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List of Choctaw chiefs

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Phillip Martin (1926–2010), Principal Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

List of Choctaw chiefs is a record of the political leaders who served the Choctaws in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

Original three divisions

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Pushmataha
Moshulatubbee

The eastern Choctaw Nation, in what is now Mississippi and Alabama, was divided into three regions: Okla Hannali, Okla Falaya, and Okla Tannip.

Okla Hannali (Six Towns)

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  • Yowannee Mingo[1]
  • Pushmataha
  • Oklahoma or Tapenahomma (Nephew of Pushmataha)
  • General Hummingbird
  • Nitakechi
  • Sam Garland

Okla Falaya

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Okla Tannip

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District Chiefs in the New Indian Territory

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After removal, the Choctaws set up their government also divided up in three regions: Apukshunnubbee, Mushulatubbee, and Pushmataha. The regions were named after the three influential Choctaw leaders of the "old country."

George W. Harkins (1810–1890)
Tandy Walker (1814–1877)
Peter Pitchlynn (1806–1881)
Green McCurtain (1848–1910)

Moshulatubbee District

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  • Mushulatubbee, 1834–1836
  • Joseph Kincaid, 1836–1838
  • John McKinney, 1838–1842
  • Nathaniel Folsom, 1842–1846
  • Peter Folsom, 1846–1850
  • Cornelius McCurtain, 1850–1854
  • David McCoy, 1854–1857

Apukshunnubbee District

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  • Thomas LeFlore, 1834-1838
  • James Fletcher, 1838-1842
  • Thomas LeFlore, 1842-1850
  • George W. Harkins, 1850–1857

Pushmataha District

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  • Nitakechi, 1834-1838
  • Pierre Juzan, 1838-1841
  • Isaac Folsom, 1841-1846
  • Nitakechi, Died
  • Salas Fisher, 1846-1854
  • George Folsom, 1850-1854
  • Nicholas Cochnauer, 1854-1857

Unified leadership as governor

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  • Alfred Wade, 1857-1858
  • Tandy Walker, 1858-1859
  • Basil LeFlore, 1859-1860

Principal Chiefs

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The Choctaw Nation was temporarily discontinued in 1906 with the advent of Oklahoma statehood.

Choctaw Nation "token" government

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Chiefs were appointed by the U.S. President after U. S. Congress stripped recognition of the Choctaw national government.

  • Green McCurtain, 1906-1910, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt
  • Victor Locke, Jr., 1910-1918, appointed by President Howard Taft
  • William F. Semple, 1918-1922, appointed by President Woodrow Wilson [2]
  • William H. Harrison, 1922-1929, appointed by President Warren G. Harding
  • Ben Dwight, 1930-1936, appointed by President Herbert Hoover
  • William Durant, 1937-1948, appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • Harry J. W. Belvin, 1948-1970, appointed by President Harry S. Truman
    (Choctaw were allowed to elect their delegate in 1948 and 1954 which the president confirmed.)

Current tribes

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Indian termination policy was a policy that the United States Congress legislated in 1953 to assimilate the Native American communities with mainstream America. In 1959, the Choctaw Termination Act was passed.[3] Unless repealed by the federal government, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma would effectively be terminated as a sovereign nation as of August 25, 1970.[3]

After a long struggle for recognition, the Mississippi Choctaw received recognition in 1918. The Mississippi Choctaw soon received lands, educational benefits, and a long overdue health care system.

In 1945, lands in Neshoba County, Mississippi and the surrounding counties were set aside as a federal Indian reservation. There are eight communities of reservation land: Bogue Chitto, Bogue Homa, Conehatta, Crystal Ridge, Pearl River, Red Water, Tucker, and Standing Pine. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 allowed the Mississippi Choctaws to become re-organized on April 20, 1945 as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

Oklahoma Choctaws

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Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

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Mississippi Choctaws

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Pre-reorganization Era (Before 1945)

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  • Wesley Johnson (Wesley Wakatubee), 1913-c. 1914 (Chief)
  • Ed Willis
  • Pat Chitto
  • Joe Chitto

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (1945-Present)

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Louisiana Choctaws

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Jena Band of Choctaw Indians

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  • Christina M. Norris, present[5]

Notes

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  1. ^ https://home.nps.gov/articles/choctaw-warriors-consider-alliances.htm [bare URL]
  2. ^ "Chiefs | Choctaw Nation".
  3. ^ a b "U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 108, 83rd Congress, 1953. (U.S. Statutes at Large, 67: B132.)". Digital History. Archived from the original on 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  4. ^ Meyers, Debbie Burt. "Anderson unseats Denson." The Neshoba Democrat. 7 Sept 2011 (retrieved 24 Sept 2011)
  5. ^ "Tribal Governments by Area: Southeast." Archived 2010-09-26 at the Wayback Machine National Congress of American Indians. (retrieved 7 Sept 2010)
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