 Dec 2012

By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press . December 7, 2012 . Updated. December 7, 2012 12.11pm. Comments (0) E-mail Print. Tweet. Page 1 of 1 ... Besides serving as Fallin's chief negotiator with lawmakers on budget and policy issues, Coffee has been heavily involved in mediation talks with two of the state's largest Native American tribes — the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations — in a lawsuit over water rights ... ___ ... Comments (0) E-mail Print. Tweet ... News ... ....(size: 14.2Kb)

Choctaws come out for cultural day in Tulsa

Tulsa World

07 Dec 2012

Tulsa-area citizens of the Choctaw Nation received a taste of home Thursday night at the downtown Doubletree Hotel as representatives from the Durant-based tribe hosted their annual Tulsa Cultural Day ... Along with booths from enrollment and other tribal services along a Doubletree hallway, several traditional Choctaw artists had tables to display their handiwork, including Brad Joe and his beadwork....(size: 4.2Kb)

Native Americans fought on both sides during the Civil War

The Examiner

07 Dec 2012

When we think of the Civil War, we think about the Irish Brigade, the U.S ... Native Americans fought on both sides too ... Pequot, Chippewa, Pamukey, Seminole, Cherokee, Delaware, Shawnee, Creek, Lumbee, Iroquois, Huron, Catawba, Choctaw, Kickapoo, Seneca, Osage, Chickasaw, Powhatan, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Kickapoo ... ....(size: 1.4Kb)

Indian tribes should invest in cultural center

The Oklahoman

07 Dec 2012

 . BY YOUR NAME Staff Writer email@opubco.com .. email. All the “experts” are saying the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum will be a resounding financial success. If this is true, the Indian tribes should take the money now being spent telling the world how great it is to be a Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Kiowa, etc., possibly throw in a little casino money, and complete the project themselves ... NewsOK Related Articles ... ... ....(size: 7.1Kb)

The new Choctaw Casino

The Examiner

06 Dec 2012

Choctaw Casino completes first phase of construction, opens new restaurant. Restaurant Openings Fort Smith residents went Choctaw on Saturday, December 1st when the Choctaw Casino at 3400 Choctaw Road, Pocola, Oklahoma held the grand opening of their newly redesigned casino, as well as a brand new restaurant and bar.The Fort ......(size: 4.2Kb)

Corps Meets With Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (The United States Army)

noodls

06 Dec 2012

Army Corps of Engineers' Vicksburg District (Corps) senior leaders and archaeologists met yesterday with the Tribal historic preservation officers from the Alabama Coushatta Tribe Of Texas, Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and Muscogee (Creek) Nation to ......(size: 2.3Kb)

New concerts: Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, Casey James, Dropkick Murphys, Lindsey Stirling and more

The Dallas Morning News

06 Dec 2012

MARTY STUART, CONNIE SMITH Country. Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. at Choctaw Casino Resort, Durant, Okla. $15-$25. choctawcasinos.com. COAST 2 COAST INDUSTRY MIXER Variety. Dec. 22 at 9 p.m. at House of Blues, Dallas. $13.25. Live Nation. ROBERT EARL KEEN Americana, country. With Terri Hendrix, Lloyd Maines. Dec. 29 at 8 p.m ... $33-$82.50 ... Dec ... at Choctaw Casino Resort, Durant, Okla ... Dec ... at Choctaw Casino Resort, Durant, Okla ... at Choctaw Casino Resort, Durant, Okla ... ....(size: 3.9Kb)

Baseball

Tulsa World

06 Dec 2012

Signings from Oklahoma athletes.. Baseball. x-Keach Ballard, Durant Oklahoma. Blake Battenfield, Verdigris Okla. St. Tyler Bowden, Muskogee S. Arkansas. Trey Cobb, Broken Arrow Okla. St. Bryce Davenport, Jay NSU. Logan Downing, Vinita Ark.-Fort Smith. Garrett Foster, Plainview Okla. City. Thomas Hatch, Jenks Okla. St. Bryant Hodge, Chr. Heritage Oklahoma. Zach Jackson, Berryhill Arkansas ... St ... Chr ... Raegan Barnes, Choctaw Okla ... Anna Mickish, Choctaw Okla ... ....(size: 4.8Kb)

Bulger's Beat: Book captures memories for Marty Stuart's family

MSNBC

06 Dec 2012

A lifetime of photos from a proud Mississippi mom - in this case, the mom of Grammy winner Marty Stuart - are compiled in a compelling new book. Hilda Stuart has loved every minute of her 79 years of life in the South ... Many of the photos in her book, Choctaw Gardens, capture the people and family that gave meaning to those rural rough days ... ....(size: 2.2Kb)

timeline:
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001

For other uses, see Choctaw (disambiguation).

Choctaw
Total population
Choctaw portraits

160,000 ^[1]
Regions with significant populations
United States (Oklahoma, California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama)
Languages
English, Choctaw
Religion
Protestant, Roman Catholic, traditional beliefs
Related ethnic groups
Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), and later Seminole

The Choctaw (alternatively spelled 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. The Choctaw are descendants of the Hopewellian people and Mississippian culture, who lived throughout the east of the Mississippi River valley and its tributaries. The former built Nanih Waiya, a great earthwork mound about 1,700 years ago that is considered sacred by the Choctaw. The early Spanish explorers of the mid-16th century encountered Mississippian-culture villages and chiefs.^[2] The anthropologist John Swanton suggested that the name was derived from a Choctaw leader.^[3] Henry Halbert, a historian, suggests that their name is derived from the Choctaw phrase Hacha hatak (river people).^[4]

The Choctaw coalesced as a people in the 17th century, and developed three distinct political and geographical divisions: eastern, western and southern, which sometimes created differing alliances with nearby European powers, who included the French, English and Spanish during the colonial era. During the American Revolution, most Choctaw supported the Thirteen Colonies' bid for independence from the British Crown. They never went to war against the United States prior to Indian Removal.

In the 19th century, the Choctaw became known as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" because they adopted numerous practices of their United States neighbors. The Choctaw and the United States (US) agreed to nine treaties and, by the last three, the US gained vast land cessions and deracinated most Choctaw west of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. They were the first Native Americans forced under the Indian Removal Act. The Choctaw were exiled because the U.S. wanted to expand territory available for settlement by European Americans,^[5] to save the tribe from extinction,^[6] and to acquire their natural resources.^[7] The Choctaw negotiated the largest area and most desirable lands in Indian Territory. Their early government had three districts, each with its own chief, who together with the town chiefs sat on the National Council. They appointed a Choctaw Delegate to represent them with the US government in Washington, DC.

By the 1831 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, those Choctaw who chose to stay in the newly formed state of Mississippi were one of the first major non-European ethnic group to become U.S. citizens.^[8]^[9]^[10] (Article 8 in the 1817 treaty with the Cherokee stated Cherokees may wish to become citizen of the United States.) During the American Civil War, the Choctaw in both Oklahoma and Mississippi mostly sided with the Confederate States of America. In a new treaty after the war, the US required them to emancipate their slaves and offer them full citizenship; they have become known as Choctaw Freedmen. After the Civil War, the Mississippi Choctaw fell into obscurity for some time.

The Choctaw in Oklahoma struggled to build a nation, transferring the Choctaw Academy there and opening one for girls in the 1840s. In the aftermath of the Dawes Act, the US dissolved tribal governments and appointed chiefs. During World War I, Choctaw soldiers served in the U.S. military as the first Native American codetalkers, using the Choctaw language. After the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Choctaw reconstituted their government, and the Choctaw Nation had kept their culture alive despite years of pressure for assimilation. The third largest federally recognized tribe, since the mid-twentieth century, they have created new institutions, such as a tribal college, housing authority, and justice system. Today the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are the two federally recognized Choctaw tribes; Mississippi recognizes another band, and smaller Choctaw groups are located in Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.

1 History
2 Choctaws today
3 Culture
4 Treaties
5 Reservations
6 Influential leaders
7 See also
8 References
- 8.1 Further reading
9 External links
- 9.1 Official websites of Choctaw Governments
- 9.2 History and culture

History [link]

Paleo-Indian period [link]

Many thousands of years ago groups known as Paleo-Indians lived in what today is referred to as the American South.^[11] 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.^[11] 19th-century historian Horatio Cushman noted that Choctaw accounts suggested their ancestors had known of mammoths in the Tombigbee River area; this suggests that the Choctaw ancestors had been in the Mississippi area for at least 4,000–8,000 years.^[12] Cushman wrote: "the ancient Choctaw through their tradition (said) 'they saw the mighty beasts of the forests, whose tread shook the earth."^[12] Scholars believe that Paleo-Indians were specialized, highly mobile foragers who hunted late Pleistocene fauna such as bison, mastodons, caribou, and mammoths. Direct evidence in the Southeast is meager, but archaeological discoveries in related areas support this hypothesis.^[11]

Descent from the moundbuilders [link]

Nanih Waiya mound, ca. 1914

Contemporary historian Patricia Galloway argues from fragmentary archaeological and cartographic evidence that the Choctaw did not exist as a unified people before the 17th century. Only then did various southeastern peoples, remnants of Moundville, Plaquemine, and other Mississippian cultures, coalesce to form a self-consciously Choctaw people.^[13] 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. Their homeland was bounded by the Tombigbee River to the east, the Pearl River on the north and west, and "the Leaf-Pascagoula system" to the South. It was mostly uninhabited during the Mississippian period.^[13]

Based on dating of surface artifacts, the Nanih Waiya 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.^[14]

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 included stories of migration to this site from west of the great river (believed to refer to the Mississippi River.)^[15]

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 as intended to explain the Choctaws' immediate appearance, and not a literal creation account. It was perhaps the first European writing that included part of the Choctaw origin story.^[16]

A people who by many peculiar customs, are very different from the other red men on the continent ... they are the Chactaws [sic], more commonly known by the name of the Flatheads. These people are the only nation from whom I [sic] could learn any idea of a traditional account of a first origin; and that is their coming out of a hole in the ground, which they shew between their nation and the Chicsaws [sic]; they tell us also that their neighbours were surprised at seeing a people rise at once out of the earth.

—20px, 20px

Early 19th century and contemporary Choctaw storytellers describe that the Choctaw people emerged from either Nanih Waiya mound or cave. 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 red pole.

The Choctaws, a great many winters ago, commenced moving from the country where they then lived, which was a great distance to the west of the great river and the mountains of snow, and they were a great many years on their way. A great medicine man led them the whole way, by going before with a red pole, which he stuck in the ground every night where they encamped. This pole was every morning found leaning to the east, and he told them that they must continue to travel to the east until the pole would stand upright in their encampment, and that there the Great Spirit had directed that they should live.

—George Catlin- Smithsonian Report^[17]

Post-contact era [link]

A Mississippian-era priest holding a ceremonial flint mace.

The Choctaw ancestors were part of the Mississippian culture in the lower Mississippi river valley. They were preceded by other moundbuilding cultures, including the Woodland period people who first built Nanih Waiya, which would become the Choctaw mother mound. Scholars believe the mound was contemporary with such earthworks as Igomar Mound in Mississippi and Pinson Mounds in Tennessee.^[15]

The Mississippian culture was a Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from 800 to 1500 CE. When the Spanish made their first forays inland in the 16th century from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, they encountered some chiefdoms of the Mississippians, but others were already in decline, or had disappeared.^[18] 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.^[19]^[20]

Spanish Exploration (1540)[link]

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.^[21] From 1540–1543, Hernando de Soto traveled through Florida and Georgia, and then down into the Alabama and Mississippi area that would later be inhabited by the Choctaw.^[22]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Hernando de Soto, leading his well-equipped Spanish fortune hunters, made contact with the Choctaws in the year 1540. He had been one of a triumvirate which wrecked and plundered the Inca empire and, as a result, was one of the wealthiest men of his time. His invading army lacked nothing in equipage. In true conquistador style, he took as hostage a chief named Chief Tuskaloosa, demanding of him carriers and women. The carriers he got at once. The women, Tuscaloosa said, would be waiting in Mabila (Mobile). The chief neglected to mention that he had also summoned his warriors to be waiting in Mabila. On October 18, 1540, de Soto entered the town and received a gracious welcome. The Choctaws feasted with him, danced for him, then attacked him.

— Bob Ferguson- Choctaw Chronology ^{[citation needed]}

French colonization (1682)[link]

Watercolor painting of Choctaw men, painted for war and holding scalps, and children by Alexandre de Batz, mid–18th c.

In 1682 La Salle was the first French explorer to venture into the southeast along the Mississippi River.^[23] His expedition did not meet with the Choctaw; it established a post along the Arkansas River.^[23] The post signaled to the English that the French were serious at colonization in the South.^[23] The Choctaw allied with French colonists as a defense against the English, who had been taking Choctaws for the slave trade.^[23]

The first direct recorded contact between the Choctaw and the French was with Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699; indirect contact had likely occurred between the Choctaw and British settlers through other tribes, including the Creek and Chickasaw. The Choctaw, along with other tribes, had formed a relationship with New France, French Louisiana.^[24] Illegal fur trading may have led to further unofficial contact.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[13]

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).^[13]

As the historian Greg O'Brien has noted, the Choctaw developed three distinct political and geographic regions, which during the colonial period sometimes had differing alliances with trading partners among the French, Spanish and English, and differences during and after the American Revolutionary War. Their divisions were roughly eastern, western (near present-day Vicksburg, Mississippi) and southern (Six Towns). Each division was headed by a principal chief, and subordinate chiefs led each of the towns within the area. All the chiefs would meet on a National Council, but the society was highly decentralized for some time.^[25]

The French were their main trading partners before the Seven Years' War, and the British had established some trading. From 1763 to 1781, Britain was their main trading partner, but Spanish forces were based in New Orleans in 1766. The Choctaw sometimes traded with them to the west. Spain declared war against Great Britain during the American Revolution in 1779.^[25]

United States relations [link]

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, the Choctaw divided over whether to support Britain or Spain. Some Choctaw warriors from the western and eastern divisions supported the British in the defense of Mobile and Pensacola.^[25] Chief Franchimastabé led a Choctaw war party with British forces against American rebels in Natchez. The Americans had left by the time Franchimastabé arrived, but the Choctaw occupied Natchez for weeks and convinced residents to remain loyal to Britain.^[26]

Other Choctaw companies joined Washington's army during the war, and served the entire duration.^[12] Bob Ferguson, a Southeastern Indian historian, noted, "[In] 1775 the American Revolution began a period of new alignments for the Choctaws and other southern Indians. Choctaw scouts served under Washington, Morgan, Wayne and Sullivan."^[27]

Over a thousand Choctaw fought for Britain, largely against Spain's campaigns along the Gulf Coast. At the same time, a significant number of Choctaw aided Spain.^[26]

Ferguson 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.^{[citation needed]}

George Washington (first U.S. President) and Henry Knox (first U.S. Secretary of War) proposed the cultural transformation of Native Americans.^[28] 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.^[29] The 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."^[30]

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.^[31] 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.^[28] While living among the Choctaw for nearly 30 years, Hawkins married Lavinia Downs, a Choctaw woman. As the people had a matrilineal system of property and hereditary leadership, their children were born into the mother's clan and gained their status from her people. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, a number of Scots-Irish traders lived among the Choctaw and married high-status women. Choctaw chiefs saw these as strategic alliances to build stronger relationships with the Americans in a changing environment that influenced ideas of capital and property. The children of such marriages were Choctaw, first and foremost. Some of the sons were educated in Anglo-American schools and became important interpreters and negotiators for Choctaw-US relations.

Whereas it hath at this time become peculiarly necessary to warn the citizens of the United States against a violation of the treaties made at Hopewell, on the Keowee, on the 28th day of November, 1785, and on the 3d and 10th days of January, 1786, between the United States and the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations of Indians ... I do by these presents require, all officers of the United States, as well civil as military, and all other citizens and inhabitants thereof, to govern themselves according to the treaties and act aforesaid, as they will answer the contrary at their peril.

—George Washington, Proclamation Regarding Treaties, Regarding Treaties with the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw 1790.^[32]

Hopewell council and treaty (1786)[link]

Eagle Dance, 1835-37, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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.^[33] 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.^[34] 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.^[35] Choctaw women painted in white would adopt and name commissioners as kin.^[36] Smoking sealed agreements between peoples and the shared pipes sanctified peace between the two nations.^[37]

After the rituals, the Choctaw 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.^[34] On January 3, 1786, the Treaty of Hopewell was signed.^[38] Article 11 stated, "[T]he hatchet shall be forever buried, and the peace given by the United States of America, and friendship re-established between the said states on the one part, and all the Choctaw nation on the other part, shall be universal; and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain the peace given as aforesaid, and friendship re-established."^[38]

The treaty required Choctaws to return escaped slaves to colonists, to turn over any Choctaw 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.^[39]

We have long heard of your nation as a numerous, peaceable, and friendly people; but this is the first visit we have had from its great men at the seat of our government. I welcome you here; am glad to take you by the hand, and to assure you, for your nation, that we are their friends. Born in the same land, we ought to live as brothers, doing to each other all the good we can, and not listening to wicked men, who may endeavor to make us enemies ... It is at the request which you sent me in September, signed by Puckshanublee and other chiefs, and which you now repeat, that I listen to your proposition to sell us lands. You say you owe a great debt to your merchants, that you have nothing to pay it with but lands, and you pray us to take lands, and pay your debt. The sum you have occasion for, brothers, is a very great one. We have never yet paid as much to any of our red brethren for the purchase of lands ...

