The story of one of the most important Chickasaw leaders of the past 200 years, as told by a Chickasaw elder and direct descendant.

With the arrival of Europeans in North America, the Cherokee were profoundly affected. This book thoroughly discusses their history during the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras. Starting with the French and Indian War, the Cherokee were allied with the British, relying on them for goods like poorly made muskets. The alliance proved unequal, with the British refusing aid--even as settlers made incursions into Cherokee lands--while requiring them to fight on the British side against the French and rebellious Americans. At the same time, the Cherokee were moving away from their traditions, and leadership disagreements caused their nation to become fragmented. All of this resulted in the loss of Cherokee ancestral lands.

The Removal of the Five Tribes from what is now the Southeastern part of the United States to the area that would become the state of Oklahoma is a topic widely researched and studied. In this annotated bibliography, Herman A. Peterson has gathered together studies in history, ethnohistory, ethnography, anthropology, sociology, rhetoric, and archaeology that pertain to the Removal. The focus of this bibliography is on published, peer-reviewed, scholarly secondary source material and published primary source documents that are easily available. The period under closest scrutiny extends from the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 to the end of the Third Seminole War in 1842. However, works directly relevant to the events leading up to the Removal, as well as those concerned with the direct aftermath of Removal in Indian Territory, are also included. This bibliography is divided into six sections, one for each of the tribes, as well as a general section for works that encompass more than one tribe or address Indian Removal as a policy. Each section is further divided by topic, and within each section the works are listed chronologically, showing the development of the literature on that topic over time. The Trail of Tears: An Annotated Bibliography of Southeastern Indian Removal is a valuable resource for anyone researching this subject.

During the decades between the Civil War and the establishment of Oklahoma statehood, Choctaws suffered almost daily from murders, thefts, and assaults—usually at the hands of white intruders, but increasingly by Choctaws themselves. This book focuses on two previously unexplored murder cases to illustrate the intense factionalism that emerged among tribal members during those lawless years as conservative Nationalists and pro-assimilation Progressives fought for control of the Choctaw Nation. Devon Abbott Mihesuah describes the brutal murder in 1884 of her own great-great-grandfather, Nationalist Charles Wilson, who was a Choctaw lighthorseman and U.S. deputy marshal. She then relates the killing spree of Progressives by Nationalist Silan Lewis ten years later. Mihesuah draws on a wide array of sources—even in the face of missing court records—to weave a spellbinding account of homicide and political intrigue. She painstakingly delineates a transformative period in Choctaw history to explore emerging gulfs between Choctaw citizens and address growing Indian resistance to white intrusions, federal policies, and the taking of tribal resources. The first book to fully describe this Choctaw factionalism, Choctaw Crime and Punishment is both a riveting narrative and an important analysis of tribal politics.

