Editing Choctaw County, Alabama (section)

==History==
Choctaw County was originally part of the [[Choctaw Nation]], with Choctaw settlements known to be in the vicinity of [[Pushmataha, Alabama|Pushmataha]] prior to the removal of Native Americans from the southeastern United States during the [[Trail of Tears]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1312|title=Choctaw County|encyclopedia=THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALABAMA|access-date=July 25, 2020}}</ref>

Most of the early European American pioneers of Choctaw County were farmers from [[North Carolina|North]] and [[South Carolina]]. In 1912 the [[Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad]] was completed through the county from north to south, connecting the area to the [[Port of Mobile]] and northern Alabama. It induced a population shift from areas near the [[Tombigbee River]] to the central part of the county.<ref name="chochist">{{cite web |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alccgs/history.html |title=County History |publisher=Choctaw County Genealogy Society |access-date=June 21, 2011}}</ref>

The county's population reached its peak in the 1920s, due in part from jobs created by a [[sawmill]] boom with companies as the E. E. Jackson Lumber Company and Choctaw Lumber Company. The sawmill industry collapsed during the [[Great Depression]]. The first successful oil well in Alabama was drilled at [[Gilbertown, Alabama|Gilbertown]] in 1944, with [[Crude oil|oil]] and [[natural gas|gas]] becoming the county's most important industry. This industry waned by the 1970s as the wells lost profitability.<ref name="chochist" />

An [[African-American]] family, the Thorntons of [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], was featured in the September 24, 1956, issue of [[Life (magazine)|''Life'']]. The article included an interview with the Thorntons' daughter, Allie Lee Causey, of Shady Grove in Choctaw County. In the article, Mrs. Causey, a schoolteacher, spoke openly about her family's life, stating that "integration is the only way in which Negroes will receive justice. We cannot get it as a separate people. If we can get justice on our jobs, and equal pay, then we'll be able to afford better homes and good education."<ref name="Inc1956">{{cite journal|last1=Wallace|first1=Robert|last2=Parks|first2=Gordon|author-link2=Gordon Parks|title=The Restraints: Open and Hidden; Both are Seen in the Study of One Negro Family|journal=Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=70cEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA98|access-date=September 14, 2011|date=September 24, 1956|publisher=Life Magazine|pages=98–109|issn=0024-3019}}</ref>  When the magazine was seen in Choctaw County, the Causeys were subjected to brutal economic retaliation by white residents, who tried to coerce Mrs. Causey into recanting her remarks. Their loans were called in, local stores refused to sell them food and gasoline, Willie Causey was cut off from his employment as a woodcutter, and Mrs. Causey was fired from her job as a teacher. The Causeys left Shady Grove and Alabama for good in October 1956.<ref name="Inc1956-1">{{cite journal|last=Stolley|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Stolley|title=A Sequel to Segregation|journal=Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x0EEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA77|access-date=14 September 2011|date=10 December 1956|publisher=Life Magazine|pages=77–90|issn=0024-3019}} Reprinted in {{cite book|last1=Carson|first1=Clayborne|author-link1=Clayborne Carson|last2=Garrow|first2=David J.|author-link2=David J. Garrow|last3=Kovach|first3=Bill|author-link3=Bill Kovach|title=Reporting Civil Rights: American journalism, 1941-1963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9j8OAQAAMAAJ|access-date=September 14, 2011|year=2003|publisher=Library of America|pages=342–354|isbn=9781931082280}}</ref>

[[Textile industry|Apparel factories]] opened during the 1950s–60s in Silas, Toxey, and Butler, although the plants had largely closed by the 21st century. The 1950s also saw the building a [[paper mill]] at [[Naheola, Alabama|Naheola]], now owned and operated by [[Georgia-Pacific]].<ref name="chochist" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gp.com/foryourbusiness/forestry/southeastern.html#pulp |title=Southeastern Facilities and Wood Specifications |work=Georgia-Pacific |access-date=June 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612180145/http://www.gp.com/forYourBusiness/forestry/southeastern.html#pulp |archive-date=June 12, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The county was declared a disaster area in September 1979, due to damage from [[Hurricane Frederic]]. The 1980s saw the main railroad close and the tracks removed.<ref name="chochist" />

===Historic sites===
Choctaw County has one site listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]], the [[Mount Sterling Methodist Church]].<ref>{{cite book |title=America's Religious Architecture: Sacred Places For Every Community |last=Chiat |first=Marilyn Joyce Segal |year=1997 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |isbn=978-0-471-14502-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americasreligiou0000chia/page/279 279] |url=https://archive.org/details/americasreligiou0000chia |url-access=registration |quote=Mount Sterling Methodist Church Choctaw County Historical Society.}}</ref><ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> Additionally, [[Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage by county (Autauga–Choctaw)#Choctaw County|five sites]] are listed on the [[Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage]].<ref>{{ARLHref|version=201105|accessdate=June 6, 2011}}</ref>