Editing Choctaw (section)

==History==
[[File:Nanih Waiya Cave Mound.jpg|thumb|[[Nanih Waiya]], "leaning mountain," mother mound for the Choctaw people<ref>{{cite journal |last1=May |first1=Jon D. |title=Nunih Waya |journal=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |date=15 January 2010 |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=NU002 |access-date=30 April 2025}}</ref>]]
{{main|History of the Choctaw}}
The Choctaw coalesced as a people in the 16th century and had developed at least three distinct political and geographical divisions prior to European contact: the western Okla Falaya ("Long People"), the eastern Okla Tannap ("People on the Other Side"), and the southern Okla Hannali ("Six Towns People"). Eventually, these different groups would create distinct, independent alliances with nearby European powers.

The Choctaw were first noted by Europeans in French written records of the 17th century.<ref>Galloway and Kidwell, "Choctaw in the East, 511</ref>  Early [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish explorers]] of the mid-16th century in the Southeast encountered ancestral [[Mississippian culture]] villages and chiefs.<ref name=walter_williams_antecedents>{{Cite book| last = Walter| first = Williams| title = Southeastern Indians: Since the Removal Era| publisher = University of Georgia Press| location = Athens, Georgia| chapter = Southeastern Indians before Removal, Prehistory, Contact, Decline| pages = 7–10| year = 1979}}</ref> Eventually, the Spanish, French, and English would all, through their various explorers, governments, and peoples, discover the Choctaw as a complex society with firmly established tribal governments, alliances, religious practice, and culture.

Early contact between the Choctaw and Europeans included the [[French colonization of the Americas|French]], based on the Gulf Coast and in Louisiana; the [[English colonization of the Americas|English]] of the Southeast; and Spain in Florida and Louisiana during the colonial era. These interactions introduced Choctaw communities to new and extensive social interactions and trade with Europeans, including more formal interactions with the governments of Spain, France, and England. These relationships with Europeans were influential in shaping the modern Choctaw people. After the United States was formed and its settlers began to move into the Southeast, the Choctaw were among the [[Five Civilized Tribes]], who adopted many of their ways. Many Choctaw transitioned to [[yeoman]] farming methods and incorporated [[European American]]s and African Americans (as tribal members, prisoners, and slaves) into their society.

Most Choctaw allied with the Americans during the [[American Revolution]], [[War of 1812]], and the [[Red Stick War]], most notably at the [[Battle of New Orleans]]. European Americans considered the Choctaw to be one of the "[[Five Civilized Tribes]]" of the Southeast. The Choctaw and the United States agreed to a total of nine treaties. By the last three, the US gained vast land cessions in the Southeast. As part of [[Indian Removal]], despite not having waged war against the United States, the majority of Choctaw were [[Trail of Tears|forcibly relocated]] to [[Indian Territory]] from 1831 to 1833.<ref name=Howard_Zinn>{{Cite book |last = Zinn|first = Howard|title = A People's History of the United States: 1492–Present|publisher = HarperCollins|chapter = As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs|page = [https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof00zinn_2/page/126 126]|isbn = 0-06-052842-7|year = 2003|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof00zinn_2/page/126}}</ref><ref name=Jackson_PBS>{{Cite web| url = https://www.pbs.org/kcet/andrewjackson/themes/indian_removal.html| access-date = 25 August 2009| title = Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & the Presidency| author = PBS| year = 2007| publisher = PBS}}</ref> The Choctaw government in Indian Territory maintained the tri-union tradition of their homeland by having three governmental districts. Each district had its own chief, who together with the town chiefs, sat on the Choctaw National Council.

Those Choctaw who chose to stay in the state of Mississippi were considered state and U.S. citizens; they were one of the first major non-European ethnic groups to be granted citizenship.<ref name=us_citizenship>{{Cite web|url = http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/cho0310.htm|title = INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES Vol. II, Treaties|access-date = 19 February 2008|last = Kappler|first = Charles|year = 1904|publisher = Government Printing Office|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080517182743/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/cho0310.htm|archive-date = 17 May 2008|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name=david_baird>{{Cite book| last = Baird| first = David| title = The Choctaw People| publisher = Indian Tribal Series| location = United States| chapter = The Choctaws Meet the Americans, 1783 to 1843| page = 36| lccn = 73-80708| year = 1973}}</ref><ref name=nrc_programs>{{Cite web| url = http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cin_hist_citizenshipact| title = History & Culture, Citizenship Act – 1924| access-date = 2 May 2008| author = Council of Indian Nations| year = 2005| publisher = Council of Indian Nations}}</ref> Article 14 in the 1830 treaty with the Choctaw stated Choctaws may wish to become citizens of the United States under the 14th Article of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on all of the combined lands which were consolidated under Article I from all previous treaties between the United States and the Choctaw.<ref>Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek September 30th 1830 ratified on February 24th 1831 (7 Stat. 333)</ref>
[[File:Rosella Hightower by Annemarie Heinrich.jpg|thumb|[[Rosella Hightower]] (1920–2008), [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma]] prima ballerina]]
During the [[American Civil War]], the Choctaw in both [[Indian Territory]] and Mississippi mostly sided with the [[Confederate States of America]]. Under the late 19th-century [[Dawes Act]] and [[Curtis Act]]s, the US federal government broke up tribal land holdings and dissolved tribal governments in [[Indian Territory]] to extinguish Indian land claims before the admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907. From that period, for several decades the United States [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] appointed chiefs of the Choctaw and other tribes in the former Indian Territory.