—President Thomas Jefferson, Brothers of the Choctaw Nation, December 17, 1803^[40]

After the Revolutionary War, the Choctaw 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 [in the early 19th century], but the Nation as a whole was kept out of anti-American alliances by the influence of Apushmataha, greatest of all Choctaw chiefs."^[41]

War of 1812 [link]

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.^[42]
--------------------- "Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mochican, the Pocanet, and other powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and oppression of the white man, as snow before the summer sun ... Sleep not longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws ... Will not the bones of our dead be plowed up, and their graves turned into plowed fields?"
Tecumseh, 1811 - The Portable North American Indian Reader.^[43]

Early in 1811, Tecumseh attempted to recover lands from U.S. settlers and to push them out of the Northwest. 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 (southern) 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.^[42] The joint Choctaw-Chickasaw council voted against alliance with Tecumseh. On Tecumseh's departure, Pushmataha accused him of tyranny over his own Shawnee and other tribes. Pushmataha warned Tecumeseh that he would fight against those who fought the United States.^[44]

With the outbreak of war, Pushmataha led the Choctaws in alliance with the U.S., arguing in favor of opposing the Creek Red Sticks' alliance with Britain after the massacre at Fort Mims.^[45] 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 and offended 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.^[46]

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.^[47] 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.^[46]^[48] With this victory, Choctaw 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 Choctaw departed from Jackson'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 Choctaw remained with the army; they were the only Native American tribe represented in the battle.^{[citation needed]}

Doak's Stand (1820)[link]

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.^[49]

Finally Jackson resorted to threats and a temper tantrum to gain their consent. He warned them of the loss of American friendship; he promised to wage war against them and destroy the Nation; finally he shouted his determination to remove them whether they liked it or not.

—Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson^[50]

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 civilization to become citizens of the States, owning land and homes of their own, on an equal footing with the white people."^[51] Jackson responded with "That ... is a magnificent rangement and we consent to it, [American Citizenship], readily."^[51] Historian Anna Lewis stated that Apuckshunubbee, a Choctaw district chief, was blackmailed by Jackson to sign the treaty.^[52] On October 18, the Treaty of Doak's Stand was signed.^[50]

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.^{[citation needed]}

ARTICLE 4. The boundaries hereby established between the Choctaw Indians and the United States, on this side of the Mississippi river, shall remain without alteration until the period at which said nation shall become so civilized and enlightened as to be made citizens of the United States ...

—Treaty with the Choctaw, 1820

Negotiations with the US government (1820s)[link]

In 1830 Mosholatubbee sought to be elected to the Congress of the United States. 1834, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Apuckshunubbee, Pushmataha, and Mosholatubbee, the principal chiefs of the three divisions of Choctaw, led a delegation to Washington City (the 19th century name for Washington, D.C.) to discuss the problems of European Americans' squatting on Choctaw lands. They sought either expulsion of the settlers or financial compensation for the loss of their lands.^[12] The group also included Talking Warrior, Red Fort, Nittahkachee, who was later Principal Chief; Col. Robert Cole and David Folsom, both Choctaw of mixed-race ancestry; Captain Daniel McCurtain, and Major John Pitchlynn, the U.S. interpreter, who had been raised by the Choctaw after having been orphaned when young and married a Choctaw woman.^[53] Apuckshunubbee died in Maysville, Kentucky of an accident during the trip before the party reached Washington.^[54]

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."^[55] On January 20, 1825, Pushmataha and other chiefs signed the Treaty of Washington City, by which the Choctaw ceded more territory to the United States.^{[citation needed]}

Pushmataha died in Washington of a respiratory disease described as croup, before the delegation returned to the Choctaw Nation. He was given full U.S. military burial honors at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

The deaths of these two strong division leaders was a major loss to the Choctaw Nation, but younger leaders were arising who were educated in European-American schools and led adaptation of the culture. Threatened with European-American encroachment, the Choctaw continued to adapt and take on some technology, housing styles, and accepted missionaries to the Choctaw Nation, in the hopes of being accepted by the Mississippi and national government. In 1825 the National Council approved the founding of the Choctaw Academy for education of its young men, urged by Peter Pitchlynn, a young leader and future chief. The school was established in Blue Spring, Scott County, Kentucky; it was operated there until 1842, when the staff and students were transferred to the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. There they founded the Spencer Academy in 1844.

With the election of Andrew Jackson as president in 1828, many of the Choctaw realized that removal was inevitable. They continued to adopt useful European practices but faced Jackson's and settlers' unrelenting pressure.

1830 election and treaty [link]

In March 1830 the division chiefs resigned, and the National Council elected Greenwood LeFlore, chief of the western division, as Principal Chief of the nation to negotiate with the US government on their behalf, the first time such a position had been authorized. Believing removal was inevitable and hoping to preserve rights for Choctaw in Indian Territory and Mississippi, LeFlore drafted a treaty and sent it to Washington, DC. There was considerable turmoil in the Choctaw Nation among people who thought he would and could resist removal, but the chiefs had agreed they could not undertake armed resistance.^[56]

Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830)[link]

At Andrew Jackson's request, the United States Congress opened what became a fierce debate on an Indian Removal Bill.^[57] 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,^[57] and turned his focus onto the Choctaw in Mississippi Territory.

"To the voters of Mississippi. Fellow Citizens:-I have fought for you, I have been by your own act, made a citizen of your state; ... According to your laws I am an American citizen, ... I have always battled on the side of this republic ... I have been told by my white brethren, that the pen of history is impartial, and that in after years, our forlorn kindred will have justice and "mercy too" ... I wish you would elect me a member to the next Congress of the [United] States."

—Mushulatubba, Christian Mirror and N.H. Observer, July 1830.^[58]

Kutteeotubbee was a noted warrior. 1834, Smithsonian American Art Museum

On August 25, 1830, the Choctaw were supposed to meet with Andrew Jackson in Franklin, Tennessee, but Greenwood Leflore, a district Choctaw chief, informed Secretary of War John H. Eaton that his warriors were fiercely opposed to attending.^[59] 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."^[60] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Say to them as friends and brothers to listen [to] the voice of their father, & friend. Where [they] now are, they and my white children are too near each other to live in harmony & peace ... It is their white brothers and my wishes for them to remove beyond the Mississippi, it [contains] the [best] advice to both the Choctaws and Chickasaws, whose happiness ... will certainly be promoted by removing ... There ... their children can live upon [it as] long as grass grows or water runs ... It shall be theirs forever ... and all who wish to remain as citizens [shall have] reservations laid out to cover [their improv]ements; and the justice due [from a] father to his red children will [be awarded to] them. [Again I] beg you, tell them to listen. [The plan proposed] is the only one by which [they can be] perpetuated as a nation ... I am very respectfully your friend, & the friend of my Choctaw and Chickasaw brethren. Andrew Jackson.

—Andrew Jackson to the Choctaw & Chickasaw Nations, 1829.^[61]

The commissioners met with the chiefs and headmen on September 15, 1830, at Dancing Rabbit Creek.^[62] In a carnival-like atmosphere, they tried to explain the policy of removal to an audience of 6,000 men, women, and children.^[62] The Choctaws faced migration or submitting to U.S. law as citizens.^[62] The treaty required the to cede their remaining traditional homeland to the United States; however, a provision in the treaty made removal more acceptable.^{[citation needed]}

ART. XIV. Each Choctaw head of a family being desirous to remain and become a citizen of the States, shall be permitted to do so, by signifying his intention to the Agent within six months from the ratification of this Treaty, and he or she shall thereupon be entitled to a reservation of one section of six hundred and forty acres of land ...

—Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, 1830

On September 27, 1830, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed. It represented one of the largest transfers of land that was signed between the U.S. Government and Native Americans without being instigated by warfare. By the treaty, the Choctaw signed away their remaining traditional homelands, opening them up for European-American settlement. Article 14 allowed for some Choctaw to stay in Mississippi, and nearly 1,300 Choctaws chose to do so. They were one of the first major non-European ethnic group to become U.S. citizens.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[63] Article 22 sought to put a Choctaw representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.^[8] 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.^[64]

Removal era [link]

Main article: Choctaw Trail of Tears

Choctaws were removed west of the Mississippi starting in 1831. Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou by Alfred Boisseau was painted in 1846.

After ceding nearly 11,000,000 acres (45,000 km²), the Choctaw emigrated in three stages: the first in the fall of 1831, the second in 1832 and the last in 1833.^[65] Nearly 15,000 Choctaws made the move to what would be called Indian Territory and then later Oklahoma.^[66] About 2,500 died along the Trail of Tears. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was ratified by the U.S. Senate on February 25, 1831, and the President was anxious to make it a model of removal.^[65] Principal Chief George W. Harkins wrote a farewell letter to the American people before the removals began. It was widely published

It is with considerable diffidence that I attempt to address the American people, knowing and feeling sensibly my incompetency; and believing that your highly and well improved minds would not be well entertained by the address of a Choctaw ... We as Choctaws rather chose to suffer and be free ...

—George W. Harkins, George W. Harkins to the American People^[67]

In 1831 a young 22-year-old George W. Harkins wrote the Farewell Letter to the American People. This portrait was taken in the 1860s.

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

In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung. The Indians were tranquil, but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why the Chactas were leaving their country. "To be free," he answered, could never get any other reason out of him. We ... watch the expulsion ... of one of the most celebrated and ancient American peoples.

—Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America^[68]

Approximately 4,000–6,000 Choctaw remained in Mississippi in 1831 after the initial removal efforts.^[9]^[69] The U.S. agent William Ward, who was responsible for Choctaw registration in Mississippi under article XIV, strongly opposed their treaty rights. Although estimates suggested 5000 Choctaw remained in Mississippi, only 143 family heads (for a total of 276 adult persons) received lands under the provisions of Article 14.^[70]^[71] For the next ten years, the Choctaws in Mississippi were objects of increasing legal conflict, racism, harassment, and intimidation. The Choctaws described 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."^[69] Joseph B. Cobb, who moved to Mississippi from Georgia, described the Choctaw as having "no nobility or virtue at all, and in some respect he found blacks, especially native Africans, more interesting and admirable, the red man's superior in every way. The Choctaw and Chickasaw, the tribes he knew best, were beneath contempt, that is, even worse than black slaves."^[72] Removal continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1846 1,000 Choctaw removed, and in 1903, another 300 Mississippi Choctaw were persuaded to move to the Nation in Oklahoma.^[27] By 1930 only 1,665 remained in Mississippi.^[41]

“I do certify that the foregoing persons did apply to me as agent to have their names registered to remain five years and become citizens of the States before the 24th (August) 1831.”

—William Ward, 1831, Col. William Wards Register^[73]

Pre-Civil War (1840)[link]

Choctaw chief Greenwood LeFlore's plantation home, Malmaison, was built in 1852 near Greenwood, Mississippi and was described as a "palace in the wilderness."^[74]

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 elected as a Mississippi representative and senator, was a fixture of Mississippi high society, and a personal friend of Jefferson Davis. He represented his county in the state house for two terms and served as a state 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.^[75]

Midway through the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849), a group of Choctaw 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.^[76] In the late 20th century, Irish President Mary Robinson extolled the donation in a public commemoration.^[77]

For the Choctaw who remained in or returned to Mississippi after 1855, the situation deteriorated. Many lost their lands and money to unscrupulous whites.^[78] The state of Mississippi refused the Choctaw any participation in government.^[78] Their limited understanding of the English language caused them to live in isolated groups. In addition, they were prohibited from attending any of the few institutions of higher learning, as the European Americans considered them free people of color and excluded from the segregated white institutions. The state had no public schools prior to those established during the Reconstruction era.^[78]

Choctaws ... were at the mercy of the whites who could commit crimes against them without fear of the law. Even black slaves had more legal rights than did the Choctaws during this period.

—Charles Hudson- The Southeastern Indians^[79]

American Civil War (1861)[link]

Further information: Choctaw in the American Civil War

Jackson McCurtain, Lieutenant Colonel of the First Choctaw Battalion, CSA, future Principal Chief.

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Albert Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native Americans. In this capacity he negotiated several treaties, including the Treaty with Choctaws and Chickasaws in July 1861. The treaty covered sixty-four terms, covering many subjects, such as Choctaw and Chickasaw nation sovereignty, Confederate States of America citizenship possibilities, and an entitled delegate in the House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America.^[74]

"But, [Colonel Emory], as soon as the Confederate troops had entered our country, at once abandoned us and the fort; ... By this act the United States abandoned the Choctaws and Chickasaws."

—Julius Folsom, September 5, 1891, letter to H. B. Cushman

Some Choctaw 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 the poor services they received from the federal government. The main reason the Choctaw Nation agreed to sign the treaty was for protection from regional tribes. Soon Confederate battalions were formed in Indian Territory and later in Mississippi in support of the southern cause.^[64]

The Confederacy wanted to recruit Indians east of the Mississippi River in 1862, so they opened up a recruiting camp in Mobile, Alabama.^[80] The Confederacy advertised in the Mobile Advertiser and Register for recruits:

"A Chance for Active Service. The Secretary of War has authorized me to enlist all the Indians east of the Mississippi River into the service of the Confederate States, as Scouts. In addition to the Indians, I will receive all white male citizens, who are good marksmen. To each member, Fifty Dollars Bounty, clothes, arms, camp equipage &c: furnished. The weapons shall be Enfield Rifles. For further information address me at Mobile, Ala." (Signed) S.G. Spann, Comm'ing Choctaw Forces.

—Jacqueline Anderson Matte, They Say the Wind is Red^[80]

General Arnold Spann organized the first battalion of Choctaw in Mississippi in February 1863.^[81] After a Confederate troop train wreck, referred to as the Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863, near Hickory, Mississippi, the new Choctaw Battalion 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."^[82] The 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."^[81]

Major S. G. Spann, Commander of Dabney H. Maury Camp of Meridian, Mississippi, wrote about the deeds of the Choctaw years after the Civil War had ended.^[83] After the Union captured Mississippi Choctaws in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, they were taken to New York, where several died in a Union prison.^[81] 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 non-commissioned 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."^[83]

"Many earnest friends and comrades insist that the Choctaw Indian as a Confederate soldier should receive his proper place on the scroll of events during the American Civil War. This task having been so nearly ignored, I send some 'reminiscences that will be an exponent of the extraordinary merit of the Choctaw Indian on the American Continent.' My connection with the Choctaw Indians was brought about incidentally: Maj. J.W. Pearce, of Hazelhurst, Miss., organized a battalion of Choctaw Indians, of Kemper, DeKalb, Neshoba, Jasper, Scott, and Newton Counties, Miss., known as 'First Battalion of Choctaw Indians, Confederate army'."

—Maj. S. G. Spann, Confederate Veteran Magazine Volume XIII

Choctaw Under Reconstruction (1865)[link]

Mississippi Choctaw [link]

Choctaw girls in 1868. Smithsonian Institution.

From about 1865 to 1918, Mississippi Choctaws were largely ignored by governmental, health, and educational services and fell into obscurity. In the aftermath of the Civil War, their issues were pushed aside in the struggle between defeated Confederates, freedmen and Union sympathizers. Records about the Mississippi Choctaw during this period are non-existent. They had no legal recourse, and were often bullied and intimidated by local whites, who tried to re-establish white supremacy.^[84] They chose to live in isolation and practiced their culture as they had for generations.

