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.

"In "Choctaw Traditions about Their Settlement in Mississippi and the Origin of Their Mounds," Lincecum translates a portion of the Skukhaanumpula - the traditional history of the tribe, which was related to him verbally by Chata Immataha, "the oldest man in the world, a man that knew everything." It explains how and why the sacred Manih Waya mound was erected and how the Choctaws formed new towns, and it describes the structure of leadership in their society."--Jacket.

""Mixed Blood" Indians looks at a fascinating array of such birth- and kin-related issues as they were alternately misunderstood and astutely exploited by both Native and European cultures. Theda Perdue discusses the assimilation of non-Indians into Native societies, their descendants' participation in tribal life, and the white cultural assumptions conveyed in the designation "mixed blood." In addition to unions between European men and Native women, Perdue also considers the special cases arising from the presence of white women and African men and women in Indian society.".

Blending an engaging narrative style with broader theoretical considerations, James Taylor Carson here offers a comprehensive history of the Mississippi Choctaws, showing how they struggled to adapt to life a New World altered radically by contact while retaining their sense of identity and place.

An essential reader on the practice and methodology of ethnohistory.

This evocative story of the Choctaws is told through the lives of two remarkable leaders, Taboca and Franchimastabä, during a period of revolutionary change, 1750-1830. Both men achieved recognition as warriors in the eighteenth century but then followed very different paths of leadership. Taboca was a traditional Choctaw leader, a "prophet-chief" whose authority was deeply rooted in the spiritual realm. The foundation of Franchimastabä's power was more externally driven, resting on trade with Europeans and American colonists and the acquisition of manufactured goods. Franchimastabä responded to shifting circumstances outside the Choctaw nation by pushing the source of authority in novel directions, straddling spiritual and economic power in a way unfathomable to Taboca. The careers of these leaders signal a watershed moment in Choctaw history ? the receding of a traditional mystically oriented world and the dawning of a new market-oriented one. At once engaging and informative, Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750?1830 highlights the efforts of a nation to preserve its integrity and reform its strength in an increasingly complicated, multicultural world.

Records the history of the Choctaw Indians through their political, social, and economic customs.