"They Are All Choctaw by Blood. They Are All the Lineal Descendants of Choctaw Indians.”

Daily Ardmoreite April 14, 1907 p6c5

Judge Michael Burrage while giving the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs regarding the 1866 Reconstruction Treaty is on the record as to the statement; 

“Today, Choctaw Nation's tribal membership includes African Americans as well as those from other races. 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.” 

I have no doubts that part of Judge Burrage’s statement about “membership includes African Americans as well as other races” is true, I’ve done the research and it is provable. However, he took the statement a little too far because the lawsuit known as Bettie Ligon et al., v. Douglass H. Johnston, et al., Green McCurtain, et al., and James R. Garfield, Secretary of the Interior filed on April 13, 1907 consisted of more than two-hundred and fifty cases, representing between one-thousand and five-hundred to two-thousand individuals seeking to be transferred from the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen Roll to either the Choctaw or Chickasaw Blood. 

The case of every litigant in what is known as “Equity Case 7071” was based on their “Lineal Descent” from a “recognized citizen” and they were denied because of the decision by the Dawes Commission in conjunction with both tribal nations based on having a female ancestor that was a freedwoman. 

What is most notable about the lead litigant (Bettie Ligon) in the case is her father was Robert Howard Love, a “recognized Chickasaw citizen" and a signer of the “Reconstruction Treaty of 1866.”

Clearly if “lineal descent” was a factor in the “blood” of citizenship, Bettie along with every other woman, man and child that was a part of “The most important suit that was ever filed” and their descendants should be citizens today. They should have received three-hundred and twenty acres of land and Judge Michael Burrage would have been correct. But “race” was at issue otherwise there would have been no reason for the statement at the end of that last paragraph of the newspaper article; “The contention of the plaintiffs is that they are entitled to enrollment the same as the mixed blood whites of the two nations.”

M-1650, 1896 Application for Chickasaw Citizenship by Blood #73

M-1186 Choctaw Freedman Card #106, Front & Rear

The simple statement by Judge Michael Burrage demonstrated how easy it is to be misled on how race played a significant role in relegating people who had more Choctaw or Chickasaw blood than many who appear on the roll, received three-hundred and twenty acres of land and today, their descendants enjoy all the benefits and privileges of citizenship. In both of the presentations by the lawyers for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation they failed to offer context for their remarks and that is how the myth of “the issue of freedmen is not about race, it’s about blood and lineal descent” can be used to deny thousands of people their humanity, identity and economic wealth for them and their descendants. 

M-1186, Choctaw by Blood Card #5784

Please note: Under the words “Choctaw Roll” in parenthesis is the phrase (not including Freedmen) the Choctaw Freedmen had been “citizens” since 1885, there should have been no need to include their exclusion on this roll if citizenship was not race based?

On this card and there are many other like it, an inter-married white “I.W.”, is placed on the “by blood” card which “Indianized” Minnie Cotton and made her eligible to receive three-hundred and twenty acres of land. She was placed there because she was white but the spouse of a Choctaw woman who was breaking the law by marrying a “freedmen” her husband was not given the same privilege of “intermarriage.” Again, easily demonstrating the rolls were racially biased against those of African or African-Native (lineal) descent. 

Judge Burrage added insult and injury to the descendant families that comprise the litigants of Equity Case 7071 by his “uninformed” remarks. It should be noted at the time this case was filed it was considered to be worth an estimated $15-$20 million dollars. Putting that in today’s dollars based on the same percentage at 5% per annum the tribes $300 thousand dollars negotiated in the Reconstruction Treaty were to receive, these families have lost anywhere from $500 million to over a Billion dollars in land value alone. 

Perhaps it’s time to consider the consequences of a race based policy that denied millions, if not billions of dollars from people who are “lineal descendants” of “recognized” Choctaw and Chickasaw citizens?

Joe & Dillard Perry Petition to Transfer Files #008 Andrew McAfee p. 03

M-1186, Choctaw Freedman Card #1307, Front & Rear

Joe & Dillard Perry Petition to Transfer Files #008 Winnie Johnson nee Durant

M-1186, Choctaw Freedman card #403 Winnie Johnson nee Durant, Front & Rear

The amount of documentation that demonstrates the racial bias against people of African and African-Native descent is tremendous, apparently some people choose to ignore it and create the false narrative that United States government was/is pitting one group against the other. Clearly, if the Five Slave Holding Tribes are to maintain their “sovereignty” they have the power to right the wrong that was done to their own “blood” more than a century ago and stop trying to place total blame on the United States government and the Department of the Interior. 

It’s time to make the descendants of Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen WHOLE and part of their nation with “ALL THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF CITIZENSHIP.”

Write letters of support to be placed on the Congressional Record to the following email address:

testimony@indian.senate.gov