Following the Reconstruction era and conservative Democrats' regaining political power in the late 1870s, white state legislators passed laws establishing Jim Crow laws and legal segregation by race. In addition, they effectively disfranchised freedmen and Native Americans by the new Mississippi constitution of 1890, which changed rules regarding voter registration and elections to discriminate against both groups.^[85] The white legislators effectively divided society into two groups: white and "colored," into which they classified Mississippi Choctaw and other Native Americans. They subjected the Choctaw 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.^[79]

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." ^[86]

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, whom the white southerners classified as 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.^[87] Dr. Frank McKinley was the first superintendent. Prior to McKinley's arrival, the Choctaw had grouped themselves in six communities.^{[citation needed]}

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 following World War II as major planters had adopted mechanization, which reduced the need for labor.^{[citation needed]}

Choctaw Nation [link]

Peter Pitchlynn was the Choctaw Principal Chief from 1864-1866, and a Choctaw Delegate to Washington, DC for nearly two decades following. He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Painting, 1834, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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, and the wealthiest had bought slaves.^[88] The Choctaw who developed larger plantations adopted chattel slavery, as practiced by European Americans, to gain sufficient labor.^[88] During the antebellum period, enslaved African Americans had more formal legal protection under United States law than did the Choctaw.^[79] Moshulatubbee, the chief of the western region, held slaves, as did many of the Europeans who married into the Choctaw nation.^[88] The Choctaw took slaves with them to Indian Territory during removal, and descendants purchased others there. They kept slavery until 1866. After the Civil War, they were required by treaty with the United States to emancipate the slaves within their Nation and, for those who chose to stay, offer them full citizenship and rights. Former slaves of the Choctaw Nation were called the Choctaw Freedmen.^[88] After considerable debate, the Choctaw Nation granted Choctaw Freedmen citizenship in 1885.^[89] 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. The 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.^{[citation needed]}

The improved transportation afforded by the railroads increased the pressure on the Choctaw Nation. It drew large-scale mining and timber operations, which added to tribal receipts. But, the railroads and industries also attracted European-American settlers, including new immigrants to the United States.^[90]

Faunceway Baptiste, a Choctaw man in 1868, of mixed-race ancestry. Smithsonian Institution.

With the goal of assimilating the Native Americans, the Curtis Act of 1892, sponsored by a Native American who believed that was the way for his people to do better, ended tribal governments. In addition, it proposed the end of communal, tribal lands. 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). The US declared land in excess of the registered households needs to be "surplus" to the tribe, and took it for sale to new European-American settlers. In addition, individual ownership meant that Native Americans could sell their individual plots. 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; it registered members of the tribe and made allocations of lands.^[90]

Beginning in 1894, the Dawes Commission was established to register Choctaw and other families of the Indian Territory, so that the former tribal lands could be properly distributed among them. The final list included 18,981 citizens of the Choctaw Nation, 1,639 Mississippi Choctaw, and 5,994 former slaves, most held by Choctaws in the Indian/Oklahoma Territory. (At the same time, the Dawes Commission registered members of the other Five Civilized Tribes for the same purpose. The Dawes Rolls have become important records for proving tribal membership.) Following completion of the land allotments, the US proposed to end tribal governments of the Five Civilized Tribes and admit the two territories jointly as a state.^[90]

Territory transition to Oklahoma statehood (1889)[link]

Further information: Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory

Choctaw Nation senate in 1898. Oklahoma Historical Society.

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.^[91]

In 1905, delegates of the Five Civilized Tribes met at the Sequoyah Convention to write a constitution for an Indian-controlled state. They wanted to have Indian Territory admitted as the State of Sequoyah. Although they took a thoroughly developed proposal to Washington, DC, seeking approval, eastern states' representatives opposed it, not wanting to have two western states created in the area, as the Republicans feared that both would be Democrat-dominated, as the territories had a southern tradition of settlement. President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, ruled that the Oklahoma and Indian territories had to be jointly admitted as one state, Oklahoma. To achieve this, tribal govdernments had to end and all residents accept state government. Many of the leading 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.^[74]

In 1906 the U.S. dissolved the governments of the Five Civilized Tribes. This action was part of continuing negotiations by Native Americans and European Americans over the best proposals for the future. The Choctaw Nation continued to protect resources not stipulated in treaty or law.^[90] On November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was admitted to the union as the 46th state.

World War I (1918)[link]

File:ChoctawCoders.jpg

Choctaws in training in World War I for coded radio & telephone transmissions.

In the closing days of World War I, a group of Choctaws serving in the U.S. Army used their native language as the basis for secret communication among Americans, as Germans could not understand it. They are now called the Choctaw Code Talkers.^[92]^[93]^[94] The Choctaws were the Native American innovators who served as code talkers.^[92] Captain Lawrence, a company commander, overheard Solomon Louis and Mitchell Bobb conversing in the Choctaw language. He learned there were eight Choctaw men in the battalion.^[95]

Wounded Choctaw soldier in World War I, U.S. National Red Cross Hospital No. 5, Auteuil, France.

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 the Choctaw speakers, they turned the tide of battle by controlling their communications. In less than 72 hours, the Germans were retreating and the Allies were on full attack.^[95] The 14 Choctaw Code Talkers were Albert Billy, Mitchell Bobb, Victor Brown, Ben Caterby, James Edwards, Tobias Frazer, Ben Hampton, Solomon Louis, Pete Maytubby, Jeff Nelson, Joseph Oklahombi, Robert Taylor, Calvin Wilson, and Captain Walter Veach.^[95]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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

Reorganization (1934)[link]

Further information: Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

A European American and Louisiana Choctaws stand in front of their cabin in 1909, Smithsonian Museum.

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.^[41] John Collier, the US Commissioner for Indian Affairs (now BIA), had worked for a decade on Indian affairs and been developing ideas to change federal policy. He used the report as instrumental support to re-organize the Mississippi Choctaw as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. This enabled them to establish their own tribal government, and gain 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. Baxter York, Emmett York, and Joe Chitto worked on gaining recognition for the Choctaw.^[96] They realized that the only way to gain recognition was to adopt a constitution.^[96] A rival organization, the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Federation, opposed tribal recognition because of fears of dominance by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). They disbanded after leaders of the opposition were moved to another jurisdiction.^[96] The first Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians tribal council members were Baxter and Emmett York with Joe Chitto as the first chairperson.^[96]

With the tribe's adoption of government, in 1944 the Secretary of the Interior declared that 18,000 acres (73 km²) would be held in trust for the Choctaw of Mississippi. Lands in Neshoba and surrounding counties were set aside as a federal Indian reservation. Eight communities were included in the reservation land: Bogue Chitto, Bogue Homa, Conehatta, Crystal Ridge, Pearl River, Red Water, Tucker, and Standing Pine.

Under the Indian Reorganization Act, the Mississippi Choctaws re-organized on April 20, 1945 as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. This gave them some independence from the Democrat-dominated state government, which continued with enforcement of racial segregation and discrimination.

World War II (1941)[link]

Further information: Native Americans and World War II

World War II was a significant turning point for Choctaws and Native Americans in general. Although the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek stated Mississippi Choctaws had U.S. citizenship, they had become associated with "colored people" as non-white in a state that had imposed racial segregation under Jim Crow laws. State services for Native Americans were non-existent. The state was poor and still dependent on agriculture. In its system of segregation, services for minorities were consistently underfunded. The state constitution and voter registration rules dating from the turn of the 20th century kept most Native Americans from voting, making them ineligible to serve on juries or to be candidates for local or state offices. They were without political representation.^[85]

A Mississippi Choctaw veteran stated, "Indians were not supposed to go in the military back then ... the military was mainly for whites. My category was white instead of Indian. I don't know why they did that. Even though Indians weren't citizens of this country, couldn't register to vote, didn't have a draft card or anything, they took us anyway."^[97]

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 17 prisoners, and disabled an enemy tank.^[98]

Post-Reorganization (1946)[link]

Group of Mississippi Choctaw males in the late 50s or early 60s. Photograph by Bob Ferguson.

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 13 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.^[90] In 1959, the Choctaw Termination Act was passed.^[99] Unless repealed by the federal government, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma would effectively be terminated as a sovereign nation as of August 25, 1970.^[99]

President John F. Kennedy halted further termination in 1961 and decided against implementing additional terminations. He did enact some of the last terminations in process, such as with the Ponca. Both presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon repudiated termination of the federal government's relationship with Native American tribes.

We must affirm the right of the first Americans to remain Indians while exercising their rights as Americans. We must affirm their right to freedom of choice and self-determination. We must seek new ways to provide Federal assistance to Indians-with new emphasis on Indian self-help and with respect for Indian culture. And we must assure the Indian people that it is our desire and intention that the special relationship between the Indian and his government grow and flourish. For, the first among us must be not be last.

—President Lyndon Johnson, Message to Congress "The Forgotten American", March 6, 1968.^[100]

Mississippi Choctaw Self-Determination Era [link]

Phillip Martin and family in the late 50s or early 60s. Photograph by Bob Ferguson.

The Choctaw people continued to struggle economically due to bigotry, cultural isolation, and lack of jobs. The Choctaw, who for 150 years had been neither white nor black, were "left where they had always been"-- in poverty.^[101] Will Campbell, a Baptist minister and Civil Rights activist, witnessed the destitution of the Choctaw. 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."^[101] With reorganization and establishment of tribal government, however, over the next decades they took control of "schools, health care facilities, legal and judicial systems, and social service programs."^[102]

The Choctaws witnessed the social forces that brought Freedom Summer and its after effects to their ancient homeland. The Civil Rights Era produced significant social change for the Choctaw in Mississippi, as their civil rights were enhanced. Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, most jobs were given to whites, then blacks.^[101] Donna Ladd wrote that a Choctaw, now in her 40s, remembers "as a little girl, she thought that a 'white only' sign in a local store meant she could only order white, or vanilla, ice cream. It was a small story, but one that shows how a third race can easily get left out of the attempts for understanding."^[103] 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.^[103] Two Choctaw women, who were in the back seat of a deputy's patrol car, said they witnessed the meeting of two conspirators who expressed their desire to "beat-up" the boys.^[104] The end of legalized racial segregation permitted the Choctaws to participate in public institutions and facilities that had been reserved exclusively for white patrons.

Phillip Martin, who had served in the U. S. Army in Europe during World War II, returned to visit his former Neshoba County, Mississippi home. After seeing the poverty of his people, he decided to stay to help.^[101] Martin served as chairperson in various Choctaw committees up until 1977.^[105]

Martin was elected as Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. He served a total of 30 years, being re-elected until 2007. Martin died in Jackson, Mississippi, on February 4, 2010. He was eulogized as a visionary leader, who had lifted his people out of poverty with businesses and casinos built on tribal land.^[105]

Changes after the civil rights era were reflected in sports and other venues. In 1981, the African-American athlete, Marcus Dupree, played his final high school football game at Warriors Stadium of the Choctaw Indian Reservation's tribal high school. 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 praised by many Mississippians.^[106]

'Marcus Dupree!' the Chief [Phillip Martin] said. 'He brings pride to our community. He makes us proud. I hope we can get him to the Choctaw Bowl' ... I was witness that night to one of the most distinctive crowds I had ever seen at a sports event. The four thousand or so people seemed almost an equal of mix of whites, blacks, and Indians ... On a swathe of level ground behind the grandstand, little white, black and Indian boys were playing a brand of football which resembled a rugby scrum ... After Marcus scored his touchdown, [Sid Salter] saw Cecil Price, Sr. who was ... 'jumping up and down and cheering as hard as anyone ... ain't that a kick in the pants?'

—The Courting of Marcus Dupree, Willie Morris, 1999^[106]

Choctaws today [link]

In the social changes around the Civil Rights Era, between 1965 and 1982 Native Americans renewed their commitments to the value of their ancient heritage. Working to celebrate their own strengths and exercise appropriate rights; they dramatically reversed the trend toward abandonment of Indian culture and tradition.^[107] During the 1960s, Community Action programs connected with Native Americans were based on citizen participation. In the 1970s, the Choctaws repudiated the extremes of Indian activism. The Oklahoma Choctaw sought a local grassroots solution to reclaim their cultural identity and sovereignty as a nation. The Mississippi Choctaw would lay the foundations of business ventures. Policy continued toward the ideology of Self-Determination.^{[citation needed]}

Forced termination is wrong, in my judgment, for a number of reasons. First, the premises on which it rests are wrong ... The second reason for rejecting forced termination is that the practical results have been clearly harmful in the few instances in which termination actually has been tried ... The third argument I would make against forced termination concerns the effect it has had upon the overwhelming majority of tribes which still enjoy a special relationship with the Federal government ... The recommendations of this administration represent an historic step forward in Indian policy. We are proposing to break sharply with past approaches to Indian problems.

—President Richard Nixon, Special Message on Indian Affairs, July 8, 1970.^[108]

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.^[109]

Norma Howard (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), award-winning watercolor painter with Choctaw stickball sticks made by her son.

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.^[87]

Starting with New Hampshire in 1963, numerous state governments began to operate lotteries and other gambling to raise money for government services. In 1987 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that federally recognized tribes could operate gaming facilities on reservation land free from state regulation. In 1988 the U.S. Congress enacted the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). It set the terms for Native American tribes to operate casinos.^[109]

After years of waiting under the Ray Mabus administration, Mississippi Governor Kirk Fordice in 1992 gave permission for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians to develop Class III gaming. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI) has one of the largest casino resorts in the nation; it is located in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The Silver Star Casino opened its doors in 1994. The Golden Moon Casino opened in 2002. The casinos are collectively known as the Pearl River Resort.^{[citation needed]}

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has its own gaming operations: the Choctaw Casino Resort and Choctaw Casino Bingo, popular gaming destinations in Durant. Near the Oklahoma-Texas border, they serve residents of Southern Oklahoma and North Texas. The largest regional population base from which they draw is the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.^{[citation needed]}

After nearly two hundred years, the Choctaw have retaken control of the ancient site of Nanih Waiya. For years protected as a Mississippi state park, Nanih Waiya was returned to the Choctaw in 2006, under Mississippi Legislature State Bill 2803.^{[citation needed]}

Jack Abramoff's Introduction to Indian lobbying [link]

Further information: Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal

Video capture from video of Senate Indian Affairs Committee Hearing on 'Lobbying Practices Involving Indian Tribes' on September 29, 2004 as found at indian.senate.gov

In the second half of the 1990s, Abramoff was employed by Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP, the lobbying arm of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP law firm based in Seattle, WA. In 1995, Abramoff began representing Native American tribes with gambling interests, starting with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

The Choctaw originally had lobbied the federal government directly, but beginning in 1994, they found that many of the congressional members who were respondent to their issues had either retired or were defeated in the "Republican Revolution" of the 1994 elections. Nell Rogers, the tribe's specialist on legislative affairs, had a friend who was familiar with Abramoff's father and Abramoff's work as a Republican activist. The tribe contacted Preston Gates, and soon after hired the firm and Abramoff.

One of Abramoff's first acts was to defeat a Congressional bill, that sought to use the unrelated business income tax (UBIT) to tax Native American casinos, sponsored by Reps. Bill Archer (R-TX) and Ernest Istook (R-OK). Since the matter involved taxation, Abramoff enlisted help from his College Republican acquaintance Grover Norquist, and his Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The bill was eventually defeated in 1996 in the Senate, due in part to grassroots work by ATR, for which the Choctaw paid $60,000.

According to Washington Business Forward, a lobbying trade magazine, "[Tom DeLay] was a major factor in those victories, and the fight helped cement the alliance between the two men.^[110]

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.^[111] In an e-mail sent January 29, 2002, Abramoff tells Scanlon "I have to meet with the monkeys from the Choctaw tribal council."^[112]

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.^[113]

MOWA Choctaw [link]

Further information: MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians

For generations Choctaw Indians lived in Mobile and Washington Counties in southwestern Alabama.^{[citation needed]} These Indians traced their lineage to two groups of Choctaw that settled the area in the early 19th century.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} The second group arrived in the 1830s, when they hid rather than be removed to the western Indian Territories.^{[citation needed]} These two groups merged and lived in relative isolation from white contact for several decades.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[114]^{[citation needed]}

Choctaw in the 2010 Census [link]

4,513 people in Alabama reported being Choctaw in the 2010 Census. They were exceeded in number by the 23,403 people in California who reported being Choctaw. California's number also exceeded the 9,260 Choctaw in Mississippi and the 4,840 Choctaw in Arkansas. Texas with 24,024 Choctaw had more, and all these numbers were dwarfed by the 79,006 Choctaw in Oklahoma. There were Choctaw in every state of the Union, the lowest number being the 10 in Rhode Island.^[115]

Culture [link]

Main article: Culture of the Choctaw

Tullockchishko, Drinks the Juice of the Stones, was the greatest of all Choctaw stickball players, 1834.