During [[World War I]], Choctaw soldiers served in the US military as some of the first Native American [[codetalkers]], using the [[Choctaw language]]. Since the [[Indian Reorganization Act]] of 1934, the Choctaw people in three areas have reconstituted their governments and gained federal recognition. The largest are the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, followed by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, respectively.

Since the 20th century, the [[Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians]] were federally recognized in 1945,<ref>{{cite web |title=Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians |url=https://www.fdot.gov/environment/na-website-files/choctawmiss.shtm |website=Office of Environmental Management |publisher=Florida Department of Transportation |access-date=20 October 2021}}</ref> the [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma]] in 1971,<ref name="choctaw_ok_statehood-2">{{Cite web |author=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |title=Malmaison, Palace in a Wilderness, Home of General LeFlore |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v005/v005p371.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709072747/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v005/v005p371.html |archive-date=9 July 2008 |access-date=8 September 2008}}</ref> and the [[Jena Band of Choctaw Indians]] in 1995.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jena Band of the Choctaw Tribe |url=https://64parishes.org/entry/jena-band-of-the-choctaw-tribe |website=64 Parishes |access-date=20 October 2021}}</ref> The [[Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb|Choctaw Apache Tribe of Ebarb]] (House Concurrent Resolution 2), Clifton Choctaw Band (House Concurrent Resolution 3), and Louisiana Band of Choctaw (Senate Concurrent Resolution 3), all based in Louisiana, were state-recognized in 1978.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1978 |title=1978 Official Journal of the Proceedings of the Senate of the State of Louisiana: House Concurrent Resolution 2 |url=https://lasc.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=67900825 |access-date=December 15, 2024 |website=The Law Library of Louisiana |page=149}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1978 |title=1978 Official Journal of the Proceedings of the Senate of the State of Louisiana: House Concurrent Resolution 13 |url=https://lasc.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=67920083 |access-date=December 15, 2024 |website=Law Library of Louisiana |page=113}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1978 |title=1978 Official Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana: Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 |url=https://lasc.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=67919341 |access-date=December 15, 2024 |website=Law Library of Louisiana |page=2929}}</ref>  The [[MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians]] was state-recognized by the Alabama legislature in 1979,<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 5, 2024 |title=In the Margins What Does It Take to be a Federally Recognized Tribe? Episode 11 |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/tbd-mowa-choctaw-kxgfzr/#Transcript |access-date=December 15, 2024 |website=PBS |quote="In 1979, the MOWA Choctaw were the first to be state recognized by the Alabama legislature, which means the state of Alabama has affirmed their identity."}}</ref> and again in 1984 during the establishment of the Alabama Indian Commission through Alabama Code 41-9-708.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1984 |title=Code 41-9-708. Creation; administration; composition; qualifications; chairman; terms of office; recognition, and representation of additional Indian tribes, bands, and groups; written complaints concerning the commissioner |url=https://aiac.alabama.gov/pdf/2019/CodeAIAC.pdf |access-date=December 15, 2024 |website=aiac.alabama.gov}}</ref>

===Treaties===
{{Main|List of Choctaw Treaties}}
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.<ref name=treaties>{{Cite web| url = http://www.choctaw.org/aboutMBCI/history/treaties.html| title = Treaties| access-date = 6 February 2008| last = Ferguson| first = Bob| year = 2001| publisher = Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians}}</ref> Some treaties which the US made with other nations, such as the [[Treaty of San Lorenzo]], indirectly affected the Choctaw.

