The Story of the Choctaw Indians: From the Past to the Present

(Hardback)

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Description

This book tells the story of the shared history of the three federally recognized Choctaw tribes from before the first European contact in the 1530s and then provides the history and contemporary status of each of the three tribes separately. Rather than focusing on a single Choctaw group, this book offers for the first time a combined story of "the Choctaw" as the tribe comprises the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Jean Band of Choctaw Indians. The first portion of the book provides the archaeological history of the native groups that ultimately became the Choctaw, chronicling the development of the people in the southeastern portions of what is now the United States into the people who encountered the first Europeans to set foot on the continent. Though the tribe's contact with European colonists varied depending on the country from where the colonists originated, that contact was forever changed after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830 led to the fractionalization of the tribe: some Choctaws moved to what is now Oklahoma, some chose to remain in Mississippi, and others chose to stay in Louisiana. The remainder of the book studies the continued histories of each of the tribes in parallel, offering students and general readers a practicable resource for understanding the Choctaw within the broad context of American history.

Reviews

Librarians, teachers, and students of Native American history can use this book for ready reference or as a brief history, reading it cover-to-cover. As a Choctaw himself and a scholar, [author] Dr. Watkins is a good fit for this assignment. * ARBA *

Author Bio

Joe E. Watkins (Choctaw), PhD, is author of Indigenous Archaeology: American Indian Values and Scientific Perspectives and Sacred Sites and Repatriation and coauthor of The Anthropology Graduate's Guide: From Student to a Career.