 McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020) |
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In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court found that the lands in eastern Oklahoma were under the legal jurisdiction of the tribal nations. This decision reestablished tribal sovereignty for the Five Tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole.
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| Medicine Lodge Treaty (1867) |
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Signed between the United States government and several of the Great Plains Native American tribes, the Medicine Lodge Treaties were a series of treaties relocating these Native American groups to Indian Territory. The October 21, 1867 treaty relocated the Kiowa and Comanche people.
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| Memorial of the Freedmen of the Chickasaw Nation (1882) |
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This statement prepared by two Chickasaw Freedmen used clauses in Article 3 of the Treaty of 1866 to assert that Freedmen had the right to remain in the Chickasaw Nation despite not being formally adopted as citizens. They also demanded Chickasaw Freedmen be guaranteed the right to vote within the Chickasaw Nation.
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| Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes, Legalized Robbery (1924) |
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The introduction of Zitkala-Ša's groundbreaking report opened the scene on fraud facilitated by guardians, lawmakers, and county clerks at the expense of minors, heirs, and incompetents during early Oklahoma statehood, and focused on probate courts as a site of legal exploitation.
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| Seminole Agreement (1900) |
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This congressional act ratified an agreement with the Seminole Nation concerning allotment, like enrollment and laws of descent. The second proviso established matrilineal descent of lands, money, and property for heirs.
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| Statement of the Chickasaw Freedmen, Setting Forth Their Wrongs, Grievances, Claims and Needs (1894) |
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This statement prepared by members of the Committee of Chickasaw Freedmen's Association recounts how the Chickasaw Nation had not met its treaty obligations to Chickasaw Freedpeople.
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| Sworn Affidavit of Alexander Harlin Regarding His Continued Enslavement Until the 1866 Treaty as Part of His Application for Enrollment as a Choctaw (1896) |
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In this sworn affidavit, Alexander Harlin attested that he, as a "Choctaw Freedman, of African Blood," was enslaved by a Choctaw woman Sarah Harlin until the Treaty of 1866 was signed. The statement was made in support of his application for enrollment in the Choctaw Nation under the Act of June 10, 1896 which authorized the Dawes Commission to add names to existing tribal rolls.
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| Sworn Affidavit of Jeff Franklin Regarding His Enslavement and Emancipation in the Chickasaw Nation as Part of His Application for Enrollment as a Chickasaw (1896) |
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In this sworn affidavit, Jeff Franklin attested that he was a colored man and was enslaved by Easter Colber, a Chickasaw man until April 28th, 1866, when the Treaty of 1866 was signed. The statement was made in support of his application for enrollment in the Chickasaw Nation under the Act of June 10, 1896 which authorized the Dawes Commission to add names to existing tribal rolls. The affidavit also includes information about his continued residency in the Chickasaw Nation until the time of his application in 1896.
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| Sworn Statement of W. L. Cochran as to the Enslavement of Margaret Clark in 1866 in Support of Her Application for Enrollment as a Choctaw (1896) |
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In this sworn statement, W. L. Cochran attested that Margaret Clark, "an African woman," was enslaved by R. L. Cochran in the Choctaw Nation until the Treaty of 1866 was signed. The statement was made in support of Margaret Clark's application for enrollment in the Choctaw Nation under the Act of June 10, 1896 which authorized the Dawes Commission to add names to existing tribal rolls.
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| The Five Civilized Tribes Act (1906) |
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This act legislated the end of tribal enrollment in the Five Tribes, as well as the dissolution of their tribal government. However, section 28 extended tribal sovereignty for the Five Tribes for a truncated 30 days per year.
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| The Treaty of 1866 and the Long Fight for Black Belonging in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations |
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This module reframes histories of the Civil War, emancipation, and Reconstruction by analyzing how enslaved and freed Black people in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations struggled to actualize their freedoms amid contested tribal and federal jurisdictions. Ultimately, the module elucidates how Black enslaved and Freedpeople in the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations developed unique methods of resistance and visions of freedom shaped by the legal paradigms forged in the Treaty of 1866.
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| Treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw (1866) |
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The 1866 Treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw was one of a series of treaties between the United States government and each of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole Nations) at the end of the Civil War. The treaty details the stipulations for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to re-establish their allegiance with the U.S. after allying with the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Among other provisions, the Choctaw and Chickasaw Treaty of 1866 included articles that outlawed slavery within both nations (except as a punishment for crime), provided a pathway for citizenship and civil rights for the Freedmen of both nations, and ceded lands to the United States.
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| United States v. Rogers (1846) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that a white man who claimed citizenship of the Cherokee Nation through domicile and marriage was not an "Indian" within the meaning of the law.
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