Indian Territory Freedmen History Month-This Week In Indian Territory

 

Chronicles of Indian Territory February 6^th, 1898

 “How much Negro wealth went into the building of Oklahoma?

It is only exceeded by the sweat, toil, and tears of … slaves’ free labor of more than 250 years!” 

Buck Franklin COLBERT, “My Life and an Era”

From the time of their “emancipation in 1866 the formerly enslaved population of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations were not adopted as citizens according to the Treaty of Fort Smith. The issue was debated and the leading men and women in the communities of Freedmen regularly met to strategize on their unresolved status in the nations of their birth.

According to the treaty there was language in the treaty that allowed the “option” of making citizens of the former enslaved population within a specified time of two years. The two nations debated individually among themselves on putting the former slaves on an “equal” footing as a Choctaw or Chickasaw citizen and it was viewed by many in those nations that to allow their former slaves equality in the political and economic life of the nation was a bridge too far. 

Within the citizenry of both nations there were enlightened individuals who thought it wise and moral to adopt those of African and African-Native descent but the history of racism was overwhelmingly the dominate view that prevented the nations from adhering to the principles of equality and adoption of people who were considered inferior and non-Indian. 

In 1873 there were enough people in the nation that pushed legislation that would adopt the Chickasaw Freedmen which succeeded in the Chickasaw Legislature passing a bill for adoption that was submitted to the United States Congress for ratification. 

The legislation lingered in Congress without any attempt at ratifying the Chickasaw Legislation adopting their formerly enslaved population and complying with the provisions of the 1866 Treaty of Fort Smith. Because Congress failed to act and ratify 

The question of citizenship for the Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen lingered throughout the period of 1868 up to and beyond Oklahoma statehood in 1907. One might argue the question of citizenship for the Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen AND their descendants remain an unanswered question that requires a resolution today. 

This was the issue during the period of the Dawes Land Allotment process during 1898-99 and it was a question that was address many times in newspaper articles and editorials. 

During the week of February 06, 1898 this question was still being debated twenty-five years after the act passed by the legislature of the Chickasaw Nation entitled “An act to adopt the negroes of the Chickasaw Nation,” February 13, 1873. “Referred to the Committee on Freedmen’s Affairs and ordered to be printed.”

 This article was published months before the Dawes Commission was to begin its work to enumerate those former slaves on a roll for land allotments but the argument for their adoption as citizens remained unanswered.

 We know fifteen years following the 1866 Treaty of Fort Smith the formerly enslaved population of the Choctaw Nation was successfully adopted as citizens but ten years later the issue was still being debated for the citizenship status of the Chickasaw Freedmen. 

One thing is clear from this history, the fiduciary responsibility of the United States failed the formerly enslaved population of the Chickasaw Freedmen and their descendants even today the question of citizenship for the Choctaw Freedmen descendants which was established in 1885 according to the 1866 Treaty of Fort Smith is being ignored and abrogated.

Daily Ardmoreite February 06, 1898 p2c1-4