Indian Territory Freedmen History Month-The Blending of People & Culture

 From Akers Township to Ardmore, From Indian Territory to Oklahoma

It has always been an observation of mine that in Akers Township and Ardmore, Oklahoma the people known as Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen became absorbed into the life and culture of the people who were enslaved In the United States and migrated to Indian Territory. 

The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes for the most part ostracized their former slaves despite the Choctaw Freedmen having been adopted as citizens in the nation of their birth in 1885. When you include the migration of southern whites who brought with them attitudes that included Jim Crow laws, it is not surprising to see the former slaves of Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians begin to forge family ties with the former slaves who came to Indian Territory in hopes of securing land and establishing a home following their “emancipation” in the United States.

I have been fortunate to have a copy of the Douglass High School Alumni Directory that provides the history of a segregated school and its history not long after Indian and Oklahoma Territories became the state of Oklahoma in November 1907. When I first saw the Douglass Dragon’s Alumni Directory the surnames of the men and women in the publication were all names I was familiar with because of my research of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen. 

Because I am so familiar with the numerous families and records of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen I took another look at the alumni directory for names and photos of people who might be an original Dawes enrollee or at the very least, a descendant of an original enrollee! 

Unfortunately the majority of Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen descendants resided in what the locals call the “country,” we will not see a large number of original Dawes enrollees as Douglas Alumni but through the years there will be many of their descendants who became alumni.  The first recorded groups of alumnus that appear in the 2001 Douglass Historical Digest are illustrated below: 

Out of this group of graduates, none appear to be original Dawes enrollees. Again the Chickasaw and Choctaw original enrollees and their children had not migrated to the more “urban” setting of Ardmore but continued to educate their children in the rural area at schools established at churches like Mt. Olive, Jehovah Baptist and Dawes Academy which was on the land of Calvary Baptist church where only the steps to the school remain.

The history in this part of southern Oklahoma is important to understand the blending of families and reinforcing the fact that people of African and African-Native descent established their presence before  blacks migrating there after the War of the Rebellion and prior to the land rushes of the 1880's.

Immediately following the War of the Rebellion with the migration of blacks from the United States the evolution of blended families began to take root in this part of Indian Territory. 

Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen “controlled” tens of thousands of acres of land when Oklahoma became a state in 1907; with the increase of blacks migrating into the territory and marrying Indian Territory freedmen many began leaving their farm land and migrated to Ardmore for jobs, marriage and education for their children. 

In the class of 1923 we can identify at least one individual who appears to be an original Dawes enrollee; Mary Ann SHANNON; Chickasaw Freedman card # 503.

We see in the 1900 census the SHANNON family was living on part of their allotments in what was known as Akers Township. It clearly illustrates the father of Mary Ann was a farmer and owned the land on which he farmed, providing for his large family. As with most of the former slaves of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen, educating their children was very important.

The blending of rural and urban Oklahoma, freedmen and “state Negroes” is an important part of the states history as well as the history of Black America, it is well documented and should be taught at the very least in the schools of Oklahoma. The continued telling of the myth that blacks appeared in the state following the Civil War or when the Land Runs began is false and misleading. 

The class of 1923 which included Mary Ann SHANNON is a vital part of Oklahoma's history, the history of the Chickasaw Nation and the history of African-American's as a connection to the history of both!

Unfortunately, the school system, on many levels seems oblivious to this history; yet we have evidence readily available and it would be criminal if the descendants of these men and women don’t take responsibility to have their ancestor’s story told!