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.^[116]

Clans [link]

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:^[117]

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."^[118] 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."'^[118] The following are possible totemic clan designations:^[118]

Wind
Bear
Deer
Wolf
Panther
Holly Leaf
Bird
Raccoon
Crawfish

Games [link]

A Mississippian era engraved shell discovered at Eddyville, Kentucky

Choctaw stickball, the oldest field sport in North America, was also known as the "little brother of war" because of its roughness and substitution for war.^[119] 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.^[120] The disk was thrown down a 200-foot (61 m) 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.^[120]

Other games included corn, cane, and moccasin games.^[121] 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.^[121]

Language [link]

Main article: Choctaw language

The Choctaw language is a member of the Muskogean family and was well known among the frontiersmen, such as U.S. President Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison, of the early 19th century. The language is closely related to Chickasaw, and some linguists consider the two dialects a single language. The Choctaw language is the essence of tribal culture, tradition, and identity.^[122] 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:

Chata Anumpa: Hattak yuka keyu hokυtto yakohmit itibachυfat hieli kυt, nan isht imaiυlhpiesa atokmυt itilawashke; yohmi ha hattak nana hohkia, keyukmυt kanohmi hohkia okla moma nana isht aim aiυlhpiesa, micha isht aimaiυlhtoba he aima ka kanohmi bano hosh isht ik imaiυlhpieso kashke. Amba moma kυt nana isht imachukma chi ho tuksυli hokmakashke.^[123]
English Language: That all free men, when they form a special compact, are equal in rights, and that no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive, separate public emolument or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services.^[123]

Religion [link]

Main article: Choctaw mythology

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 ..."^[41] The word nanpisa (the one who sees) expressed the reverence the Choctaw had for the sun.^[124]

Anthropologist theorize that the Mississippian ancestors of the Choctaw placed the sun at the center of their cosmological system. Mid-eighteenth-century Choctaws did view the sun as a being endowed with life. Choctaw diplomats, for example, spoke only on sunny days. If the day of a conference were cloudy or rainy, Choctaws delayed the meeting, usually on the pretext that they needed more time to discuss particulars, until the sun returned. The sun made sure that all talks were honest. The sun as a symbol of great power and reverence is a major component of southeastern Indian cultures.

—Greg O'Brien, Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830^[34]

Mississippi Choctaw group wearing traditional garb, c. 1908.

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 ...'"^[41]

Traditional clothing [link]

The colorful dresses worn by today's Choctaw are made by hand and adapted from the 19th century European-American designs. Choctaws today wear Choctaw clothing mainly for special events. Choctaw elders, especially the Choctaw women, dress in their traditional garb every day. Choctaw dresses are trimmed by full diamond, half diamond or circle and crosses that represent stickball sticks.^[125]

Treaties [link]

Main article: List of Choctaw Treaties

The complete Choctaw Nation shaded in blue in relation to the U.S. state of Mississippi.

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.^[126] Some treaties which the US made with other nations, such as the Treaty of San Lorenzo, indirectly affected the Choctaw.

Reservations [link]

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 [link]

Further information: List of Choctaw chiefs

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.

References [link]

^ "American Indian, Alaska Native Tables from the Statistical Abstract of the United States" (PDF). Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004-2005 (US Census Bureau) (124th ed.). http://www.census.gov/statab/www/sa04aian.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
^ Walter, Williams (1979). "Southeastern Indians before Removal, Prehistory, Contact, Decline". Southeastern Indians: Since the Removal Era. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. pp. 7–10.
^ Swanton, John (2001) [1931]. Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Alabama Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-8173-1109-2.
^ O'Brien, Greg (2005) [2002, 2005]. "The Multiethnic Confederacy". Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830. University of Nebraska Press. p. 21. ISBN 0-8032-8622-8.
^ PBS (2007). "Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & the Presidency". PBS. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/andrewjackson/themes/indian_removal.html. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
^ Horsman, Reginald (1981). "Racial Destiny and the Indians". Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism. Harvard University Press. p. 200. ISBN 0-674-94805-X, 9780674948051.
^ Zinn, Howard (2003). "As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs". A people's history of the United States: 1492-present. HarperCollins. p. 126. ISBN 0-06-052842-7, 9780060528423.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kappler, Charles (1904). "INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES Vol. II, Treaties". Government Printing Office. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/cho0310.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
^ ^a ^b ^c Baird, David (1973). "The Choctaws Meet the Americans, 1783 to 1843". The Choctaw People. United States: Indian Tribal Series. p. 36. Library of Congress 73-80708.
^ ^a ^b Council of Indian Nations (2005). "History & Culture, Citizenship Act - 1924". Council of Indian Nations. http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cin_hist_citizenshipact. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ ^a ^b ^c Prentice, Guy (2003). "Pushmataha, Choctaw Indian Chief". Southeast Chronicles. http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/SoutheastChronicles/NISI/NISI%20Cultural%20Overview.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cushman, Horatio (1999) [1899]. "The Choctaw". History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 149–150. ISBN 0-8061-3127-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Galloway, Patricia (1995). Choctaw Genesis, 1500-1700 (Indians of the Southeast). University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-7070-4.
^ Ken Carleton, "Nanih Waiya: Mother Mound of the Choctaw", The Delta Endangered, Spring 1996, Vol.1 (1), NPS Archeology Program, accessed 16 November 2009
^ ^a ^b Ken Carleton, "Nanih Waiya: Mother Mound of the Choctaw", The Delta Endangered, Spring 1996, Vol.1 (1), NPS Archeology Program, Common Ground, accessed 16 November 2009
^ Swanton, John (2001) [1931]. Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Alabama Press. pp. 5–37. ISBN 0-8173-1109-2.
^ Catlin, George (1903) [1903]. North American Indians. John Grant. p. 128. http://books.google.com/?id=PRITAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA128&dq=The+Choctaws,+a+great+many+winters+ago.
^ About North Georgia (1994-2006). "Moundbuilders, North Georgia's early inhabitants". Golden Ink. http://ngeorgia.com/history/early.html. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ Morison, Samuel (1974). The European Discovery of America, The Southern Voyages. Oxford University Press. p. 507. ISBN 0-19-504222-0.
^ Weber, David (1992). The Spanish Frontier in North America. Yale University Press. pp. 36–37. ASIN B000OROPBY.
^ Gentleman of Elvas (1557). "Chapter II, How Cabeza de Vaca arrived at court". Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida as told by a Knight of Elvas. Kallman Publishing Co. (1968), Translated by Buckingham Smith. ASIN B000J4W27Q.
^ Duncan, David (1995). "Foreword". Hernando de Soto. Crown Publishers, Inc.. p. xxi. ISBN 0-517-58222-8.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Brescia, William (Bill) (1982). "Chapter 2, French-Choctaw Contact, 1680s-1763". Tribal Government, A New Era. Philadelphia, Mississippi: Choctaw Heritage Press. p. 8.
^ Usner, Jr., Daniel H. (1992). "Trade and Settlement". Indians, Settlers, & Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy. The University of North Carolina Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-8078-4358-X.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Conqueror Meets the Unconquered: Negotiating Cultural Boundaries on the Post-Revolutionary Southern Frontier", Journal of Southern History, Vol. 67, 2001, accessed 15 October 2011
^ ^a ^b O'Brien, Greg (30 April 2008). Pre-removal Choctaw History: Exploring New Paths. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 123–126. ISBN 978-0-8061-3916-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=jGFmNPevedUC&pg=PA125. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
^ ^a ^b Ferguson, Bob; Leigh Marshall (1997). "Chronology". Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20071010062645/http://www.choctaw.org/history/chronology.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
^ ^a ^b Perdue, Theda (2003). "Chapter 2 "Both White and Red"". Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South. The University of Georgia Press. p. 51. ISBN 0-8203-2731-X.
^ Remini, Robert (1977, 1998). ""The Reform Begins"". Andrew Jackson. History Book Club. p. 201. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-9650631-0-7|0-9650631-0-7]].
^ Remini, Robert (1977, 1998). ""Brothers, Listen ... You Must Submit"". Andrew Jackson. History Book Club. p. 258. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-9650631-0-7|0-9650631-0-7]].
^ Miller, Eric (1994). "George Washington And Indians". Eric Miller. http://www.dreric.org/library/northwest.shtml. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ "By the President of the United States of America. A proclamation.". Yale Law School. 1790. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/gwproc13.asp. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
^ Brescia, William "Bill" (1982). "Appendix 1". Choctaw Tribal Government: A New Era. Choctaw Heritage Press, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
^ ^a ^b ^c O'Brien, Greg (2005) [2002, 2005]. "Power Derived from the Outside World". Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830. University of Nebraska Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-8032-8622-8.
^ O'Brien, Greg (2005) [2002, 2005]. "Power Derived from the Outside World". Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830. University of Nebraska Press. p. 58. ISBN 0-8032-8622-8.
^ O'Brien, Greg (2005) [2002, 2005]. "Power Derived from the Outside World". Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830. University of Nebraska Press. p. 61. ISBN 0-8032-8622-8.
^ O'Brien, Greg (2005) [2002, 2005]. "Power Derived from the Outside World". Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750-1830. University of Nebraska Press. p. 60. ISBN 0-8032-8622-8.
^ ^a ^b Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (Text of the 1786 Choctaw Treaty).
^ "Removal". Toli at UGA: the Flying Rats. http://www.uga.edu/toli/information/removal.html. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
^ "To the Brothers of the Choctaw Nation". Yale Law School. 1803. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jeffind3.asp. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Swanton, John (2001) [1931]. Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-1109-2.
^ ^a ^b Jones, Charile; Mike Bouch (November 1987). "Sharing Choctaw History". Bishinik. University of Minnesota. Archived from the original on 2008-06-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20080604074821/http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mboucher/mikebouchweb/choctaw/push1.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
^ Turner III, Frederick (1978) [1973]. "Poetry and Oratory". The Portable North American Indian Reader. Penguin Book. pp. 246–247. ISBN 0-14-015077-3.
^ Junaluska, Arthur; Vine Deloria, Jr. (1976). "Chief Pushmataha - Response to Tecumseh" (mp3). Great American Indian Speeches, Vol. 1 (Phonographic Disc). Caedmon. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/nativeamericans/chiefpushmataha.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
^ Lincecum, Gideon (1906). Life of Apushimataha. Mississippi Historical Society Publications 9: 415-485. ASIN: B0008AQ48Y.
^ ^a ^b Lossing, Benson J. (1869). "XXXIV: War Against the Creek Indians.". Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. New York: Harper & Brothers. ISBN 0-7812-3860-9. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~wcarr1/Lossing2/Chap34.html. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
^ Upton, David (2003-11-22). "Soldiers of the Mississippi Territory". David Upton. Archived from the original on 2008-07-31. http://web.archive.org/web/20080731035609/http://home.bak.rr.com/simpsoncounty/war1812.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ Access Genealogy Indian Tribal Records. "Pushmataha, Choctaw Indian Chief". Access Genealogy. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/choctaw/pushmatah.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
^ Cushman, Horatio (1999) [1899]. "The Choctaw". History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 60. ISBN 0-8061-3127-6.
^ ^a ^b Remini, Robert (1977, 1998). "Expansion and Removal". Andrew Jackson. History Book Club. p. 395. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-9650631-0-6|0-9650631-0-6]].
^ ^a ^b Cushman, Horatio (1999) [1899]. "The Choctaw". History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians. University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 67. ISBN 0-8061-3127-6.
^ D. L. Birchfield. "Choctaws". http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Choctaws.html. Retrieved 2008-05-07.
^ White, Earl. "Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma". Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. http://www.choctawnation.com/History/index.cfm?fuseaction=HArticle&HArticleID=1. Retrieved 2008-02-25. ^{[dead link]}
^ Maysville Eagle, 1824
^ Clarke, Hewitt (1995) [1995]. "Chapter 1, "The Death of Koosa Town"". Thunder at Meridian. Lone Star Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN 0-9649231-0-6.
^ James Taylor Carson, "Greenwood LeFlore: Southern Creole, Choctaw Chief", in Pre-Removal Choctaw History: Exploring New Paths, ed. Greg O'Brien, University of Oklahoma Press, 2008, accessed 14 October 2011
^ ^a ^b Sharyn Kane & Richard Keeton. "Fort Benning - The Land and the People". SEAC. http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/benning-book/ch11.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
^ "An Indian Candidate for Congress". Christian Mirror and N.H. Observer, Shirley, Hyde & Co.. July 15, 1830.
^ Remini, Robert (1977, 1998). ""Brothers, Listen ... You Must Submit"". Andrew Jackson. History Book Club. p. 272. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-9650631-0-7|0-9650631-0-7]].
^ Green, Len (October 1978). "Choctaw Treaties". Bishinik. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20071215033006/http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mboucher/mikebouchweb/choctaw/chotreat.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
^ Len Green (2009). "President Andrew Jackson’s Original Instructions to the "Civilized" Indian Tribes to Move West". The Raab Collection. http://www.raabcollection.com/manuscript/Andrew-Jackson-Autograph-Trail.aspx. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
^ ^a ^b ^c Remini, Robert (1977, 1998). ""Brothers, Listen ... You Must Submit"". Andrew Jackson. History Book Club. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-9650631-0-7|0-9650631-0-7]].
^ Carleton, Ken (2002). "A Brief History of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians" (PDF). Mississippi Archaeological Association. http://www.msarchaeology.org/maa/carleton.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
^ ^a ^b Kidwell (2007); Kidwell (1995)
^ ^a ^b Remini, Robert (1977, 1998). ""Brothers, Listen ... You Must Submit"". Andrew Jackson. History Book Club. p. 273.
^ Satz, Ronald (1986) [1986]. "The Mississippi Choctaw: From the Removal Treaty of the Federal Agency". In Samuel J. Wells and Roseanna Tuby. After Removal: The Choctaw in Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. p. 7. ISBN 0-87805-289-5.
^ Harkins, George (1831). "1831 - December - George W. Harkins to the American People". http://anpa.ualr.edu/trailOfTears/letters/1831DecemberGeorgeWHarkinstotheAmericanPeople.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
^ de Tocqueville, Alexis (1835-1840). "Tocqueville and Beaumont on Race". http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/race/indian.html. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
^ ^a ^b Walter, Williams (1979). "Three Efforts at Development among the Choctaws of Mississippi". Southeastern Indians: Since the Removal Era. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
^ Chronicles of Oklahoma, Edward Davis. "The Mississippi Choctaws". http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v010/v010p257.html. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
^ DeRosier, Arthur (1970). "Ward reportedly registered some 1,300 Choctaws as citizens out of token compliance.". The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. the University of Tennessee Press Knoxville. p. 135. SBN 87049-113-X.
^ Hudson, Charles (1971). "The Ante-Bellum Elite". Red, White, and Black; Symposium on Indians in the Old South. University of Georgia Press. p. 80. SBN 820303089.
^ "Col. William Wards Register". National Archives, Microfilm Roll #170 and American State Papers, Volume 8, Public lands, Page 689. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/choctaw/wardregister/. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
^ ^a ^b ^c Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. "Malmaison, Palace in a Wilderness, Home of General LeFlore". http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v005/v005p371.html. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
^ Kidwell (1995)
^ Ward, Mike (1992). "Irish Repay Choctaw Famine Gift: March Traces Trail of Tears in Trek for Somalian Relief". American-Stateman Capitol. http://www.uwm.edu/~michael/choctaw/retrace.html. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
^ "President of Ireland Mary Robinson Addresses the Choctaw People". https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/michael/www/choctaw/robinson.html. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chronicles of Oklahoma, Edward Davis. "The Mississippi Choctaws". http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v010/v010p257.html. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hudson, Charles (1976). "A Conquered People". The Southeastern Indians. The University of Tennessee Press. p. 490.
^ ^a ^b Matte, Jacqueline (2002) [2002]. "Refugees- Six Towns Choctaw, 1830-1890". They Say the Wind is Red. New South Books. p. 65. ISBN 1-58838-079-3.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kidwell, Clara (1995). "The Choctaws in Mississippi after 1830". Choctaws and Missionaries in Mississippi, 1818-1918. University of Oklahoma. p. 170. ISBN 0-8061-2691-4.
^ Boggan, Greg (2005-02-06). "The Chunky Creek Train Wreck of 1863". http://nchgs.org/history/trainwreck/. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
^ ^a ^b Spann, S. G. (December 1905). "Choctaw Indians As Confederate Soldiers". pp. 560–561. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20071025034356/http://www.choctaw.org/history/confederate.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
^ James H. Howard; Victoria Lindsay Levine (1990). "Chapter 1, Historical Background". Choctaw Music and Dance. The University of Oklahoma Press. p. 4.
^ ^a ^b Stephen Edward Cresswell, Rednecks, Redeemers, and Race: Mississippi after Reconstruction, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006, p.124
^ Deborah Boykin, "Choctaw Heritage of Louisiana and Mississippi", Louisiana Folklife Program, 2000, accessed 25 March 2009
^ ^a ^b Deborah Boykin, "Choctaw Indians in the 21st Century", Mississippi History Now, accessed 25 March 2009
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The Choctaw Freedmen of Oklahoma". http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/8-chocfreed.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
^ "1885 Choctaw & Chickasaw Freedmen Admitted To Citizenship". http://www.african-nativeamerican.com/admt.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Kidwell (2007)
^ Devon Abbott Mihesuah, Choctaw Crime and Punishment, 1884-1907 (2009)
^ ^a ^b "Choctaw Indian Code Talkers of World War I" (notes/letters), Phillip Allen, Oklahoma University, 2000, webpage: CodeTalkers.
^ "Germans Confused by Choctaw Code Talkers" (article), BISHINIK, August 1986: 2.
^ "Native Words, Native Warriors". http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/codetalkers/html/chapter4.html. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Choctaw Code Talkers of World War II". http://www.uwm.edu/~michael/choctaw/code.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Brescia, William (Bill) (1982). "Chapter 3, Treaties and the Choctaw People". Tribal Government, A New Era. Philadelphia, Mississippi: Choctaw Heritage Press. pp. 21–22.
^ Williams, Rudi (2002). "Indians Fight America's Wars Because 'This is Our Country, Too,' Choctaw Says". Department of Defense. http://www.pentagon.gov/specials/nativeam02/fight.html. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
^ United States Army Center of Military History (2009). "Medal of Honor Recipients, World War II (A-F)". U.S. Army. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/wwII-a-f.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
^ ^a ^b "U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 108, 83rd Congress, 1953. (U.S. Statutes at Large, 67: B132.)". Digital History. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/native_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=96. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ "Johnson's Message to Congress "The Forgotten American"". http://www.bobsuniverse.com.+March 6, 1968. http://www.bobsuniverse.com/BWAH/36-Johnson/19680306a.pdf. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Campbell, Will (1992) [1992]. "Chapter 13". Providence. Atlanta, Georgia: Long Street Press. p. 243. ISBN 1-56352-024-9.
^ Deborah Boykin, "Choctaw Heritage of Louisiana and Mississippi", Louisiana Folklife Program, 2000, accessed 26 March 2009
^ ^a ^b Ladd, Donna (2005-06-22). "After Killen: What's Next For Mississippi?". Jackson Free Press. http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/print.php?id=6485_0_9_0. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
^ Mitchell, Jerry (December 2, 2007). "Six living suspects from 1964 civil rights murders". Clarion Ledger. http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/NEWS/71201018. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
^ ^a ^b [1]
^ ^a ^b Morris, Willie (1999). The Courting of Marcus Dupree. pp. 291–302. ISBN 978-0-87805-585-2. http://books.google.com/?id=W6nE9QK51vkC&pg=PA291&lpg=PA291&dq=marcus+dupree+1981+choctaw#v=onepage&q=marcus%20dupree%201981%20choctaw&f=false. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
^ James H. Howard; Victoria Lindsay Levine (1990). "Introduction". Choctaw Music and Dance. The University of Oklahoma Press. xxi.
^ "President Nixon, Special Message on Indian Affairs" (PDF). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/tribalportal/pdf/president-nixon70.pdf. Retrieved 2008-03-19.
^ ^a ^b William C. Canby, Jr., American Indian Law in a Nut Shell, St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co., pp. 23-33
^ www.bizforward.com
^ ""Gimme Five"—Investigation of Tribal Lobbying Matters" (PDF). Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. 2006-06-22. http://www.indian.senate.gov/public/_files/Report.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ U.S. Congress - Committee on Indian Affairs (2004-09-29). "Oversight Hearing In re Tribal Lobbying Matters, et al.". U.S. Senate. Archived from the original on 2007-12-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20071201052123/http://indian.senate.gov/2004hrgs/092904hrg/Campbell.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5081540 NPR
^ Jacqueline Anderson Matte, "Extinction by Reclassification: the MOWA Choctaws of South Alabama and Their Struggle for Federal Recognition," Alabama Review 2006 59(3): 163-204,
^ 2010 US Census table on reported tribes
^ "Choctaw Indian Fair". Information.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/choctaw-indian-fair. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
^ Mieirs, Jennifer. "Choctaw Clans, and the People". http://jenniferhsrn2.homestead.com/clan.html. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
^ ^a ^b ^c Swanton, John (2001, Published Earlier). "Clans and Local Groups". Source material for the social and ceremonial life of the Choctaw Indians. University of Alabama Press. p. 79. ISBN 0-8173-1109-2. http://books.google.com/?id=PDuNbneChG0C&pg=PR7&dq=choctaw+ceremonial+and+customs#v=snippet&q=panther&f=false. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
^ "Choctaw Indians". 2006. http://www.indians.org/articles/choctaw-indians.html. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
^ ^a ^b Swanton, John (2001) [1931]. Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Alabama Press. p. 155. ISBN 0-8173-1109-2.
^ ^a ^b Swanton, John (2001) [1931]. Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Alabama Press. pp. 158–160. ISBN 0-8173-1109-2.
^ A Living Tradition: An Overview of Choctaw Cultural Arts. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. 2006. p. 5.
^ ^a ^b "Choctaw Language Alphabet and Pronunciation". 1998-2008. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/choctaw.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
^ Swanton, John (2001) [1931]. Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Alabama Press. pp. 194–196. ISBN 0-8173-1109-2.
^ "Traditional Choctaw Dress". 2004. http://www.choctaw.org/culture/dress.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-04. ^{[dead link]}
^ Ferguson, Bob (2001). "Treaties". Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. http://www.choctaw.org/history/treaties.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-06. ^{[dead link]}

