When the Choctaws were removed from their Mississippi homeland to
Indian Territory in 1830, several thousand remained behind,
planning to take advantage of Article 14 in the removal treaty,
which promised that any Choctaws who wished to remain in
Mississippi could apply for allotments of land. When the remaining
Choctaws applied for their allotments, however, the government
reneged, and the Choctaws were left dispossessed and impoverished.
Thus begins the history of the Mississippi Choctaws as a distinct
people. Despite overwhelming poverty and significant racial
prejudice in the rural South, the Mississippi Choctaws managed,
over the course of a century and a half, to maintain their ethnic
identity, persuade the Office of Indian Affairs to provide them
with services and lands, create a functioning tribal government,
and establish a prosperous and stable reservation economy. The
Choctaws’ struggle against segregation in the 1950s and 1960s is an
overlooked story of the civil rights movement, and this study of
white supremacist support for Choctaw tribalism considerably
complicates our understanding of southern history. Choctaw
Resurgence in Mississippi traces the Choctaw’s remarkable tribal
rebirth, attributing it to their sustained political and social
activism.