AFRICAN-NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH Easter POWELL

 

African-Native American Heritage Month

The Africans Among Us

Originally Published February 23, 2021

Easter POWELL b. 1763 +/-

Years ago when I was doing research bordering on crazy I would get off work, make a beeline to the San Francisco Main Library and copy hundreds if not thousands of pages of the Congressional Record Serial Set. I did this after reading Dr. Daniel Littlefield’s book, “The Chickasaw Freedmen a People Without a Country.” 

I made a habit of meticulously going through his footnotes to find out where he found what appeared to be firsthand information about Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen history. It gnawed at me that he would have this information that might lead me to my ancestors because one of them was prominently featured in his book. 

One day I came across something that stuck with me for years. It was a petition by freedmen of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations that had a list of names of the people who concluded the Choctaw Nation failed to adopt them after four years and denied them the opportunity to educate their children or any of the privileges of citizenship stated in the Treaty of 1866.

This group of individuals expressed their desire to be “removed” from the Choctaw nation and receive the one-hundred dollar per capita that was spelled out in the Treaty of 1866. The treaty set aside $300,000 earmarked a portion that the formerly enslaved formerly enslaved population of Choctaw Freedmen was entitled to IF they agreed to leave the nation of their birth. 

House Miscellaneous Document #46, (42nd Congress, 2nd Session p2

In that memorial to Congress with all of the names of the people who were electing to leave was a curious footnote that caught my attention.  On page 2 of the document was the name Sally JONES, a widow who made “her X mark” indicating her willingness to leave but that was not what made me notice? Sally’s name had an asterisk by it and at the bottom of the page it was explained. 

The document was written and sent to Congress in 1872, four years after the time the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations were to adopt their formerly enslaved population and that footnote indicated that Sally JONES was one-hundred and seventeen years old! 

Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway) Sally JONES did not live another twenty-five or more years to be enumerated on the Dawes Land Allotment roll but recently I was taken back to those times when I was copying the Congressional Record and making new discoveries. 

One day I was contacted by Lee Etta STARKS, a Choctaw Freedmen descendant and she was inquiring about one of her ancestors: Easter Powell, Choctaw Freedmen Roll #4176

M-1186 Choctaw Freedmen Card #1300

The conversation we had led Ms. Lee STARKS to inform me that her ancestor's parents were born in Africa and that got crazy me thinking about how many others who were about one-hundred years of age and may have lived long enough to be enumerated on the 1900 United States Census. Following our conversation I began searching for other freedmen who were enumerated on the Dawes Freedmen Roll to see if there were others with an ancestor that was born in Africa and possibly lived among the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians?

1900 US Census Indian Territory, Choctaw Nation

One of the earliest documentations of Easter POWELL living in the Choctaw Nation and her status as someone who participated in the infamous "Choctaw Removal" is preserved in the 1885 Census of Choctaw Freedmen Citizens. What another important aspect of this document is it puts Easter together with the father of her children, Joe POWELL. Unfortunately, Joe did not live to receive his land allotment or make the decision to be "removed" from the Choctaw Nation, his home following the earlier "Removal" as an enslaved man in the nation of his birth.

1885 Census Choctaw Freedmen Citizens

The descendants of Easter POWELL are fortunate to have so much documentation of their ancestors and another important record that appears in the jacket for Easter's land allotment is an interview with the Rose SHOALS the daughter she was living with at the time of the Dawes allotment process. If there was any doubt of the relationship of Easter and Joe POWELL enumerated in 1885, their daughter Rose provided the information that solidified their relationship.

Land Allotment #4176, Oral Interview Rose Shoals

Ms. Lee STARKS’ family history is a very intriguing history and as we discussed it I am convinced Easter POWELL’S story will be told by her descendant I can’t wait to see what she writes about this woman who survived to be counted among the survivors of the removal, lived to experience enslavement in the Choctaw Nation and the emancipation of herself and her children. 

Easter lived to experience the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries; she left a remarkable paper trail for her descendants. I am grateful Ms. Lee Starks shared this information with me and she can now share this with her family and the descendants of Easter Powell.

It is ancestors like Easter POWELL and thousands of others that we must proclaim our African-Native American Heritage and celebrate these men, women and children who left us a "Trail of Joy" for having the opportunity to preserve their history as survivors of a very dark chapter in the history of the Choctaw Nation. 

It is the last sentence in this article that is striking and why it is so important to preserve our ancestry, history and heritage. The author of this article was aware that Easter "could tell many interesting things about this country." If the author knew of these stories we are grateful her story was preserved more than 250 years following her birth and "removal" from Mississippi with the Choctaw Indians!

McCurtain Gazette September 18, 1908 p4c5