External links [link]

Official websites of Choctaw Governments [link]

History and culture [link]

Choctaw Indian Fair
"Choctaws" by Dr. D.L. Birchfield
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Choctaws". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Choctaw, Oklahoma Historical Society article
Choctaw History and Culture

v t e Choctaw

Federally recognized tribes	Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Jena Band of Choctaw Indians Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

Culture	Culture Freedmen Language Religion Bishinik periodical Fair Choctaw Tribal School System Four Mothers Society Green Corn Ceremony Stomp dance

History	Nanih Waiya Chickasaw Campaign of 1736 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek Trail of Tears American Civil War Choctaw Capitol Building Atoka Agreement Code talkers Mississippi Choctaw Indian Federation

Politics and law	List of Choctaw chiefs List of Choctaw treaties Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield

v t e Five Civilized Tribes

Chickasaw · Cherokee · Choctaw · Creek · Seminole

v t e Pre-Columbian North America

Archaeological cultures	North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville

Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville

Miscellaneous	Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther

Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era

http://wn.com/Choctaw

http://it.wn.com/Choctaw

http://es.wn.com/Choctaw

http://ru.wn.com/Чокто (народ)

http://nl.wn.com/Choctaw (volk)

http://pt.wn.com/Choctaw

http://pl.wn.com/Czoktawowie

http://fr.wn.com/Choctaws

http://de.wn.com/Choctaw (Volk)

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

James McMurtry
American singer/songwriter James McMurtry wields his capoed cobbled-together butterscotch Fender Telecaster during a late-night performance with his backing band, The Heartless Bastards, in 2005 at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton, Texas.
Background information
Born	(1962-03-18) March 18, 1962 (age 50)
Origin	Leesburg, Virginia
Genres	Americana, Folk Rock, Rock
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, guitarist & bandleader
Years active	1989–present
Website	www.jamesmcmurtry.com

James McMurtry (born March 18, 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas^[1]) is a Texas rock/Texas Country 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 nearly the same name, Heartless Bastards.

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."

1 Biography
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Guest singles
3 External links
- 3.1 Media
4 References

Biography [link]

McMurtry spent the first seven years of his boyhood in Ft. Worth^[2] 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. The music critic Robert Christgau ranked "We Can't Make It Here" as the best song of the 2000s.^[3]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Discography [link]

Albums [link]

Year	Album	Chart Positions				Label
Year	Album	US	US Heat	US Indie	US Country	Label
1989	Too Long in the Wasteland	125				Columbia
1992	Candyland
1995	Where'd You Hide the Body
1997	It Had to Happen					Sugar Hill
1998	Walk Between the Raindrops
2002	Saint Mary of the Woods
2004	Live in Aught-Three					Compadre
2005	Childish Things		28	40	47	Compadre
2007	Best of the Sugar Hill Years					Sugar Hill
2008	Just Us Kids	136	2	18		Lightning Rod
2009	Live in Europe		24			Lightning Rod

Guest singles [link]

Year	Single	Artist	Peak positions	Album
Year	Single	Artist	US Country	Album
1992	"Sweet Suzanne"	Buzzin' Cousins	68	Falling from Grace soundtrack

External links [link]

Media [link]

Awards
Preceded by Buddy Miller	AMA Album of the Year (artist) 2006	Succeeded by Patty Griffin
Preceded by Mark Heard	AMA Song of the Year (Songwriter) 2006	Succeeded by Darrell Scott

References [link]

Persondata
Name	Macmurtry, James
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 18, 1962
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/James_McMurtry

http://de.wn.com/James McMurtry

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McMurtry

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Black Native Americans


Cofehapkee	Edmonia Lewis	Radmilla Cody
	George Bonga	Mance Lipscomb
France Twine	George Bonga	Mance Lipscomb
Olivia Ward Bush		Oscar Pettiford
Olivia Banks	Illinois Jacquet	Oscar Pettiford

Total population

Unknown. (182,494 identified as ethnically African/Native American on 2000 census)^[1]

Regions with significant populations

United States (especially the Southern United States or in locations populated by Southern descendants).

Languages

American English

Related ethnic groups

African American • Afro-Asian American • Afro-Boricua • Atlantic Creole • Black Seminoles • Brass Ankles • Cafuzo • Cherokee freedmen • Chestnut Ridge people • Choctaw Freedmen • Freedmen • Garifuna • Gullah • Hapa Popolo (Black Pacific Islander) • Indigenous peoples of the Americas • Indigenous peoples of the United States • Louisiana Creole people • Lumbee • Maroon • Melungeon • Miskito Sambu • Native Americans in the United States • Pardo • Redbone (ethnicity) • We-Sorts • Zambo

Black Native Americans is a term that refers to people of African-American descent, usually with significant Native American ancestry, who also have strong ties to Native American culture, social, and historical traditions.

Certain Native American tribes had close relations with African Americans, especially those where slavery was prevalent. Members of the Five Civilized Tribes held enslaved blacks, who migrated with them to the West in 1830 and later. In peace treaties with the US after the American Civil War, the tribes, which had sided with the Confederacy, were required to emancipate slaves and give them full citizenship rights in their nations. The Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole have created controversy in recent decades as they tightened rules for membership in their nations and excluded Freedmen who did not have at least one Native American ancestor on the early 20th century Dawes Rolls.

1 Overview
2 History
3 Genealogy
4 Notable Black Native Americans
- 4.1 Historic
- 4.2 Contemporary
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
8 Further reading

Overview [link]

Until recently, historic relations between Native Americans and African Americans were relatively neglected in United States history studies.^[2] At various times, Africans had more or less contact with Native Americans, although they did not live together in as great number as with Europeans. African slaves brought to the United States and their descendants have had a history of cultural exchange and intermarriage with Native Americans and other slaves who possessed Native American and European ancestry. Most interaction took place in the Southern United States, where slaves were held in greatest number.^[3] Numerous African Americans thus have some Native American ancestry, although not all have current social, cultural or linguistic ties to Native peoples.^[4]

Relationships among Native American groups and Africans and African Americans have been varied and complex. Some groups were more accepting of Africans than others and welcomed them as full members of their respective cultures and communities. Native peoples often disagreed about the role of ethnic African people in their communities. Other Native Americans saw uses for slavery and did not oppose it for others.

After the American Civil War, as members of the US Army, some African Americans fought against Native Americans, especially in the Western frontier states. Their military units became known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Black Seminole particularly were recruited and worked as Native American scouts for the Army. On the other hand, many Native Americans and African-descended people fought alongside one another in armed struggles of resistance against U.S. expansion into Native territories, as in the Seminole Wars in Florida, as well as resistance against slavery and racism.

History [link]

Colonial America [link]

The earliest record of African and Native American contact occurred in April 1502, when the first African slaves arrived in Hispaniola. Some escaped inland on Santo Domingo; those who survived and joined with the natives became the first circle of Black Native Americans.^[5]^[6] In addition, the first example of African slaves' escaping from European colonists and being absorbed by Native Americans was recorded in 1526. In June of that year, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllón established a Spanish colony near the mouth of the Pee Dee River in what is now eastern South Carolina. The Spanish settlement was named San Miquel de Guadalupe. Among the inhabitants were 100 enslaved Africans. In 1526, the first African slaves fled the colony and took refuge with local Native Americans.^[6]

Intermarriage between African slaves and Native Americans began in the early 17th century in the coastal settlements.^[7] In 1622 Native Americans overran the European colony of Jamestown. They killed the Europeans but brought the African slaves as captives back to their communities, gradually integrating them.^[8] Interracial relationships occurred between African Americans and members of other tribes in the coastal states.^[7] Several colonial advertisements for runaway slaves made direct reference to the connections which Africans had in Native American communities. For example, ...ran off with his Native American wife..., had kin among the Native Americans..., part Native American and speaks their language good.^[9]

In South Carolina, colonists were so concerned about the possible threat posed by the mixed African and Native American population that was arising due to runaways, that they passed a new law in 1725. This law stipulated a fine of 200 pounds for persons bringing a slave to the frontier regions. In 1751 South Carolina passed a law against holding Africans in proximity to Native Americans, which was deemed detrimental to the security of the colony.

In 1726 the British governor of colonial New York exacted a promise from the Iroquois Confederacy to return all runaway slaves. He required the same from the Huron tribe in 1764 and the Delaware tribe in 1765.^[8] Despite their agreements, the tribes never returned any escaped slaves.^[8] They continued to provide a safe refuge for escaped slaves. In 1763 during Chief Pontiac's uprising, a Detroit resident reported that Native Americans killed whites but were "saving and caressing all the Negroes they take." He worried lest this might "produce an insurrection." Chief Joseph Brant's Mohawk in New York welcomed runaway slaves and encouraged adoption of them into the tribe and intermarriage.^[8] The Native American adoption systems knew no color line.^[8] Carter G. Woodson notion of an escape hatch from slavery proved correct: Native American villages welcomed fugitive slaves and some served as stations on the Underground Railroad.^[8]

During the transitional period of Africans' becoming the primary race enslaved, Native Americans were sometimes enslaved at the same time. Africans and Native Americans worked together, lived together in communal quarters, produced collective recipes for food, and shared herbal remedies, myths and legends. Some intermarried and had mixed-race children.^[10] Ads asked for the return of both African American and Native American slaves. Some Native Americans resented the presence of Africans.^[11] In one description, the "Catawaba tribe in 1752 showed great anger and bitter resentment when an African American came among them as a trader."^[11]

The Cherokee had the strongest color prejudice of all Native Americans.^[12] The hostility has been attributed to European fears of a unified revolt of Native Americans and African Americans: "Whites sought to convince Native Americans that African Americans worked against their best interests." ^[13] Europeans considered both races inferior and made efforts to make Native Americans and Africans enemies.^[14] Native Americans were rewarded if they returned escaped slaves, and African Americans were rewarded for fighting in "Native American Wars".^[14]^[15]^[16] European colonists told the Cherokee that the smallpox epidemic of 1739 was due to disease brought by African slaves, to create tension between the groups.^[17] The British tried to restrict contact between Africans and free Native Americans. They feared Native Americans' taking enslaved Africans as spouses and tried to discourage trade between the groups. The British also passed laws prohibiting the carrying of slaves into the frontier of the Cherokee Nation's territory to restrict interactions between the two groups.^[17] Some tribes were said to encourage marriage between the two groups, to create stronger children from the unions.^[18]

Even among the Cherokee, interracial marriages increased as the number of slaves held by the tribe increased.^[17] The Cherokee were noted for having slaves work side by side with their owners.^[17] Resisting the Euro-American system of chattel slavery created tensions between the Cherokee and European Americans.^[17] The Cherokee tribe began to become divided; as intermarriage between white men and native women increased and there was increased adoption of European culture, so did racial discrimination against those of African-Cherokee blood and African slaves.^[17] Cultural assimilation among the tribes, particularly the Cherokee, created pressure to be accepted by European Americans.^[17]

File:DianaFletcher.jpeg

Diana Fletcher of the Kiowa tribe.

In 1758 the governor of South Carolina James Glen stated:

it has always been the policy of this government to create an aversion in them Native Americans to Negroes.^[17]

In the 18th century, some Native American women turned to freed or runaway African men due to a major decline in the male population in Native American villages. At the same time, the early African slave population was disproportionately male. Records show that some Native American women bought African men as slaves. Unknown to European sellers, the women freed and married the men into their tribe. Some African men chose Native American women as their partners because their children would be free, as the child's status followed that of the mother. The men could marry into some of the matrilineal tribes and be accepted, as their children were still considered to belong to the mother's people. As European expansion increased in the Southeast, African and Native American marriages became more numerous.^[14]

1800s through Civil War [link]

In the early 19th century, the US government believed that some tribes had become extinct, especially on the East Coast and those without reservations.^[19] It did not have a separate census designation for Native Americans. Those who remained among the European-American communities were frequently listed as mulatto, a term applied to Native American-white, Native American-African, and African-white mixed-race people, as well as tri-racial people.^[19]

The Seminole people of Florida were unusual for forming in the 18th century, mostly from Creek and other Native Americans who migrated from Georgia. They incorporated some Africans who had escaped from slavery. Other maroons formed separate communities near the Seminole, and were allied with them in military actions. Some intermarriage took place. African Americans living near the Seminole were called Black Seminoles. Several hundred people of African descent traveled with the Seminole when they were removed to Native American Territory. Others stayed with a few hundred Seminole in Florida.

