Original Publication Monday, February 4, 2019
Isom Jackson Choctaw Freedman Card #1213
#BlackHistoryOurHistoryMyHistory
Honoring another ancestor today by acknowledging their life and the record they left for us to discover is my Great great-grand...
Isom JACKSON
Allen & Phoebe JACKSON
Choctaw Freedmen #1213
During “Black History Month” I’ve decided to honor some of my ancestors by writing a brief story about their lives as my contribution to the story of Indian Territory, the United States and the state of Oklahoma. Much of what I know about them results from research on the institution of slavery among the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians.
There are many records that provide a glimpse into the lives of my ancestors but not enough is known about the history of African chattel slavery by Native Americans and the result is not much is known about my ancestors.
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| Choctaw Freedmen Card #1213 Front |
Isom JACKSON provided testimony that he was enslaved by a Chickasaw Indian named Fannie LANIHEE, in that same record was testimony by a man named Albert BIRD who testified the person who enslaved Isom went by the name of James LANIHEE, also a Chickasaw and more than likely related to Fannie.
The individual conducting the interview had some knowledge about the JACKSON family to the extent that he inquired about whether Isom had been sold by James LANIHEE. It was revealed that James did not sell him and in his testimony Isom stated “my father and mother were sold and a boy by the name of Henry…”
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| Choctaw Freedman Card #1213 Rear |
The other children of Allen and Phoebe JACKSON remained as slaves of James Le-ni-ha; they were Mitchell, Isom, Elzira, Julia, Melvina and Amanda. Because Allen and Phoebe along with Henry and the children that were later born in Texas, none of them were “eligible” to be placed on the Choctaw Freedmen Roll.
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| Interview Packet Choctaw Freedman Card #1213 p3 |
Allen and Phoebe are my 3X-great grandparents and more than likely were a part of the Choctaw Nations “removal” to Indian Territory during the 1830’s. They were alive and enumerated on the Choctaw Freedmen 1885 census and living in Kiamatia County, Choctaw Nation. In their household were some their children and grandchildren. At the time the Dawes Commission was not creating the roll of citizenship in the Choctaw Nation but the census did determine Allen, Phoebe and everyone in the household was considered to have their nationality with the Chickasaw Nation.
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| 1885 Choctaw Freedmen Census |
The 1885 Census of Choctaw Freedmen is a very good source to illustrate the relative wealth these former slaves accumulated only two decades following their emancipation from enslavement in 1866.
Like so many people of African descent I am not able (at this point) to determine all of my ancestors and especially those that were the first Africans to set foot on this continent but since this is the four-hundred year anniversary of those first African arriving on these shores prior to the Mayflower I still draw strength from those I am able to discover, document and honor by telling their stories.
Allen JACKSON
Phoebe JACKSON
Isom JACKSON
Julia Ann JACKSON
Mahala THOMPSON
These ARE all PEOPLE who will NEVER be LOST to history AGAIN!
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