Paul Stephens - Choctaw Council 1905

Several years ago when traveling in Oklahoma with a colleague, we stopped at the Choctaw Heritage Museum in Tushka Homma, Oklahoma. While there, I was fascinated by an image of a large image from the 1905 Choctaw Council that was on the wall. Being one to study photos, immediately the face of one person caught my attention--that of Paul Stephens. He caught my attention because his face, to me suggested that he might have some African ancestry in addition to Choctaw ancestry.

Paul Stephens, Choctaw Council, 1905

The image above is actually part of a larger image of the entire Choctaw Council of 1905. It is actually a photo from the Oklahoma Native American Photographs Collection of the Gilcrease Museum. On the image, the number 17 was written and the key at the bottom of the photo revealed his name. Upon returning, I decided to find his name on Dawes records, and I realized that he was identified as a Choctaw by Blood and not a Choctaw Freedman. It is not surprising that he could be a Choctaw by blood, as many persons are mixed blood Choctaws. However, it is no secret that mixed African Choctaws were rarely put on the rolls as Choctaws by blood. Yet, clearly Paul Stephens was identified as one who was considered Choctaw by blood.

Last Choctaw Council 1905. Paul Stephens is identified as No. 17 in this group photo

Recently, having come across the image again, I decided to look again into the history of Paul Stephens on the Dawes Records. I wanted to know more about the man himself. I found Paul Stephens card on Choctaw Roll card number 709. And he is listed as "full" blood. Of course one should be cautious not to judge individuals based on "looks" but it was still clear that Paul Stephens  was not one who was without some African ancestry.

His father was said to be Lige Stephens and his mother was said to have been Illeana Stephens. Both were deceased by that time.

Since both parents were deceased there was no parental card to examine. However, there was a note that did catch my attention at the bottom of the card. Although Paul Stephens lived in Alikchi, I. T. in  Nashoba County of the Choctaw Nation according to the card, an interesting note from the Sherriff of Skullyville appeared about Paul Stephens.

The note read: "Sheriff of Skullyville Co. says that No. 1 has always been recognized as a Negro."

This note struck me as interesting not because of what it said. But the fact that clearly there was some question about the history of Paul Stephens and what his background may have been. He did not live in Skullyville at the time, yet the Sheriff of Skullyville expressed an opinion about Stephens. The fact that a law enforcement official from a community where the Dawes applicant did not reside was even consulted was unusual and was not a standard practice among others enrolling. In addition the fact that clearly there was some African ancestry possessed by Stephen, yet he was recorded as "full blood."

With this information, several questions came to mind:

• Stephen was a man who clearly had some African ancestry. Why was this denied when he appeared in front of the Dawes Commission?
• Was the presence of his African blood somehow perceived as "damaging" to the fact that this man was still a part of the Choctaw community? To have later been place on the tribal council he had to have clearly been perceived as Choctaw from the community that he represented and from culture, language and lifestyle.
• Was recording him as being "full blood" when we was clearly one of mixed ancestry, somehow done as an act to "elevate" his status?

• How and why was there a need to disguise or deny African blood?

Was this the same bias that was later shown when Freedman Henry Cutchlow was elected to the tribal council and was never allowed to take his seat? By making Paul Stephens "full blood" would he have then been eligible to serve on the council without the "stain" of having African blood?

I decided to look more closely to see if I could learn more about Paul Stephens the man and read his enrollment application interview. What a surprise to find a completely empty application jacket!

Application Jacket of Paul Stephens

Clearly there was some discomfort with the African ancestry of Paul Stephens in the Choctaw community. And of course today descendants of African slaves held by Choctaws are not allowed as members of the nation although their ancestors toiled for decades, spoke the language abided by the same laws, ate the same food, and were officially adopted by the nation. But in 1979 when other former slaveholding tribes found it fashionable to exclude Africans from their midst and erase them from their history, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma followed suit, and embraced the racial practice.

The act of erasing on paper the Africanness of Stephens is evident but it is something to be studied and analyzed. There was no need to deny who Stephens was, but yet it occurred. The interview that is now missing might have revealed more about his history and ancestry, but sadly will not be known but the need to hide his interview should not have occurred.

Unfortunately, the same anti-black sentiments prevails today while others with the same ancestry as Stephens are equally as Choctaw as he, and they are equally as Choctaw as are others who are enrolled today. The discomfort that people have towards persons of African Choctaw ancestry is an unfortunate symptom of a bias against a portion of Choctaw people who were innocent in their presence. And until recent years it was not a Choctaw practice to hurt the innocent.

However, until someone in the Choctaw Nation gains the courage to address these practices, they will continue to practice America's original sin and place it upon the Choctaw people. And sadly, the nation is not unlike the parties that brought about their removal from their beloved Nanih Waiya. And by embracing the biases of their oppressors towards a portion of their Choctaw community that never harmed the people nor the nation, they have as a nation today become oppressive.
The story of Paul Stephens is clearly one that deserves to be told. He stands clearly among his Choctaw brethren on the steps of the capitol. He, like all of the men standing on the steps were men of honor, and it is hoped that his story and the stories of other African Choctaw people will be told with dignity, with honor and without shame and within the historical context in which they lived.

Paul Stephens was Choctaw man who served his people no matter how briefly and we should say his name, embrace his history and commit to tell his story. History without the inclusion of all of the people becomes a diluted one, and a distorted one. The African Choctaws were there, and are equally as deserving of their stories to be told.