By contrast, an 1835 census of the Cherokee showed that 10% were of African descent.^[9] In those years, censuses of the tribes classified people of mixed Native American and African descent as Native American.^[20] By contrast, during the registration for the Dawes Rolls, generally Cherokee Freedmen were classified separately on a Freedmen roll, even if individuals had Cherokee ancestry and qualified as "Cherokee by blood". This has caused problems for their descendants in the late 20th and 21st-century, as the Nation has passed legislation and a constitutional amendment to make membership more restrictive, open only to those with certificates of blood ancestry (CDIB). Western frontier artist George Catlin described "Negro and North American Native American, mixed, of equal blood" and stated they were "the finest built and most powerful men I have ever yet seen."^[8] By 1922 John Swanton's survey of the Five Civilized Tribes noted that half the Cherokee Nation were freedmen and their descendants.

Former slaves and Native Americans intermarried in northern states as well. Massachusetts Vital Records prior to 1850 included notes of "Marriages of 'negroes' to Native Americans". By 1860 in some areas of the South, Native Americans were believed to have intermarried with African Americans to such an extent that white legislators thought the Native Americans no longer qualified as "Native American", as they were not paying attention to culture but only race. Legislators wanted to revoke their tax exemptions.^[8]

Freed African Americans, Black Native Americans and some Native Americans fought in the American Civil War against the Confederate Army. During November 1861, the Creek and Black Native Americans, led by Creek Chief Opothleyahola, fought three pitched battles against Confederate whites and allied Native Americans to reach Union lines in Kansas and offer their services.^[8] Some people who were Black Native Americans served in colored regiments with other African-American soldiers.^[21]

Black Native Americans were documented in the following regiments: The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, the Kansas Colored at Honey Springs, the 79th US Colored Infantry, and the 83rd US Colored Infantry, along with other colored regiments that included men listed as Negro.^[21] Civil War battles occurred in Native American Territory.^[22] The first in Native American Territory took place July 1–2, 1863, and involved the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.^[22] The first battle against the Confederacy outside Native American Territory occurred at Horse Head Creek, Arkansas on February 17, 1864. The 79th U.S. Colored Infantry participated.^[22]

Many Black Native Americans returned to Native American Territory once the Civil War had been won by the Union.^[21] When the Confederacy and its Native American allies were defeated, the US required new peace treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes, including provisions to emancipate slaves and make them full citizens of their nations, with equal rights in annuities and land allotments. The former slaves were called tribal freedmen, as in Cherokee Freedmen and Seminole Freedmen. The pro-Union Cherokee faction had freed their slaves in 1863, before the end of the war, but the pro-Confederacy Cherokee then constituted the majority of the tribe and kept hold of the slaves until later.^[8]^[23]

Native American slave ownership [link]

Slavery existed among Native Americans before it was introduced by the Europeans, although it was unlike chattel slavery where slaves become the personal property of a master. In oral tradition, for instance, Cherokees recounted people being enslaved as the result of failure in warfare, and as a temporary status pending adoption or release.^[24] As the United States Constitution and the laws of several states permitted slavery, Native Americans were legally allowed to own slaves, including those brought from Africa by Europeans. Benjamin Hawkins was the federal agent assigned to the southeastern tribes in the 1790s and advised the tribes to take up slaveholding.^[17] The Cherokee tribe had the most members who held black slaves, more than any other Native American nation.^[25]

In colonial North America, the first exposure that Africans and Native Americans had to each other came from Africans being imported as laborers, both indentured servants and as slaves.^[7] Records from the slavery period show several cases of brutal Native American treatment of black slaves. However, most Native American masters rejected the worst features of Southern practices.^[8] Federal Agent Hawkins considered the form of slavery the tribes were practicing to be inefficient because the majority didn't practice chattel slavery.^[17] Travelers reported enslaved Africans "in as good circumstances as their masters." A white Native American Agent, Douglas Cooper, upset by the Native American failure to practice more severe rules, insisted that Native Americans invite white men to live in their villages and "control matters."^[8] Though less than 3% of Native Americans owned slaves, racial bondage and pressure from European-American culture created destructive cleavages in their villages. Many had a class hierarchy based on "white blood."^[8] Native Americans of mixed white blood stood at the top, "pure" Native Americans next, and people of African descent were at the bottom.^[8] As among mixed-race African Americans, some of the status of white descent may also have been related to the economic and social capital passed on by white relations.

Numerous African-descended people were held as slaves by members of Native groups up until the Civil War. Some later recounted their lives for a WPA oral history project during the Great Depression in the 1930s.^[26]

Native American Freedmen [link]

Main article: Cherokee Freedmen Controversy

File:Creeks in Oklahoma.png

Members of the Creek (Muscogee) Nation in Oklahoma around 1877. Note mixed European, African and Native American ancestry. L to R, Lochar Harjo, principal chief; unidentified man, John McGilvry, and Silas Jefferson or Hotulko micco (Chief of the Whirlwind). The latter two were interpreters and negotiators.^[27]

After the Civil War in 1866, the United States government required new treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes, who had mostly allied with the Confederacy. They were required to emancipate their slaves and grant them citizenship and membership in the respective tribes, as the United States freed slaves and granted them citizenship by amendments to the US Constitution. These people were known as tribal freedmen - for instance, Creek or Cherokee Freedmen. Similarly, the Cherokee were required to reinstate membership for the Delaware, who had earlier been given land on their reservation, but fought for the Union during the war.^[28] Many of the Freedmen played active political roles in their tribal nations over the ensuing decades, including roles as interpreters and negotiators with the federal government. African Creek men, such as Harry Island and Silas Jefferson, helped secure land for their people when the government decided to make individual allotments to tribal members under the Dawes Act.

Freedmen of the "five civilized tribes" (Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Freedmen). In addition, some Maroon communities allied with the Seminole in Florida and intermarried. The Black Seminole included those with and without Native American ancestry.

In the late 20th century, the Cherokee Nation began to make its membership more restrictive, first requiring voters to be descended from Cherokee on the Dawes Rolls, then requiring members to be descended from Cherokee on the same rolls. At the time of registration, US government agents had classified people as Cherokee by blood, intermarried whites, and Cherokee Freedmen, regardless of whether the latter had Cherokee ancestry qualifying them as Cherokee by blood. They also removed the Delaware from the tribal rolls, except for those who had a Cherokee ancestor on the Dawes Roll. A political struggle over this issue has ensued since the 1970s. Cherokee Freedmen have taken cases to the Cherokee Supreme Court. The Cherokee later reinstated the rights of Delaware to be considered members of the Cherokee, but opposed their bid for independent federal recognition.^[28]

By the tribal Supreme Court ruling of March 2006, the Cherokee Nation was required to reinstate as members about 1,000 African Americans (and descendants) whom they had dropped from the rolls in the mid-1970s. In response, leaders of the Cherokee Nation organized a referendum to amend their constitution to restrict requirements for citizenship in the tribe. The referendum established direct Cherokee ancestry as a requirement, unlike previous qualifications. Only such members were allowed to vote in the referendum. The measure passed in March 2007, thereby forcing out Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants unless they also had documented, direct Cherokee ancestry. This has caused much controversy.^[29] The tribe has determined to limit membership only to those who can demonstrate Native American descent based on listing on the Dawes Rolls.^[30]

Similarly, the Seminole nation of Oklahoma moved to exclude Black Seminoles from membership. In 1990 it received $56 million from the US government as reparations for lands taken in Florida. Because the judgment trust was based on tribal membership as of 1823, it excluded Seminole Freedmen, as well as Black Seminoles who held land next to Seminole communities. In 2000 the Seminole chief moved to formally exclude Black Seminoles unless they could prove descent from a Native American ancestor on the Dawes Rolls. Two thousand Black Seminoles were excluded from the nation.^[31] Descendants of freedmen and Black Seminoles are working to secure their rights.

"There's never been any stigma about intermarriage," says Stu Phillips, editor of The Seminole Producer, a local newspaper in central Oklahoma. "You've got Native Americans marrying whites, Native Americans marrying blacks. It was never a problem until they got some money."

^[31] An advocacy group representing Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes claims that members are entitled to be citizens in both the Seminole and Cherokee nations, as many are indeed part Native American by blood, with records to prove it. Because of racial discrimination, their ancestors were classified and listed incorrectly, under only the category of freedmen, at the time of the Dawes Rolls. In addition, the group notes that post-Civil War treaties of these tribes with the US government required they give African Americans full citizenship upon emancipation, regardless of blood quantum. In many cases, Native American descent has been difficult for people to trace from historical records.^[32] Twenty-five thousand descendants of freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes may be affected by the legal controversies.^[31]

The Dawes Commission enrollment records, intended to establish rolls of tribal members for land allocation purposes, were done under rushed conditions by a variety of recorders. Many tended to exclude Freedmen from Cherokee rolls and enter them separately, even when they claimed Cherokee descent, had records of it, and had Cherokee physical features. Descendants of Freedmen see the tribe's contemporary reliance on the Dawes Rolls as a racially based way to exclude them from citizenship.^[33]^[34]

Before the Dawes Commission was established,

"(t)he majority of the people with African blood living in the Cherokee nation prior to the Civil war lived there as slaves of Cherokee citizens or as free black non-citizens, usually the descendants of Cherokee men and women with African blood...In 1863, the Cherokee government outlawed slavery through acts of the tribal council. In 1866, a treaty was signed with the US government in which the Cherokee government agreed to give citizenship to those people with African blood living in the Cherokee nations who were not already citizens. African Cherokee people participated as full citizens of that nation, holding office, voting, running businesses, etc."^[35]

After the Dawes Commission established tribal rolls, in some cases freedmen of the Cherokee and the other Five Civilized Tribes were treated more harshly. Degrees of continued acceptance into tribal structures were low during the ensuing decades. Some tribes restricted membership to those with a documented Native ancestor on the Dawes Commission listings, and many restricted officeholders to those of direct Native American ancestry. In the later 20th century, it was difficult for Black Native Americans to establish official ties with Native groups to which they genetically belonged. Many of the freedmen descendants believe that their exclusion from tribal membership, and the resistance to their efforts to gain recognition, are racially motivated and based on the tribe's wanting to preserve the new gambling revenues for fewer people.^[28]^[36]

Genealogy [link]

For more details on this topic, see Blood Quantum Laws.

File:Two Black Indians.jpg

L to R: Mrs. Amos Chapman, her daughter, sister (all Cheyenne, and an unidentified girl of African American descent. 1886^[37]

Tracing the genealogy of African Americans and Native Americans is a difficult process. Enslaved Africans were renamed by slaveholders and surnames were infrequently used until after the war. Historical records, such as censuses, did not record the names of enslaved blacks before the American Civil War. Some major slaveholders kept extensive records which historians and genealogists have used to create family trees, but generally researchers find it difficult to trace families before the Civil War. Slaves were forbidden to learn to read and write. A majority of Native Americans did not speak English, let alone read or write it.^[2]

In some cases elder family members may withhold information about Native American heritage.^[2] However, knowing the family's geographic origins is a key factor in helping individuals unravel Native American ancestry.^[2] Many modern African Americans have taken an interest in genealogy and are learning about Native American heritage within their individual families. Some African Americans may work from oral history of the family and try to confirm stories of Native ancestry through genealogical research and DNA testing. Because of such findings, some have petitioned to be registered as members of Native American tribes. Each tribe controls the rules for membership. Most do not accept DNA tests as proof, especially since these cannot distinguish among the tribes.

DNA testing and research has provided more facts about the extent of Native American ancestry among African Americans, which varies in the general population. As Harvard University historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. wrote in 2009,

"Here are the facts: Only 5 percent of all black Americans have at least 12.5 percent Native American ancestry, the equivalent of at least one great-grandparent. Those 'high cheek bones' and 'straight black hair' your relatives brag about at every family reunion and holiday meal since you were 2 years old? Where did they come from? To paraphrase a well-known French saying, “Seek the white man.”
African Americans, just like our first lady, are a racially mixed or mulatto people—deeply and overwhelmingly so. Fact: Fully 58 percent of African-American people, according to geneticist Mark Shriver at Morehouse College, possess at least 12.5 percent European ancestry (again, the equivalent of that one great-grandparent).

^[38] In contradiction to Gates statement The Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB) notes that:

"Native American markers" are not found solely among Native Americans. While they occur more frequently among Native Americans they are also found in people in other parts of the world.^[39]

Geneticists also state:

not all Native Americans have been tested especially with the large number of deaths due to disease such as small pox, it is unlikely that Native Americans only have the genetic markers they have identified, even when their maternal or paternal bloodline does not include a non-Native American.^[40]^[41]

It should be noted that most statisticians would not necessarily view the IPCB and Geneticists remarks directly above as preventing a sound analysis of genomic contributions from various continents to the make-up of an admixed individual. In general, these analyses are not based on the presence of markers, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), that the sophisticated analyst would describe as African, Asian, European, or Amerind. Peeking under the hood, one would see that autosomal analysis, as opposed to mtDNA and Y-chromosome analysis discussed below, is based on the relative distribution of the SNPs in these populations coupled with their distribution in the genome being analyzed. Techniques such as maximum likelihood estimation and Bayesian re-estimation provide instruments for assessing ancestry, which also assign a level of confidence to the estimate. Relatively small segments of the genome can be analyzed with these techniques, which are well established, having been applied with great effect in many other areas.

The two common types of tests used are Y-chromosome and mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) testing. The tests processes for direct-line male and female ancestors. Each follows only one line among many ancestors and thus can fail to identify others. Some critics thought the PBS series did not sufficiently explain the limitations of DNA testing for assessment of heritage.^[40]^[41]^[41] In addition, while full testing may tell an individual if he or she has some Native American ancestry, it cannot distinguish among separate Native American tribes.^[42] African Americans are using DNA testing to find out more about all their ancestry. Native American identity has historically been based on culture, not just biology.

Autosomal DNA tests survey all the DNA that has been inherited from the parents of an individual.^[43] Autosomal tests focus on SNPs, which might of course be found in Africans, Asians, and people from every other part of the world.^[43] DNA testing will not determine an individual's full ancestry with absolute certitude.^[43]

Notable Black Native Americans [link]

Further information: List of people of African American and Native American admixture

Historic [link]

Joseph Louis Cook, a Colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Edmonia Lewis (1845–1911), Ojibwe, African American and Haitian^[44]
Abraham, also called Suwanee Warrior (Sauanaffe Tustunaggee), known as "Prime Minister of the Seminoles", leader during the Seminole Wars
John Horse (Juan Caballo) (1812–1882), Black Seminole war leader in Florida, also leader of Black Seminole in Mexico
Charlie Patton (1887–1934), Black Cherokee and founding father of the Blues in the Mississippi Delta
George Bonga (1802–1880), fur trader and interpreter in what is now Minnesota, son of trader and interpreter Pierre Bonga and an Ojibwe mother

Contemporary [link]

Jimi Hendrix, rock musician of partly Cherokee and African-American ancestry.
Mance Lipscomb, blues musician of Choctaw and African-American ancestry
Martha Redbone, Native American Music Award-winning soul music of Shawnee, Choctaw and African-American ancestry ^[45]
Radmilla Cody, 46th Miss Navajo Nation (1998), traditional Navajo singer of Navajo and African-American ancestry, and advocate against domestic violence in both the Navajo Nation and the state of Arizona.
France Winddance Twine (born 1960) enrolled Muscogee (Creek) Nation sociologist^[46]
James Brown, the famous soul musician of the 20th century, and often called the "Godfather of Soul", had both African American and Native American ancestry.