A celebration of achievement, accomplishments, and courage! Native American Medal of Honor recipients, Heisman Trophy recipients, U.S. Olympians, a U.S. vice president, Congressional representatives, NASA astronauts, Pulitzer Prize recipients, U.S. poet laureates, Oscar winners, and more. The first Native magician, all-Native comedy show, architects, attorneys, bloggers, chefs, cartoonists, psychologists, religious leaders, filmmakers, educators, physicians, code talkers, and inventors. Luminaries like Jim Thorpe, King Kamehameha, Debra Haaland, and Will Rogers, along with less familiar notables such as Native Hawaiian language professor and radio host Larry Lindsey Kimura and Cree/Mohawk forensic pathologist Dr. Kona Williams. Their stories plus the stories of 2000 people, events and places are presented in Indigenous Firsts: A History of Native American Achievements and Events, including … Suzanne Van Cooten, Ph.D., Chickasaw Nation, the first Native female meteorologist in the country Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, Wampanoag from Martha’s Vineyard, graduate of Harvard College in 1665 Debra Haaland, the Pueblo of Laguna, U.S. Congresswoman and Secretary of the Interior Sam Campos, the Native Hawaiian who developed the Hawaiian superhero Pineapple Man Thomas L. Sloan, Omaha, was the first Native American to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court William R. Pogue, Choctaw, astronaut Johnston Murray, Chickasaw, the first person of Native American descent to be elected governor in the United States, holding the office in Oklahoma from 1951 to 1955 The Cherokee Phoenix published its first edition February 21, 1828, making it the first tribal newspaper in North America and the first to be published in an Indigenous language The National Native American Honor Society was founded by acclaimed geneticist Dr. Frank C. Dukepoo , the first Hopi to earn a Ph.D. Louis Sockalexis, Penobscot, became the first Native American in the National Baseball League in 1897 as an outfielder with the Cleveland Spiders Jock Soto, Navajo/Puerto Rican, the youngest-ever man to be the principal dancer with the New York City Ballet The Seminole Tribe of Florida was the first Nation to own and operate an airplane manufacturing company Warrior's Circle of Honor, the National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, on the grounds of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian The Iolani Palace, constructed 1879–1882, the home of the Hawaiian royal family in Honolulu Loriene Roy, Anishinaabe, White Earth Nation, professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information, former president of the American Library Association Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne, U.S. representative and U.S. senator from Colorado Hanay Geiogamah, Kiowa /Delaware, founded the American Indian Theatre Ensemble Gerald Vizenor, White Earth Nation, writer, literary critic, and journalist for the Minneapolis Tribune Ely S. Parker (Hasanoanda, later Donehogawa), Tonawanda Seneca, lieutenant colonel in the Union Army, serving as General Ulysses S. Grant’s military secretary Fritz Scholder, Luiseno, painter inducted into the California Hall of Fame The Native American Women Warriors, the first all Native American female color guard Lori Arviso Alvord, the first Navajo woman to become a board-certified surgeon Kay “Kaibah” C. Bennett, Navajo, teacher, author, and the first woman to run for the presidency of the Navajo Nation Sandra Sunrising Osawa, Makah Indian Nation, the first Native American to have a series on commercial television The Choctaw people’s 1847 donation to aid the Irish people suffering from the great famine Otakuye Conroy-Ben, Oglala Lakota, first to earn an environmental engineering Ph.D. at the University of Arizona Diane J. Willis, Kiowa, former President of the Society of Pediatric Psychology and founding editor of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology Shelly Niro, Mohawk, winner of Canada’s top photography prize, the Scotiabank Photography Award Loren Leman, Alutiiq/Russian-Polish, was the first Alaska Native elected lieutenant governor Kim TallBear, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the first recipient of the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Environment Carissa Moore, Native Hawaiian, won the Gold Medal in Surfing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Will Rogers, Cherokee, actor, performer, humorist was named the first honorary mayor of Beverly Hills Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations by Lois Ellen Frank, Kiowa, was the first Native American cookbook to win the James Beard Award Diane Humetewa, Hopi, nominated by President Barack Obama, became the first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, Crow, the first Native American nurse to be inducted into the American Nursing Association Hall of Fame Indigenous Firsts honors the ongoing and rich history of personal victories and triumphs, and with more than 200 photos and illustrations, this information-rich book also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness. This vital collection will appeal to anyone interested in America’s amazing history and its resilient and skilled Indigenous people.

Tells the story of the Chickasaw people through vivid photography and rich essays.

For 350 years the Chickasaws-one of the Five Civilized Tribes-made a sustained effort to preserve their tribal institutions and independence in the face of increasing encroachments by white men. This is the first book-length account of their valiant-but doomed-struggle. Against an ethnohistorical background, the author relates the story of the Chickasaws from their first recorded contacts with Europeans in the lower Mississippi Valley in 1540 to final dissolution of the Chickasaw Nation in 1906. Included are the years of alliance with the British, the dealings with the Americans, and the inevitable removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1837 under pressure from settlers in Mississippi and Alabama. Among the significant events in Chickasaw history were the tribe’s surprisingly strong alliance with the South during the Civil War and the federal actions thereafter which eventually resulted in the absorption of the Chickasaw Nation into the emerging state of Oklahoma.

This first scholarly dictionary of the Chickasaw language contains a Chickasaw-English section with approximately 12,000 main entries, secondary entries, and cross-references; an English-Chickasaw index; and an extensive introductory section describing the structure of Chickasaw words. The dictionary uses a new spelling system that represents tonal accent and the glottal stop, neither of which is shown in any previous dictionary on either Chickasaw or the closely related Muskogean language, Choctaw. In addition, vowel and consonant length, vowel nasalization, and other important distinctions are given.