African-Native American Heritage Month "Equal Justice Under Law"

Originally Published

 Saturday, April 9, 2011

“Equal Justice Under Law” The Children of Fletcher Frazier

In 1868 almost four dozen leading men among the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen met to send a message to the Congress of the United States. Among the early leaders fighting for the citizenship rights of the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen was someone that appears to be possibly the most unlikely of individuals. His name was Fletcher Frazier and he was a Chickasaw citizen by blood.

Of all of the men who placed their X on Senate Document 82 (40^th Congress, 2^nd Session,) it appears only Fletcher Frazier could write his name in 1868. The fact that he was listed as the secretary of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen’s Association probably attest to the fact the freedmen wanted to make sure there was a record of their actions.

What intrigues me most about Fletcher Frazier is the fact he was a recognized citizen of the Chickasaw Nation! Clearly in 1868 when this document was presented before the Congress of the United States there was one man who supported the idea of citizenship for the former slaves of Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians and his name was Fletcher Frazier.

Here is a man who knew Richard “Dick” Brashears and Watson Brown two notable freedmen leaders and former slaves. There had to be a risk for what Fletcher Frazier was doing because we know when Richard Brashears spearheaded a conference of freedmen in Skullyville he was arrested for his actions; a fate that could have easily been visited upon Frazier.

What is more intriguing about Fletcher Frazier is he was supposedly in direct violation of Chickasaw Nation laws which “forbid the intermarriage of any negro with a Chickasaw Indian by blood.”

I have not discovered a document in the Choctaw Nation that stated the same law, but the practice of defining people by the race of their mother while excluding the paternity of their father was used to justify enrolling African-Chickasaw children on the Chickasaw Freedmen roll by the Dawes Commission.

M1650 1896 Application for Citizenship Caldonia NEWBERRY # 111

If there was such a prohibition on intermarriage Fletcher Frazier was in violation for years as were others in the nation but apparently there were no penalties other than the penalty affecting the children from such a union. This penalty took the form of “non-Indian” status; without the benefits of citizenship.

Fletcher Frazier was indeed married to a Chickasaw Freedwoman by the name of Sookey and together they had at least two children I’ve identified. To my knowledge all of their children and descendants have been identified as Chickasaw Freedmen; not as Chickasaw citizens as was their patriarch, Fletcher Frazier.

1890 Census Chickasaw Nation

One of the most remarkable trends I’ve noticed in the issue of citizenship and identity regarding someone with African-Native descent was the manner in which children of similar circumstances would somehow become citizens while children like those of Fletcher and Sookey Frazier remained on the Freedmen Roll.

In numerous cases I’ve seen to this point, when a child has an Indian father and “freedmen mother” if that father was alive during the Dawes enrollment process, his children would make it to the “citizen by blood” roll. If that child’s father happened to be deceased, the children would be placed on the freedmen roll; again maintaining the ridiculous concept that “a child’s race is determined by the “race” of the mother!”

As we see in the case of Jesse and Dora McGee’s children, all of “their” children became citizens by blood in the Chickasaw Nation because Jesse was alive to fight for his children to become citizens. In the Choctaw Nation, Morris Impson fathered children by a Chickasaw freedwoman named Lucy who was married to Morris. She was not given the privilege of an intermarried spouse like “white women” and she was not placed on the “citizen by blood” roll like so many whites with only the designation they were “I.W.”

In the Dawes Jacket of Randies Frazier is in my opinion one of the rarest documents to survive the Dawes Commission. Not many of the cases where an individual had a Choctaw or Chickasaw father was there actual testimony to support it other than the rear of a Dawes Card (M1186.) 

Despite the cards clearly indicating someone had a Choctaw or Chickasaw father with the designation; Chick. Ind.  or Choc. Ind. there are no oral testimonies to support that information in the record. However, remarkably in Randies file there is some corroboration that his father was a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and Fletcher Frazier was indeed a Chickasaw Indian!

M1301 Randies FRAZIER Chickasaw Freedman card# 1343

What this ultimately demonstrates is the issue of "recognized citizen" or "Chickasaw by blood" and the thousands of individuals seeking a transfer from the Chickasaw or Choctaw Freedman Roll was not "Equal Justice Under Law." The antebellum "tradition" of defining "race" by the "race" of the mother was only employed to deny land and identity from African-Native people and because of it, tens of thousands of Chickasaw and Choctaw "freedmen descendants" continue to suffer from the "badges of slavery" today.

Photo of Supreme Court
Property of Terry Ligon