Choctaws at the Crossroads examines the political economy of the Choctaws at the end of the twentieth century. Forcibly relocated in the 1830s from the lower Mississippi Valley to the southeastern corner of Indian Territory, the Choctaws today are a dynamic and complex rural ethnic community in Oklahoma. Many work as nonunionized laborers for large corporations, yet they seek to maintain some aspects of their traditional way of life. øCombining fieldwork and archival research, Sandra Faiman-Silva uncovers the processes by which the local economic and social practices of the Choctaws have become intertwined with and, in some respects, dependent on corporate and global economic forces. Low wages and often temporary work force the Choctaws to supplement their income through tribal economic assistance and through traditional practices of horticulture, fishing, craft production, canning, and residence sharing. Faiman-Silva finds a troubling paradox in this strategy. Such traditional economic activities are central to Choctaw identity and way of life and are outside the non-Indian controlled, capitalist system; at the same time, these practices help sustain the power and profits of corporations. This sensitive and theoretically informed study makes an important contribution to understanding the historic, economic, and social conditions of contemporary Native Americas.

During the decades between the Civil War and the establishment of Oklahoma statehood, Choctaws suffered almost daily from murders, thefts, and assaults—usually at the hands of white intruders, but increasingly by Choctaws themselves. This book focuses on two previously unexplored murder cases to illustrate the intense factionalism that emerged among tribal members during those lawless years as conservative Nationalists and pro-assimilation Progressives fought for control of the Choctaw Nation. Devon Abbott Mihesuah describes the brutal murder in 1884 of her own great-great-grandfather, Nationalist Charles Wilson, who was a Choctaw lighthorseman and U.S. deputy marshal. She then relates the killing spree of Progressives by Nationalist Silan Lewis ten years later. Mihesuah draws on a wide array of sources—even in the face of missing court records—to weave a spellbinding account of homicide and political intrigue. She painstakingly delineates a transformative period in Choctaw history to explore emerging gulfs between Choctaw citizens and address growing Indian resistance to white intrusions, federal policies, and the taking of tribal resources. The first book to fully describe this Choctaw factionalism, Choctaw Crime and Punishment is both a riveting narrative and an important analysis of tribal politics.

The Choctaws in Oklahoma begins with the Choctaws' removal from Mississippi to Indian Territory in the 1830s and then traces the history of the tribe's subsequent efforts to retain and expand its rights and to reassert tribal sovereignty in the late twentieth century. This book illustrates the Choctaws' remarkable success in asserting their sovereignty and establishing a national identity in the face of seemingly insurmountable legal obstacles.

This complete overview of the Choctaw people, from ancient times to the present, includes sections on history, cuisine, music and dance, current issues, oral traditions and language, social relationships, and traditional world view. Endeavoring to replace stereotypical images with a more accurate understanding of Native Americans, Culture and Customs of the Choctaw Indians explores the traditional lives of the Choctaw people, their history and oppression by the dominant society, and their struggles to maintain a unique identity in the face of overwhelming pressures to assimilate. The book begins with a historical overview of traditional Choctaw life, belief systems, social customs, and traditions. Moving to contemporary Choctaw communities, it looks at the modern-day Choctaw and the important issues they face. Separate chapters cover cuisine, social and kinship systems, oral traditions, arts, music, and dance, as well as current issues and tribal politics. Readers will see how many Choctaw people blend traditional beliefs with participation in and knowledge of the dominant society and economy, while continuing to speak and teach the Choctaw language and traditions in homes, churches, and schools.

When the Choctaw Nation was forcibly resettled in Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma in the 1830s, it was joined by enslaved Black people—the tribe had owned enslaved Blacks since the 1720s. By the eve of the Civil War, 14 percent of the Choctaw Nation consisted of enslaved Blacks. Avid supporters of the Confederate States of America, the Nation passed a measure requiring all whites living in its territory to swear allegiance to the Confederacy and deemed any criticism of it or its army treasonous and punishable by death. Choctaws also raised an infantry force and a cavalry to fight alongside Confederate forces. In Choctaw Confederates, Fay A. Yarbrough reveals that, while sovereignty and states' rights mattered to Choctaw leaders, the survival of slavery also determined the Nation's support of the Confederacy. Mining service records for approximately 3,000 members of the First Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Rifles, Yarbrough examines the experiences of Choctaw soldiers and notes that although their enthusiasm waned as the war persisted, military service allowed them to embrace traditional masculine roles that were disappearing in a changing political and economic landscape. By drawing parallels between the Choctaw Nation and the Confederate states, Yarbrough looks beyond the traditional binary of the Union and Confederacy and reconsiders the historical relationship between Native populations and slavery.

Today the Choctaws are remembered as one of the Five Civilized Tribes, removed to Oklahoma in the early nineteenth century; a large band remains in Mississippi, quietly and effectively refusing to be assimilated. The Choctaws are a Muskogean people, in historical times residing in southern Mississippi and Alabama; they were agriculturalists as well as hunters, and a force to be reckoned with in the eighteenth century. Patricia Galloway, armed with evidence from a variety of disciplines, counters the commonly held belief that these same people had long exercised power in the region. She argues that the turmoil set in motion by European exploration led to realignments and regroupings, and ultimately to the formation of a powerful new Indian nation. Through a close examination of the physical evidence and historical sources, the author provides an ethnohistorical account of the proto-Choctaw and Choctaw peoples from the eve of contact with Euro-Americans through the following two centuries. Starting with the basic archaeological evidence and the written records of early Spanish and English visitors, Galloway traces the likely origin of the Choctaw people, their movements and interactions with other native groups in the South, and Choctaw response to these contacts. She thereby creates the first careful and complete history of the tribe in the early modern period. This rich and detailed work will not only provides much new information on the Choctaws but illuminates the entire field of colonial-era southeastern history and will provide a model for ethnographic studies.