References [link]

^ "DP-1. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000 Data Set: Census 2000 Summary File 2 (SF 2) 100-Percent Data Geographic Area: United States Racial or Ethnic Grouping: Black or African American; American Native American and Alaska Native". Census 2000 Quicktables. US Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF2_U_DP1&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF2_U&-reg=DEC_2000_SF2_U_DP1:110&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-format=&-CONTEXT=qt. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Mary A. Dempsey (1996). "The Native American connection". American Visions. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1546/is_n4_v11/ai_18953815. Retrieved 2008-09-19. ^{[dead link]}
^ Angela Y. Walton-Raji (2008). "Researching Black Native American Genealogy of the Five Civilized Tribes". Oklahoma's Black Native Americans. http://www.african-nativeAmerican.com/1IntroPage.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
^ G. Reginald Daniel (2008). More Than Black?: Multiracial. Temple University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=9tP7_3j3WrkC&pg=PA129&dq=most+african+Americans+may+have+native+American+heritage&sig=ACfU3U0Qj3oGYXBs5gOU7v--h2WgcInomg#PPA128,M1. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
^ William Loren Katz (2008). Americans.htm "Black Native Americans". AfricanAmericans.com. http://www.africanAmericans.com/BlackNative Americans.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
^ ^a ^b Muslims in American History : A Forgotten Legacy by Dr. Jerald F. Dirks. ISBN 1-59008-044-0 Page 204.
^ ^a ^b ^c Angela Y. Walton-Raji (2008). "Tri-Racials: Black Native Americans of the Upper South". Design © 1997. http://members.aol.com/angelaw859/tri_racials.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ William Loren Katz (2008). Americans.php "Africans and Native Americans: Only in America". William Loren Katz. http://www.williamlkatz.com/Essays/History/AfricansNative Americans.php. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
^ ^a ^b William Loren Katz, Black Native Americans: a Hidden Heritage, New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1997, p. 103
^ National Park Service (2009). "Park Ethnography: Work, Marriage, Christianity". National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/history/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/lowCountry_furthRdg1.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
^ ^a ^b Red, White, and Black, pg. 99. ISBN 0-8203-0308-9
^ Red, White, and Black, pg. 99, ISBN 0-8203-0308-9
^ Red, White, and Black, pg. 105, ISBN 0-8203-0308-9
^ ^a ^b ^c Dorothy A. Mays (2008). American+women+married+black+men&source=bl&ots=1E_JSZAfDk&sig=RzwOe3U5dehXn0DbTHVKxLSX9ws&hl=en&ei=xbwhSu-rKKPYMdG79ZkJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#PPA214,M1 Women in early America. ABC-CLIO. p. 214. http://books.google.com/books?id=UYWs-GQDiOkC&pg=PA214&lpg=PA214&dq=native American+women+married+black+men&source=bl&ots=1E_JSZAfDk&sig=RzwOe3U5dehXn0DbTHVKxLSX9ws&hl=en&ei=xbwhSu-rKKPYMdG79ZkJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#PPA214,M1. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
^ Art T. Burton (1996). "CHEROKEE SLAVE REVOLT OF 1842". LWF COMMUNICATIONS. http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/SLAVE_RV.HTM. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
^ Fay A. Yarbrough (2007). Americans+married+blacks&source=bl&ots=o5ga2rKI09&sig=cz5hedbtyxCcWH3L8lrBkqz4_0U&hl=en&ei=JekhSuqwIIOgNd7AzLEJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7 Race and the Cherokee Nation. Univ of Pennsylvania Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=sHJMNVV31T0C&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=American+native Americans+married+blacks&source=bl&ots=o5ga2rKI09&sig=cz5hedbtyxCcWH3L8lrBkqz4_0U&hl=en&ei=JekhSuqwIIOgNd7AzLEJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Tiya Miles (2008). Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom. University of California Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=xpusu6xQq6QC&pg=PA33&dq=afro+cherokee+smallpox&lr=#v=onepage&q=afro%20cherokee%20smallpox&f=false. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
^ Nomad Winterhawk (1997). "Black Native Americans want a place in history". Djembe Magazine. http://www.djembe.dk/no/19/08biwapi.html. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
^ ^a ^b Angela Y. Walton-Raji (1999). "Tri-Racials: Black Native Americans of the Upper South". GenealogyToday. http://www.genealogytoday.com/news/archive/1199news.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
^ Knickmeyer, Ellen. "Cherokee Nation To Vote on Expelling Slaves' Descendants", Washington Post, 3 March 2007 (Accessible as of July 13, 2007 here [1])
^ ^a ^b ^c Angela Y. Walton-Raji (2008). "Oklahoma Freedmen in the Civil War". Oklahoma's Black Native Americans. http://www.african-nativeAmerican.com/14-freedcw.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c Angela Y. Walton-Raji (2008). "Battles Fought in Native American Territory and Battles Fought by I.T. Freedmen outside of Native American Territory". Oklahoma's Black Native Americans. http://www.african-nativeAmerican.com/battles.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
^ Taylor, Quintard. "Cherokee Emancipation Proclamation (1863)", The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. (retrieved 10 January 2010)
^ Russell, Steve (2002). "Apples are the Color of Blood", Critical Sociology Vol. 28, 1, 2002, p.70
^ Littlefield, Daniel F. Jr. The Cherokee Freedmen: From Emancipation to American Citizenship, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978 p68
^ Lucinda Davis
^ Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Native Americans, 1976, pg. 479
^ ^a ^b ^c "Delaware Tribe of Native Americans Supports Cherokee Freedmen Treaty Rights", Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, 2004, accessed 6 October 2009
^ "Cherokees eject slave descendants". BBC News. 2007-03-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6416735.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
^ Tulsa World: News
^ ^a ^b ^c Brendan I. Koerner, "Blood Feud", Wired 13.09, accessed 3 June 2008
^ "History", Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, 2 August 2005, accessed 6 October 2009
^ "Myths", Descendants of Freedmen of the 5 Civilized Tribes, 2 August 2005, accessed 6 October 2009
^ "History", Descendants of Freedmen of the 5 Civilized Tribes, 2 August 2005, accessed 6 October 2009
^ Marilyn Vann, "Why: Cherokee Freedmen Story", Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, 2 August 2005, accessed 6 October 2009
^ William Loren Katz, "Racism and the Cherokee Nation", Final Call.com, 8 April 2007
^ "Czarina Conlan Collection: Photographs". Oklahoma Historical Society Star Archives. http://okhistory.cuadra.com/starweb3/b.archives/servlet.starweb3. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
^ Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Michelle's Great-Great-Great-Granddaddy - and Yours", The Root.com, 8 October 2009, accessed 8 October 2009
^ Kim TallBear, Phd., Associate, Red Nation Consulting (2008). AmericanAncestry.html "Can DNA Determine Who is American Native American?". The WEYANOKE Association. http://www.weyanoke.org/historyculture/hc-DNAandNative AmericanAncestry.html. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
^ ^a ^b ScienceDaily (2008). "Genetic Ancestral Testing Cannot Deliver On Its Promise, Study Warns". ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071018145955.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
^ ^a ^b ^c Troy Duster (2008). "Deep Roots and Tangled Branches". Chronicle of Higher Education. http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3908. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
^ Brett Lee Shelton, J.D. and Jonathan Marks, Ph.D. (2008). "Genetic Markers Not a Valid Test of Native Identity". Counsel for Responsible Genetics. http://www.ipcb.org/publications/briefing_papers/files/identity.html. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
^ ^a ^b ^c John Hawks (2008). "How African Are You? What genealogical testing can't tell you.". Washington Post. http://www.slate.com/id/2138059. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
^ Edmonia Lewis, Edmonia Lewis. Accessed 2008-01-05.
^ Martha Redbone Interview
^ “Curriculum Vitae.” . Retrieved 10 July 2010.^{[dead link]}

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: African American Native Americans

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Michelle's Great-Great-Great-Granddaddy - and Yours", The Root.com, 8 October 2009
Aframernative American Slave Narratives, Patrick Minges
Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Tribes
Americans.htm "Black Native Americans In American West History", African Americans
The African-Native American
Dr. Arthur N. Lewin, "Black Native Americans", review of William Loren Katz, The Black Native Americans, Black Web Portal, 2001
Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Loren Katz

http://wn.com/Black_Indians_in_the_United_States

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Indians_in_the_United_States

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

This article is about the bluegrass musician. For the Kent State student, see Allison Krause.

Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss at MerleFest, 2007
Background information
Born	(1971-07-23) July 23, 1971 (age 40) Decatur, Illinois, US
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter, Producer, Bandleader
Instruments	Vocals, Fiddle, Viola
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Rounder
Associated acts	Dan Tyminski, Robert Plant, John Waite, Rhonda Vincent, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas
Website	AlisonKrauss.com

Alison Maria 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 fourteen 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. As of 2012, she has won 27 Grammy Awards from 41 nominations, making her the most awarded living recipient, and three back of the most honoured artist, classical conductor Sir Georg Solti.^[1] She is also the most awarded singer and the most awarded female artist in Grammy history.^[2] At the time of her first award, at the 1991 Grammy Awards, she was the second youngest winner ever (currently tied as third youngest).

1 Biography
2 Reception and influences
3 Awards
4 Discography
5 Filmography
6 References
7 External links

Biography [link]

Alison Maria Krauss^[3] was born in Decatur, Illinois. Her parents are 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^[4] 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,^[5] and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass in America named her the "Most Promising Fiddler in the Midwest".^{[citation needed]} 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.^[6]

1985–1991: Early career [link]

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", replacing their previous fiddler Andrea Zonn.^[7] Pennell later changed the band's name to Union Station after another band was discovered with the name Silver Rail.^[8] Pennell remains one of her favorite songwriters^[9] 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.^[10]

Krauss' debut solo album was followed shortly by her first group album with Union Station in 1989 Two Highways.^[11] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 [link]

Alison Krauss & Union Station
Name	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.^[11] She was the youngest cast member at the time, and the first bluegrass artist to join the Opry in twenty-nine years.^{[citation needed]} She also collaborated on a project with the Cox Family in 1994, a bluegrass album called I Know Who Holds Tomorrow. Mandolin and guitar player Dan Tyminski replaced Tim Stafford in Union Station in 1994. Late in the year, Krauss recorded with the band Shenandoah on its single "Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart", which brought her to the country music Top Ten for the first time. Also in 1994, Krauss collaborated with Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to contribute "Teach Your Children" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. In 1997, she recorded vocals and violin for "Half a Mind", on Tommy Shaw's 7 Deadly Zens album.

Now That I've Found You: A Collection, a compilation of older releases and some covers of her favorite works by other artists, was released in 1995. Some of these covers include Bad Company's "Oh Atlanta", The Foundations' & Dan Schafer's "Baby, Now That I've Found You", which was used in the Australian hit comedy movie The Castle, and The Beatles' "I Will."^[12] A cover of Keith Whitley's "When You Say Nothing at All" reached the top five on the Billboard country chart;^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} Krauss also was nominated for four Country Music Association Awards and won all of them.^{[citation needed]}

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."^[13] 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^[14] 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".^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} In addition, the track "That Kind of Love" was included in another episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.^[15]

2000–present: Current career [link]

Adam Steffey left Union Station in 1998, and was replaced with renowned Dobro player Jerry Douglas.^[16] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[4] She also performed a duet with Brad Paisley on his album Mud on the Tires in the single "Whiskey Lullaby". The single was quickly ranked in the top fifty of the Billboard Hot 100 and the top five of the Hot Country Songs, and won the Country Music Association Awards for "Best Musical Event" and "Best Music Video" of the year.^{[citation needed]}

Krauss recorded a collaborative album, Raising Sand with Robert Plant in 2007 which would ultimately be RIAA certified platinum. Raising Sand was nominated for and won 5 Grammys at the 51st Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, and Record of the Year ("Please Read the Letter"). Krauss and Plant recorded a Crossroads special in October 2007 for the Country Music Television network which first aired on February 12, 2008. The pair are currently working on a new album.^[17] Alison Krauss has announced a new album release called Paper Airplane with Union Station on April 12, 2011, the follow-up album to "Lonely Runs Both Ways" (2004)

Personal life [link]

Alison Krauss was married to Pat Bergeson from 1997-2001. Together they had a son in 1999.

Other work [link]

Alison Krauss on stage with Robert Plant at Birmingham's NIA, 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.^[18] 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".^{[citation needed]} She also makes a guest appearance on Heart's March 2010 concert DVD "Night At Sky Church", providing the lead vocals for the song "These Dreams".^[19]

In the film, Tyminski's vocals on "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" were used for George Clooney's character.^[20] The soundtrack sold over seven million copies and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002.^{[citation needed]} The unexpected success of the album has been partially credited, as was Krauss herself,^[21] 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.^[22] She did not appear in the movie, at her own request, as she was nine months pregnant during its filming.^[23]

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.^{[citation needed]} The album was very commercially successful, but was received with a lukewarm reception from critics.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 her 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.^[24] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Reception and influences [link]

Krauss's earliest musical experience was as an instrumentalist, though her style has grown to focus more on her vocals^[11] with a band providing most of the instrumentation. Musicians she enjoys include Lou Gramm of Foreigner and Paul Rodgers of Bad Company.^[25]^[26]^[27] 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.^[28] 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.^[21] Despite being together for nearly two decades and winning numerous awards, she said the group was "just beginning right now" (in 2002) because "in spite of all the great things that have happened for the band, [she] feel[s] musically it's just really beginning."^[22] Although she alternates between solo releases and works with the band, she has said there is no difference in her involvement between the two.^[23]

As a group, AKUS have been called "American favourites," "world-beaters,"^[29] and "the tightest band around."^[30] 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"^[31] with an "angelic"^[30] voice that "flows like honey".^[31] Her work has been compared to that of The Cox Family, Bill Monroe, and Del McCoury,^{[citation needed]} and has in turn been credited with influencing various "Newgrass" artists including Nickel Creek, for which she acted as record producer on two of their albums.^[32] In addition to her work with Nickel Creek, she has acted as producer to the Cox Family, Reba McEntire and Alan Jackson.^[33] 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,"^[34] and Blender magazine has said the "flavorless repertoire [Krauss] sings... steers her toward Lite FM".^[35] 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".^[36]

Voice, themes, and musical style [link]

Krauss possesses a soprano^[37] voice which has been described as "angelic".^[30] She has said her musical influences include J. D. Crowe, Ricky Skaggs, and Tony Rice.^[38] Many of her songs are described as sad,^[39] and are often about love, especially lost love. 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.^[23]^[40] 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^[11] and Sting,^[24] and is sometimes said to stray into pop music.^[7]^[41]

Music videos [link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

File:AKUS Goodbye is All We Have.jpg

The video for "Goodbye is All We Have" shows the group traveling, meeting at a crossroads, playing the song, and walking away together.

Audio sample (help·info)

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.^[6]^[42]

Performances [link]

Krauss has said she used to dislike working in the studio where she had to play the same song repeatedly, but has come to like studio work roughly the same as live stage performances. Her own favorite concert experiences include watching three Foreigner concerts during a single tour, a Dolly Parton concert, and a Larry Sparks concert.^[43] She appeared on Austin City Limits in 1992 and opened the show in 1995 with Union Station.^[44] 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^[45] Krauss also took part in the Down from the Mountain tour in 2002, which featured many artists from the O Brother, Where Art Thou.^[46]^[47] 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.^[42] She has also given several notable smaller performances including at Carnegie Hall (with the Grand Ole Opry),^[48] on Lifetime Television in a concert of female performers, on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion^[49] 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.^[50]

Awards [link]

Alison Krauss has won a record twenty-seven Grammy Awards^[51] 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. She's currently tied with Quincy Jones as the second most winner of Grammy Awards. Only the late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti has more overall Grammys (31).^[52] 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).^[53] The Recording Academy (which presents the Grammy Awards) presented her with a special musical achievement honor in 2005.^[54] She has also won 14 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards,^[55] 8 Country Music Association Awards,^[56]^[57] 2 Gospel Music Association Awards,^{[citation needed]} 2 CMT Music Awards,^[58]^[59]^[60] 2 Academy of Country Music Awards,^[61] and 1 Canadian Country Music Award.^[62] Country Music Television ranked Krauss 12th on their "40 Greatest Women of Country Music" list in 2002.^[63]

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.^[64]^[65]

Discography [link]

Main article: Alison Krauss 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
1995: Now That I've Found You: A Collection
1997: So Long So Wrong
1999: Forget About It
2001: New Favorite
2002 "Live"
2004: Lonely Runs Both Ways
2007: A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection
2007: Raising Sand
2011: Paper Airplane

Filmography [link]

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1997	Annabelle's Wish	Additional Voices	Uncredited Voice only
2002	Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights	Jennifer	Voice only
Television
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1991	Hee Haw	Herself	1 episode Episode: #22.21
1996	Austin City Limits	Herself	5 episodes, 1996–2005
1997	Miracle on Highway 31	Herself	TV movie
2005	Sesame Street	Herself	1 episode Episode: "American Fruit Stand"
2006	CMT Cross Country	Performer	with Vince Gill
2008	CMT Crossroads	Performer	with Robert Plant

References [link]

