Indian Territory History Month-African Trail of Tears

 

African Trail of Tears

 Jerry COLBERT

b. 1818 d. 11/1904

Chickasaw Freedman #923

Enslaver: Jake (Mack) COLBERT

Residence: Colbert, Indian Territory

 Father: Isaac COLBERT d.

Mother: Polly COLBERT d. 

We honor those enslaved ancestors that traveled the African Trail of Tears during the removal of the Chickasaw Indians, one individual that lived to a ripe old age was Jerry COLBERT. Individuals who came to Indian Territory as enslaved people in the Chickasaw Nation provide a very good example of what it means to survive and for Jerry to live to the age of eighty or one hundred is worthy of honor and recognition of his tenacity to survive and have his story told. 

One of Jerry’s sons Jake COLBERT provided testimony about how his father arriving in Indian Territory from Mississippi during the Chickasaw removal. In that interview Jake discussed who his father’s enslaver was, the name of his father’s wife, the name of another child and where Jerry COLBERT was living at the time of the Dawes enrollment. 

Sometimes we can get a sense of an individual and their personality from what we read in their interviews. Jake COLBERT provided a little insight into his attitude when the interviewer asked him whether his father was “alive now?” In his response you get the sense Jake was just a little annoyed at the question when he appeared to sarcastically respond; “He was day before yesterday at nine o’clock when I left there.” 

The age given for Jerry COLBERT was 80 indicating he was born circa 1818 but in the interview with Jake COLBERT, Jerry he indicated Jerry may have been about 100 years old. 

Jake made it clear Jerry COLBERT came to Indian Territory when he stated his father arrived with the Chickasaws “when the Indians first came to this country from Mississippi.” Jerry COLBERT may have come to Indian Territory with the Indians from Mississippi but it appears he was born in North Carolina according to the information in the 1900 United States Census. 

It is not clear if Mack COLBERT was the last slave owner of Jerry or his original Chickasaw Indian enslaver but what is clear at eighty years of age, Jerry was witness to a great deal of history and upheaval as an enslaved man in the Chickasaw Nation. 

Jerry COLBERT was a witness and participant in the Chickasaw removal.  He would have been a middle age man at the outbreak of the Civil War. Perhaps there is a USCT file with his name on it? 

Jerry would have been present when the Chickasaw Nation emancipated their enslaved people in 1866 and we know he was present when the Dawes Commission began its work to allot land the former slaves of the Five Slave Holding Tribes. Yes, Jerry COLBERT was an eyewitness to a great deal of history during his long life.

We honor Jerry COLBERT, a survivor of the African Trail of Tears, the War of the Rebellion, Treaty of Fort Smith in 1866, Emancipation, the Dawes Land Allotment, and a man without a country until 1907 when Oklahoma became a state. We honor him by saying his name and preserving his history as a Chickasaw Freedman.