The Obligation of the United States Government to the Chickasaw Freedmen

 

A Century of Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen History 1840-1940

The Chronicles of Freedmen in Newspaper Articles & Editorials

 The Obligation of the United States Government to the Chickasaw Freedmen

The Daily Ardmoreite June 29, 1897 p2c3

It is clear from much of the documentation and history of the Chickasaw Nation, the formerly enslaved population that was the subject of the Treaty of 1866 and their citizenship in the nation continued to be problematic for the Chickasaw Nation and the United States when it involved their rights in the nation of their birth.

As Indian Territory moved closer to being abolished as a nation the Chickasaw Freedmen continued to suffer from the abuses of the Chickasaw nation and the freedmen enlisted the help of Congress to remedy their condition by submitting memorials that demonstrated the need for Congress to intervene on their behalf to protect their rights that were part of the treaty signed in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1866.

It is important that we look at history and how it can be insightful for current events and the obligation of “all branches of the government in legislative, executive and judicial” when the descendants of Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen are again petitioning the same three branches of the United States government concerning the adherence to the “rights and privileges of citizenship” that was written in the Treaty of 1866. 

How much more time must pass for the people of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nation understand their history is our history and we must share in all the programs provided for these two nations; as equals?

 Much time has passed and our ties have become distant only because our ancestors were stripped of their rights memorialized in the same treaty that today is being used to subsidize housing, healthcare, create wealth and business opportunities that have excluded the Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen in the past and their descendants today.

In this article that was written almost one-hundred and twenty years ago it discusses the “fair, just or equitable conclusion of the matter that the Chickasaw Freedmen are entitled, under the Choctaw and Chickasaw treaty of 1866” and here we are, again, seeking the rights and privileges and immunities specified in that treaty. 

The United States government along with the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations attempted to send our ancestors on another “Trail of Tears” for the paltry sum of $100 so the stain of slavery would be erased from their doorstep. Fortunately, we are still here and unfortunately we are still seeking the United States Congress to do what is “fair and equitable” for the descendants of Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen.

For many descendants of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen the last paragraph sums up Our position on the responsibility of Congress, the Executive and Judicial branches of the United States; “Justice and humanity demand that such action be taken by Congress as will repair the neglect and resulting damage of the past…”