“IT’S NOT ABOUT RACE, IT’S ABOUT BLOOD”

 The Case of Kizzie Allen et al., Choctaw Freedwoman-Card #1103, Enrollment #3663

The Case of Kizzie Allen et al., Choctaw Freedwoman-Card #1103, Enrollment #3663 

The quote (it’s not about race…) is from the presentation given by attorney Michael Burrage, 27 July 2022 before the Oversight Hearing on “Select Provisions of the 1866 Reconstruction Treaties between the United States and Oklahoma Tribes”

 With most, if not all of the cases of people petitioning to be transferred from the Freedman Roll to their respective Roll by Blood, when you look at their Dawes Land Allotment Card you don’t get the full measure of their identity. The information that will allow observers/researchers to understand the complexity of lineal descent in those on the Freedman Roll requires attention to detail and a good knowledge of the records that help tell the full story.

M-1186 Choctaw Freedwoman Kizzie Allen et al., Card #1103 front

Most people have accepted the line from the Five Slave Holding Tribes that the path to citizenship is by having an ancestor on a “Dawes by Blood” Land Allotment card. That statement alone requires some incredible flexibility in logic when you actually view the Dawes Cards and discover numerous people on it who do not have a drop of native blood. These individuals are described as “Intermarried Whites” which defies all notions that citizenship is not about race when there is no category for “Intermarried Blacks?” 

The tribes that pride themselves on their sovereign right to determine who is or is not a citizen seem to base that determination on a couple of things; having an ancestor on the by blood roll who was a “recognized citizen” or a mother that was a “recognized citizen by blood.” 

They have additional methods of granting citizenship by adoption which the Choctaw Nation actually did in 1885, when they adopted their formerly enslaved population. The nation also has children by Black, Negro or Freedmen males that fathered children of Choctaw woman by blood. 

Race clearly played a role in determining the children of “intermarried white” women as being Choctaw by blood at the same time they denied the children (not in all cases) of freedwomen. Furthermore, an intermarried white woman could become a citizen by marrying a recognized male citizen of the Choctaw nation but the same was not true for the Black, Negro or Freedwoman wife of a recognized Choctaw man. That implies race was central to citizenship and asks a lot of the statement utter by the Choctaw Nations attorney when he stated emphatically; 

“All members of our Tribe share one characteristic in common, they are all Choctaw by blood. They are all the lineal descendants of Choctaw Indians.” 

The Joe and Dillard Perry files contained numerous cases of Choctaw and Chickasaw “freedmen” seeking a transfer to the blood roll and all the members of Equity Case 7071 share one characteristic in common, they are all claiming to be lineal descendants of Choctaw or Chickasaw Indians.

Joe & Dillard Perry Petition to Transfer File #F-03 FULSOM, Kizzie p01

In Kizzie Allen’s petition to transfer her clearly indicates she is the lineal descendant of Peter Pitchlynn a recognized citizen that is her grandfather by way of her mother being the child of Peter Pitchlynn. 

Kizzie’s petition reveals again the “racial” aspects to citizenship. She declares her father was an “intermarried white man” that received his citizenship after he fathered her with a formerly enslaved woman named Winnie Pitchlynn. Of course that was immaterial as it concerned her “lineal descent” from Peter Pitchlynn who fathered her mother. 

What the Dawes Commission did with that information is enlightening when you read it. Instead of granting citizenship based on lineal descent to Peter Pitchlynn who they recognized as her father; they attached her citizenship to her “alleged” father John Woolery, the recognized citizen by marriage in 1880 to Nancy Woolery, “a recognized and enrolled citizen by blood of the Choctaw Nation.” 

The usual response that “the absence of tribal recognition” as a citizen is contained in the rejection of the claim of Kizzie, is memorialized in the decision to deny citizenship by blood; knowing full and well that race was the predicate for which the denial was based.

Joe & Dillard Perry Petition to Transfer File #F-03 FULSOM, Kizzie p02

The citizenship cases that make up Equity Case 7071 were fought in the courts as well as in Congress, where they met resistance all along the way. Much of that resistance had more to do with the racial biases rather than the information provided and recorded in the Joe and Dillard Perry files. 

As anyone can see from the period in which Kizzie applied for her land allotment the Dawes Commission stated she did not claim Choctaw Blood from September 4, 1899 to December 25, 1902) evidently meaning whether she was entitled to citizenship by blood or not, her application did not meet the arbitrary deadline to apply and be accepted. It is instructive to look at the “alleged oral interview” of Kizzie in 1899.

Joe & Dillard Perry Petition to Transfer File #F-03 FULSOM, Kizzie p02

M-1301 Oral Interview ALLEN, Kizzie Choctaw Freedwoman #1103 p1

The immorality of the Dawes Commission and the Choctaw Nation in 1896 through 1907 demonstrates how incredibly difficult it was for African and African-Native people to be “recognized” for their “lineal descent” as Choctaw or Chickasaw people. 

For anyone to represent the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nation and proclaim, “it’s not about race, it’s about blood and lineal descent” is only perpetuating the use of racial prejudice to determine ancestry.

 

#Bettie’sList, #EquityCase7071, #ItsAboutRaceNotBlood, #ChoctawNation, #ChickasawNation

Don't forget to send your letters/emails to: testimony@indian.senate.gov