^ Martin Chilton (February 13, 2012). "Alison Krauss makes Grammy history". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9078641/Alison-Krauss-makes-Grammy-history.html.
^ Leopold, Ted (2009-02-09). "Plant, Krauss rise with 'Raising Sand' at Grammys". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/08/grammy.night/index.html. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
^ "Songwriter/Composer: Krauss, Alison Maria". BMI Repertoire Search.
^ ^a ^b "Alison Krauss Keeps Her Pace After Quick Start" by Ronna Rubin for GAC Music Beat, Great American Country, June 19, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
^ "1984 Walnut Valley Championship Archives – All Winners". Walnut Valley Festival official website. http://www.wvfest.com/contests/byyear.html?year=1984. Retrieved 2007-02-07.
^ ^a ^b "Interview with Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski" for The Collection on Great American Country, originally broadcast June 28, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
^ ^a ^b MUSIC; "Country, With Twang and Pop" by Robbie Wolvier for The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-08.
^ "Alison Krauss + Union Station Flight Plan: Paper Airplane Lands AKUS Back On The Bus" by Larry Nager for Bluegrass Unlimited. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
^ "New Favorite" by Kerry Dexter for Dirty Linen #102 October/November 2002. Retrieved 2006-06-07.
^ "Alison Krauss - Full Biography" by Stephen Thomas Erlwine for Allmusic, hosted by MTV.com. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Alison Krauss Biography". CMT.com. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
^ "Now That I've Found You" by Sidney Cox for Rounder Records. Retrieved 2006-06-12.
^ So Long, So Wrong review by George Graham. "The Graham Weekly Album Review #1065" as broadcast on WVIA-FM April 16, 1997. Retrieved 2006-06-12.
^ "When She Was Bad", originally released September 15, 1997. Twentieth Century Fox and Joss Whedon.
^ "Entropy", originally released April 30, 2002. Twentieth Century Fox and Joss Whedon.
^ "September 2001: Review in "Your Gazette", Melbourne Australia by George Peden: 'These Ladies Are New Favourites.'" by Candace Asher on CandaceAsher.com, September 2001. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
^ "Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Working On "Raising Sand" Follow-Up". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "Phish – Band History". Retrieved 2009-12-10.
^ "Music Review - Night At Sky Church". Jack Goodstein, April 26, 2011, SeattlePI.com.
^ "O Brother, Why Art Thou So Popular?". BBC News, February 28, 2002. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
^ ^a ^b "Interview on NPR Morning Edition". Bob Edwards, NPR, February 15, 2002. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
^ ^a ^b "Jerry Douglas and Ron Block of Union Station discuss their role in bluegrass music", PBS.org, May 3, 2002, via the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Country: O Sister! Bluegrass Star Alison Krauss's New Favorite: Hers and Ours". Interview for All Music Guide, LLC, August 14, 2001, on BarnesAndNoble.com. Retrieved 2006-06-24.
^ ^a ^b "Sting, Alison Krauss, Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett to Perform at The 76th Academy Awards". Press release by Toni Thompson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences via the Wayback Machine on February 14, 2004. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ Krauss cultivates bluegrass into crossover success by Neil Curry for CNN on November 16, 1999. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
^ "Alison Krauss 'comes out' on heavy metal" for JAM! Music by Jane Stevenson. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
^ "Krauss still hanging on to eclectic style" for the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post on October 13, 1997. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
^ Sexton, Paul (2009-07-22). "Alison Krauss interview for the release of Essential Alison Krauss". Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/5887939/Alison-Krauss-interview-for-the-release-of-Essential-Alison-Krauss.html. Retrieved 2009-07-29.
^ "Alison Krauss & Union Station Live Review" by Chris Jones for BBC. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Alison Krauss & Union Station Lonely Runs Both Ways Review" by Sue Keogh for BBC. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
^ ^a ^b "Alison Krauss & Union Station - Lonely Runs Both Ways (CD, 2004)" by Ben Fitzgerald, Bluegrass Works, December 13, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
^ "Alison Krauss and Union Station" by Kim Ruehl on FolkMusic.About.com. Retrieved 2006-06-24.
^ "Alison Krauss Produces Alan Jackson" from Great American Country on May 10, 2006 citing The Tennessean. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
^ "Alison Krauss and Union Station, Lonely Runs Both Ways (Rounder Records)" by Adam Sweeting for The Guardian (UK). November 19, 2004. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
^ "Lonely Runs Both Ways" on Metacritic originally from Blender magazine Jan/Feb 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
^ "New Favorite" on Metacritic, originally from Q Magazine September 2001 and The Onion AV Club. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
^ Hermes, Will (11 April 2011). "Alison Krauss and Union Station - Review". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/paper-airplane-20110411. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
^ New Favorite by Kerry Dexter from Dirty Linen #102 Oct/Nov 02. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
^ "Sad songs, migraines don't get Alison Krauss down" by David Veitch for JAM! Music. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
^ "Krauss tends bluegrass revival" for JAM! Music by Mary Dickie of the Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
^ "Alison Krauss & Union Station: New Favorite" by George Graham, The Graham Weekly Album Review #1250 broadcast on WVIA-FM August 18, 2001. Retrieved 2006-07-08.
^ ^a ^b Interview with Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski on GAC Nights. Great American Country originally broadcast June 27, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
^ Interview with Krauss from the Alison Krauss + Union Station: Live DVD by Rounder Records released in 2003.
^ "Alison Krauss on Austin City Limits" from PBS from 1996 via the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ COUNTRY BEAT: Alison Krauss, Wynonna Judd, Dolly Parton ... for MTV.com on September 17, 2001. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
^ "Krauss, Loveless Among Down From The Mountain Headliners" for MTV.com on October 17, 2001. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
^ "Down from the Mountain tour" by Jim Durden for Tomlin Communications on July 20, 2002. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
^ "Carnegie Hall performance" at Great American Country March 1, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
^ "Program details" from Prairie Home Companion on May 1, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
^ "Alison Krauss at the White House" by Marian Leighton Levy at Rounder Records May 18, 1995. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
^ List of awards and nominations received by Alison Krauss. List of Alison Krauss' awards. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
^ "Alison Krauss & Union Station Win Three Trophies at Grammy's" for Proper Music Distribution on 2/20/06. Retrieved 2006-06-05.
^ "Rounder recording artist becomes Grammy's most-honored female musician" Press release on Shorefire and the Los Angeles Times by Jen Chapin and Robert Hilburn on February 9, 2004 via the Wayback Machine. Last accessed 2009-07-28.
^ "Recording Academy Honors Krauss, Scruggs, McGraw and the Winans" by Edward Morris for CMT.com on November 8, 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-07.
^ "Past International Bluegrass Music Association Awards Recipients" for IMBA.org. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ Alison Krauss's CMA Awards from CMAAwards.com. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "Alison Krauss and Union Station's CMA Awards" from CMAAwards.com. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "2005 Awards archive" from CMT.com. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ 2008 Awards archive from CMT.com. Retrieved July 28, 2009-07-28.
^ 2009 Awards archive from CMT.com. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "Alison Krauss ACM wins and nominations" by acmcountry.com. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "2000 CCMA Award winners" on CCMA.org. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
^ "CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music" on CMT.com. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
^ Lee, Lisa. "'Cinderella' Krauss Tries On Her Slippers". CMT.com. 2004-02-27. 2007-10-31.
^ "Grammy Award-winner Alison Krauss to carry Swarovski crystal-clad Treo 600 smartphone" by Geekzone.co.nz. Retrieved 2007-11-01.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alison Krauss

Official site
Rounder Records site for Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss on Allmusic database
Alison Krauss at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by Patty Griffin	AMA Album of the Year (artist) 2008 with Robert Plant	Succeeded by Buddy & Julie Miller
Preceded by The Avett Brothers	AMA Duo/Group of the Year 2008 with Robert Plant	Succeeded by Buddy & Julie Miller

v t e Alison Krauss & Union Station

Alison Krauss Barry Bales Ron Block Jerry Douglas Dan Tyminski John Pennell Jeff White Brent Truitt Mike Harman Adam Steffey Tim Stafford

Studio albums	Different Strokes Too Late to Cry Two Highways I've Got That Old Feeling Every Time You Say Goodbye I Know Who Holds Tomorrow So Long So Wrong Forget About It New Favorite Lonely Runs Both Ways Paper Airplane

Compilation albums	Now That I've Found You: A Collection Live Home on the Highways: Band Picked Favorites A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection Essential Alison Krauss

With Robert Plant	Raising Sand

Related articles	Discography Awards and nominations Alison Brown Robert Plant Viktor Krauss Up! Close and Personal

Grammy Award for Record of the Year (2000s)

"Smooth"* by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson) featuring Rob Thomas engineered/mixed by David Thoener, produced by Matt Serletic (2000)	"Beautiful Day"* by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.) engineered/mixed by Richard Rainey & Steve Lillywhite; produced by Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois (2001)
"Walk On" by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.) engineered/mixed by Richard Rainey & Steve Lillywhite; produced by Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois (2002)	"Don't Know Why"* by Norah Jones; engineered/mixed by Jay Newland; produced by Arif Mardin, Jay Newland & Norah Jones (2003)
"Clocks" by Coldplay (Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Phil Harvey, Chris Martin) engineered/mixed by Coldplay, Ken Nelson & Mark Phythian; produced by Coldplay & Ken Nelson (2004)	"Here We Go Again" by Ray Charles and Norah Jones engineered/mixed by Al Schmitt, Mark Fleming, & Terry Howard; produced by John R. Burk (2005)
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Frank Edwin Wright III) engineered/mixed by Chris Lord-Alge & Doug McKean, produced by Green Day & Rob Cavallo (2006)	"Not Ready to Make Nice"* by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison) engineered/mixed by Chris Testa, Jim Scott & Richard Dodd; produced by Rick Rubin (2007)
"Rehab"* by Amy Winehouse engineered/mixed by Tom Elmhirst, Vaughan Merrick, Dom Morley, Mark Ronson & Gabriel Roth; produced by Mark Ronson (2008)	"Please Read the Letter" by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant engineered/mixed by Mike Piersante; produced by T-Bone Burnett (2009)

Grammy Award for Album of the Year (2000s)

Supernatural performed by Santana (Rodney Holmes, Tony Lindsay, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Benny Rietveld, Carlos Santana, Chester Thompson); engineered/mixed by Alvaro Villagra, Andy Grassi, Anton Pukshansky, Benny Faccone, Chris Theis, Commissioner Gordon, David Frazer, David Thoener, Glenn Kolotkin, Jeff Poe, Jim Gaines, Jim Scott, John Gamble, John Karpowich, John Seymour, Matty Spindel, Mike Couzzi, Steve Farrone, Steve Fontano, T-Ray, Tom Lord-Alge, Tony Prendatt & Warren Riker; produced by Alex Gonzales, Art Hodge, Charles Goodan, Clive Davis, Dante Ross, Dust Brothers, Fher Olvera, Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, K. C. Porter, Lauryn Hill, Matt Serletic, Stephen M. Harris & Wyclef Jean (2000)	Two Against Nature performed by Steely Dan (Walter Becker, Donald Fagen); engineered/mixed by Dave Russell, Elliot Scheiner, Phil Burnett & Roger Nichols; produced by Donald Fagen & Walter Becker (2001)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack performed by Alison Krauss & Union Station (Barry Bales, Ron Block, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski), Chris Sharp, Chris Thomas King, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Harley Allen, John Hartford, Mike Compton, Norman Blake, Pat Enright, Peasall Sisters (Hannah Peasall, Leah Peasall, Sarah Peasall), Ralph Stanley, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, The Cox Family (Evelyn Cox, Sidney Cox, Suzanne Cox, Willard Cox), The Fairfield Four (Nathan Best, Isaac Freeman, Robert Hamlett, James Hill, Joseph Rice, Wilson Waters, Jr.), The Whites (Buck White, Cheryl White, Sharon White) & Tim Blake Nelson; engineered/mixed by Mike Piersante & Peter Kurland; master engineered by Gavin Lurssen; produced by T-Bone Burnett (2002)	Come Away with Me performed by Norah Jones; engineered/mixed by Jay Newland & S. Husky Höskulds; master engineered by Ted Jensen; produced by Arif Mardin, Craig Street, Jay Newland & Norah Jones (2003)
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below performed by OutKast (André 3000, Big Boi); engineered/mixed by Brian Paturalski, Chris Carmouche, Darrell Thorp, Dexter Simmons, John Frye, Kevin Davis, Matt Still, Moka Nagatani, Neal H. Pogue, Padraic Kernin, Pete Novak, Reggie Dozier, Robert Hannon, Terrence Cash & Vincent Alexander; master engineered by Bernie Grundman & Brian Gardner; produced by André 3000, Big Boi & Carl Mo (2004)	Genius Loves Company performed by Ray Charles and Various Artists; engineered/mixed by Al Schmitt, Ed Thacker, Joel W. Moss, John Harris, Mark Fleming, Pete Karam, Robert Fernandez, Seth Presant & Terry Howard; master engineered by Doug Sax & Robert Hadley; produced by Don Mizell, Herbert Waltl, John R. Burk, Phil Ramone & Terry Howard (2005)
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb performed by U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.); engineered/mixed by Carl Glanville, Flood, Greg Collins, Jacknife Lee, Nellee Hooper, Simon Gogerly & Steve Lillywhite; master engineered by Arnie Acosta; produced by Brian Eno, Chris Thomas, Daniel Lanois, Flood, Jacknife Lee & Steve Lillywhite (2006)	Taking the Long Way performed by Dixie Chicks (Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison); engineered/mixed by Chris Testa, Jim Scott & Richard Dodd; master engineered by Richard Dodd; produced by Rick Rubin (2007)
River: The Joni Letters performed by Herbie Hancock; featuring Norah Jones, Joni Mitchell, Corinne Bailey Rae , Tina Turner ; produced by Herbie Hancock & Larry Klein; engineered/mixed by Helik Hadar; master engeineered by Bernie Grundman (2008)	Raising Sand performed by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss; produced by T-Bone Burnett; engineered/mixed by Mike Piersante; master engeineered by Gavin Lurssen (2009)

Persondata
Name	Krauss, Alison
Alternative names
Short description	American musical artist
Date of birth	July 23, 1971
Place of birth	Decatur, Illinois
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/Alison_Krauss

http://it.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://cs.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://id.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://es.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://ru.wn.com/Краусс, Элисон

http://nl.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://pt.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://pl.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://fr.wn.com/Alison Krauss

http://de.wn.com/Alison Krauss

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Krauss

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2012)

Ray Wylie Hubbard
Hubbard performing in Austin, Texas 2009
Background information
Born	(1946-11-13) November 13, 1946 (age 65) Soper, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Genres	Country, cowpunk, folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Warner Bros., Lone Star, Philo
Associated acts	Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker
Website	www.raywylie.com

Ray Wylie Hubbard (born November 13, 1946 in Soper, Oklahoma) is an American Texas Country singer and songwriter.^[1]

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Discography
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Early life [link]

Hubbard grew up in town of Hugo, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in south Dallas, Texas in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High School with Michael Martin Murphey, who had his own band at the time. Hubbard graduated in 1965 and enrolled in college, at the University of North Texas, as an English major. He spent the summers in Red River, New Mexico playing folk music.

Career [link]

During his time in New Mexico, Hubbard wrote "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother", made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker's 1973 recording. Hubbard recorded for various labels but struggled with sales; his mix of country, folk and blues elements didn’t find an audience. After leaving the scene and struggling with personal problems, he returned to recording with Lost Train of Thought in 1992 and Loco Gringo's Lament in 1994.

Today Ray Wylie Hubbard is an elder statesman of the Texas music scene. From New Braunfels, Texas, Hubbard hosts a Tuesday night radio show called "Roots & Branches". This program promotes new and established Americana artists. Like some other performers in his genre, he is perhaps as popular in Europe as in the US—Hubbard has been invited by record companies in the Netherlands to produce albums. His most recent recordings have been produced by Texas guitarist Gurf Morlix.

Discography [link]

1971 - Three Faces West (Outpost)
1975 - Ray Wylie Hubbard & The Cowboy Twinkies (Reprise)
1978 - Off The Wall (Lonestar)
1980 - Something About The Night (Renegade)
1984 - Caught In The Act (Misery Loves Company)
1992 - Lost Train Of Thought (Misery Loves Company)
1994 - Loco Gringo's Lament (Dejadisc)
1997 - Dangerous Spirits (Philo)
1999 - Crusades Of The Restless Knights (Philo)
2000 - Live At Cibolo Creek Country Club (Philo)
2001 - Eternal And Lowdown (Philo)
2003 - Growl (Philo)
2005 - Delirium Tremolos (Philo)
2006 - Snake Farm (Sustain)
2010 - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is No C) (Bordello)
2012 - The Grifter's Hymnal (Bordello)

References [link]

^ Erlewine, Michael (1997-07-01). All Music Guide to Country: The Experts' Guide to the Best Recordings in Country Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 221–. ISBN 9780879304751. http://books.google.com/books?id=7Mo7xm-X1r4C&pg=PA221. Retrieved 6 May 2012.

External links [link]

RayWylie.com - Official website
Official MySpace page
[1] - A Country Music Outlaw, Resurrected
[2] - Hubbard's Path: 'Redneck Mother' to 'Wylie Lama'

Persondata
Name	Hubbard, Ray Wylie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 13, 1946
Place of birth	Soper, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Date of death
Place of death

This article about a country musician from the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

http://wn.com/Ray_Wylie_Hubbard

http://de.wn.com/Ray Wylie Hubbard

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Wylie_Hubbard

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Make changes yourself !

Contents

Related pages:

Contents

Related pages:

Contents

Contents

Related pages:

Contents

Related pages: