AFRICAN-NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH-Emma Fisher-Maytubbe

African-Native American Heritage Month

Emma Fisher-Maytubbe

Choctaw Freedwoman Card #865 Enrollment #1866

Place of Residence: Mayhew, Jackson County-Indian Territory, Choctaw Nation

Father: Alexander FISHER

Choctaw Freedman Card #865, Enrollment #1855

Mother: Ella FISHER

1. Choctaw Freedwoman Card #865, Enrollment #1856

 

Photograph Courtesy of Crawley CARLENE

This photograph IS worth a thousand words and those words I’m sure are the stories Emma told her children and grandchildren of her life growing up in Indian Territory and Oklahoma.

Emma and three of her siblings share the distinction of having some of the first birth certificates issued in Indian Territory and Oklahoma. The Alexander and Ella Fisher family was a large family that numbered thirteen people circa 1905 when the youngest child Henry Fisher was born.

Having a large family and growing up in Indian Territory/Oklahoma does not automatically demonstrate this family’s Native American Heritage and having Freedmen cards should not automatically dismiss the possibility of having Native American Heritage but there is quite a bit more to this family than appears on Choctaw Freedman Card #865.

Hidden in plain sight are some clues to what makes it clear the Fisher family had a dual identity and their history among the people in the Choctaw Nation helped contribute to the identity and heritage of the descendants of Alexander and Ella Fisher.

The Choctaw Nation and the Dawes Commission seem to acknowledge a fact without stating it. In this reply to Charles E. McPherren who may have represented the Fisher family in some capacity receive a statement indicating the family was “enrolling as Choctaw Freedmen” when in the same sentence it is the statement that nine of the “applicants” were identified from the 1896 census roll (of what?) of the Choctaw nation, Jackson County. 

For Emma Fisher this meant that she was part of the Choctaw Nation and entitled to a certain amount of land. As a freedwoman and citizen of the Choctaw Nation she was entitled to receive the equivalent of forty acres of land but that’s where this family’s story begins to peel back their Native American Heritage. 

However it is the first and last part of this letter that provides some insight into how the identity and heritage of this family was forever alter by the Dawes Commission. The letter submitted by McPherson is not a part of this file which is important because it appears that in that letter Mr. McPherson asked the question if there had been any objection to the Fisher family being enrolled as Choctaw Freedmen. 

The letter is dated December 29, 1902 and that becomes important later when the family was represented by Albert J. Lee in their petition to transfer from the Choctaw Freedman Roll the Choctaw by Blood Roll in 1906. 

In numerous cases like the Fisher, the Dawes Commission and the Secretary of the Interior would cite that there was no evidence of anyone objecting to a freedmen enrollment but clearly the implication is appears in the letter sent to Mr. McPherson.

If there had not been any objection to the enrollment of this family as Choctaw by blood why is there the slightest notion that an objection may have been lodged and an inquiry made to discover it? That brings us to the last part of the same letter that helps tie this together.

In response to the inquiry if there had been “any protest filed against the enrollment of the above named persons as Choctaw Freedmen” reinforces the belief that there was reason to ask the question prior to 1906 when the family again asserted their rights to be enrolled as Choctaw by Blood.

Native American Heritage during this time period was constantly being demanded by hundreds of people who had their identity and heritage stripped away and denied by people who ignored at best the protestations of men and women seeking to be properly identified according to their lineal descent and birthright; the family and descendants of Alexander and Ella Fisher was one of those families that has been denied their true history and status as Choctaw Indians.

In the petition to transfer filed by Alexander Fisher and his attorney Albert J. Lee they document the age of Alexander, his father’s name Sidney Fisher and his mother Ellen Beams-Fisher “a negro who was possessed of one fourth Choctaw blood.” 

What is important to see is the statement by Alexander also contained in this letter; “that he recited his family history to the commission to the Five Civilized Tribes at the time he was before said Commission for enrollment; that he applied for enrollment of himself and his minor children as Choctaw by blood.” 

The Dawes commission argued and maintained the position there was never any objection to being enrolled as a Choctaw Freedmen. The first person that represented this family made an inquiry in 1902 if there had been any objection to being enrolled as a Freedman and Alexander Fisher clearly provided the name of his father Sidney Fisher a Choctaw Indian that appears on the rear of his land allotment card. 

One of the main reasons the Dawes Commission determined to reject the petition to transfer this family from the Choctaw Freedman roll to the Choctaw by blood roll was there excuse no protest or objection to being placed on the freedmen roll. The commission further stated there wasn't any evidence in the record of Alexander Fisher mentioning his Choctaw heritage and ancestry. Well looking at the record generated by the Dawes Commission you have to be a little suspicious of their answer when you look at the “summary” of the oral interview performed at the time of enrollment on August 22, 1899. 

This is clearly not the conversation that occurred when Alex Fisher sat down with the Commissioner from the Department of the Interior. There is absolutely no mention of his father or mother but that information is clearly documented on their enrollment card #865. Yet this is the legacy of the Dawes Commission, the Choctaw Nation and the Department of the Interior, together they have altered the Native American Heritage of thousands of people. 

What this all means is that Emma Fisher would have received 320 acres of land as would everyone in her family. This was the difference between the family controlling 540 acres of land as freedmen or 4,160 acres of land as Choctaw by blood. 

As part of Native American Heritage Month it is important to know stories like Emma Fisher-Maytubbe and honor their memory by bringing much needed attention to the massive loss of land and heritage because their family was stigmatized for the crime of being African-Native.