=== Population history ===
[[File:Jeffrey Gibson at Hirshhorn 2024 2.jpg|thumb|[[Jeffrey Gibson]] ([[Mississippi Choctaw]]/[[Cherokee]]), the first [[Native American art]]ist to have a solo exhibition in the U.S. Pavillion at the [[Venice Biennale]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barry |first1=Colleen |title=Choctaw artist Jeffrey Gibson confronts history at US pavilion as its first solo Indigenous artist |url=https://apnews.com/article/venice-biennale-us-pavilion-native-american-indigenous-aa13ab97f5c0449171a46ddaf9713547 |access-date=29 April 2025 |agency=AP |date=19 April 2024}}</ref>]]
[[File:Judge Ada Brown.png|thumb|[[Ada Brown (judge)|Ada Brown]] ([[Choctaw Nation]]), the first Choctaw woman to serve as a federal judge<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-judicial-nominees-2/|title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees – The White House|website=trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov}}</ref>]]
The highest of early estimates was made by [[Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz|Le Page du Pratz]] who estimated the Choctaw at 25,000 warriors (and therefore around 125,000 people) in year 1718.<ref name="Krzywicki">{{Cite book |last=Krzywicki |first=Ludwik |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4381154&view=1up&seq=346&skin=2021 |title=Primitive society and its vital statistics |publisher=Macmillan |year=1934 |series=Publications of the Polish Sociological Institute |location=London |pages=505–507}}</ref> Other estimates from that time period were usually lower, but it is possible that they represented only a part of the tribe. Similar figures were given by [[Louis Juchereau de St. Denis|St. Denis]] who estimated the Choctaw at 18,000 warriors (or 90,000 people) in 1714 and by W. Bull who estimated them at 16,000 warriors (or 80,000 people) in 1738. According to B. R. Carroll the Choctaw were reckoned by the French to be the most numerous nation of Indians in America and consisted of many thousand men.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=B. R. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000010466308&seq=248 |title=Historical collections of South Carolina; embracing many rare and valuable pamphlets, and other documents, relating to the history of that state, from its discovery to its independence, in the year 1776. |publisher=Harper & brothers |year=1836 |volume=II |location=New York |page=244}}</ref> [[John R. Swanton]] enumerated a total of 102 Choctaw villages and towns in his book.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Swanton |first=John R. |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/15440 |title=The Indian tribes of North America |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology |year=1952 |pages=180–185|hdl=10088/15440 }}</ref> [[Robert Rogers (British Army officer)|Robert Rogers]] estimated the Choctaw at 10,000 warriors in 1775 (indicating a total population of 50,000). According to [[Gilbert Imlay]] they mustered 6,000 warriors around the year 1800 (implying a total population of 30,000). [[Jedidiah Morse]] estimated the Choctaw at 25,000 people in about year 1820.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morse |first=Jedidiah |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.reporttosecretar00mors_0/?sp=1&st=slideshow |title=A report to the Secretary of War of the United States, on Indian Affairs, comprising a narrative of a tour, performed in the Summer of 1820... |publisher=S. Converse |year=1822 |location=New Haven |page=364}}</ref> A census taken in 1830, shortly before the [[Trail of Tears|removal]], reported a total population of 19,554.<ref name="Foreman1972">{{Cite book |last=Foreman |first=Grant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8ZOg03I0s0C&pg=PA47 |title=Indian Removal: The Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-8061-1172-8 |page=47, note 10 (1830 census)}}</ref> A report by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs dated 25 November 1841 indicates that by then 15,177 Choctaws had already moved to Oklahoma ([[Indian Territory]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs", Office of Indian Affairs, November 25, 1841. |url=https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A2PBGWKCDCUSUE8A/full/AIHAF7ELMGXYOF84}}</ref> A few thousand more emigrated to the west in subsequent years. The Indian Office in 1856 reported the number of the Choctaws as 22,707. [[Emmanuel Domenech]] estimated the Choctaw at up to 25,000 people in about 1860.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Domenech |first=Emmanuel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWkFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA11 |title=Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America |publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts |year=1860 |volume=2 |location=London |pages=10–11}}</ref> Enumeration published in 1886 counted 18,000 Choctaws in Oklahoma as of year 1884.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mMFRAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA861 |title=Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, showing the operations, expenditures, and condition of the Institution to July, 1885. Part II. |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1886 |location=Washington |page=861}}</ref> The census of 1910 counted 15,917 Choctaws. Around years 1916–1919 there were in Oklahoma 17,488 Choctaws by blood, 1,651 by intermarriage and 6,029 Freedmen, and in addition to that there were also at that time 3,099 [[Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians|Mississippi Choctaws]] and around 200 Choctaws living elsewhere.

In the 20th and 21st centuries Choctaw population has rebounded, in 2020 they numbered 254,154 (including 90,973 in Oklahoma).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Distribution of American Indian tribes: Choctaw People in the US |url=https://www.statimetric.com/us-ethnicity/American_Indian_tribes_Choctaw}}</ref>