Chief Gary Batton to Launch Initiative to Discuss Citizenship for Choctaw Freedmen

 "Today we reach out to the Choctaw Freedmen. We see you. We hear you. We look forward to meaningful conversation regarding our shared past."`
                                -Gary Batton, Chief of the Choctaw Nation-May 27, 2021

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Chief Gary Batton has released an "Open Letter" on the Chief's Blog on the Choctaw Nation website. It was announced in his letter that the tribe is announcing an initiative to consider tribal membership for Choctaw Freedmen.

It was pointed out in the letter that "this initiative will engage Choctaw Freedmen, the Department of Interior, existing tribal members, our elected officials and membership department officials, and other Choctaw proud in listening sessions to present findings and a recommendation to Choctaw elected officials."

This open letter appears to be quite different from the letter sent to Speaker Pelosi earlier in the year.  This letter also suggests that there is an interest in including Freedmen in the discussions, which had prior to this time never occurred.

The issue of Choctaw Freedmen has had much discussion over the years, in public and private venues, and in recent months, on numerous social media platforms. Choctaw Freedmen like Freedmen of the other tribes, have a history that extends back prior to statehood, the allotment process, westward expansion, reconstruction era, Civil War, and also prior to Removal.  The political history and cultural history of Choctaw Freedmen, comes from a shared history, where people of African descent arrived at the same time as other Choctaws, in the land that later became Oklahoma.

Freedmen from the Choctaw Nation were a bi-cultural, bilingual people, and in some families, bi-racial people immersed into a Choctaw world. They emerged as a people who lived, worked and died as a Choctaw people.

This announcement from Chief Batton, comes at a time, when the eyes of the world are looking at Oklahoma. The 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre has brought many people to Oklahoma. The national and the inter-national press is now in Oklahoma to cover the events. But in addition to the Tulsa story, some of the journalists are asking questions about Oklahoma's black history, including that of the  Oklahoma Freedmen. There are, as a result, looking at the former slave-holding tribes closely.

The news of the open letter coming out just prior to the weekend events in Tulsa is timely, and it provides an opportunity for the Choctaw Nation to embrace all of its past, and all of the people that are part of that history.

Choctaw Freedmen were those people, once enslaved in the Choctaw Nation.
Choctaw Freedmen were never enemies of the Choctaw Nation.
Choctaw Freedmen freed by treaty, remained there and lived faithfully on Choctaw soil, as Choctaw people.
Choctaw Freedmen were among the thousands who saw themselves as a Choctaws and today they now have thousands of descendants who consider themselves today to be among the "Choctaw proud."

The words of Chief Batton are welcomed words. Freedmen descendants now look and await the opportunity to engage with, listen to, and hopefully to learn from
each other. We are far more alike than not. And after over 100 years, the time has come to engage, again.

Early Freedmen Population of Boktuklo County, Choctaw Nation

 

Map Reflecting Location of Boktuklo in Choctaw Nation
(Accessed From www.researchgate.net)

In many cases descendants of Freedmen are looking at records reflecting their ancestors and only know that they were found on the Dawes Roll, but many cannot say much about the community, or who lived in the community in the decades that preceded the Dawes era.  Were ancestors always in the same area? Was there a large or small community of Freedmen in the same area where your family lived? And can you find records showing the names of the ancestors in the years before the Dawes era?

Looking at some pre-Dawes era records might assist you in finding out much more. An interesting set of records can be found on old reels of microfilm from the Choctaw Nation. In the years prior to statehood, there were enumerations of citizens in the nation being conducted. And in the early years right after the Civil War, an analysis was made through a census count in each district of the nation.

Many of these records were microfilmed in the 1970s and can now be found at the many Family History Centers throughout the country. These centers are part of the research centers attached to local stakes of the LDS Church, or Mormons as they are known. The records are also found at the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City and they are categorized as CTN records--meaning records from the Choctaw Nation.

In the old Apukshunnubbee District of the Choctaw Nation there are several counties where Choctaw Freedmen lived. Boktuklo, Cedar, Eagle, Nashoba, Towson, and Red River were the counties within that district. While looking at records from the Boktuklo area some interesting census records from the late 1860s can be found. 

To understand how to read the documents the headings are very important.

 
CTN 13592
Choctaw Nation
Accessed from Family Search, Choctaw Nation Records
Film #166452

In the middle of that same cover page data is contained that represents a total tally of the various categories, such as age distribution and the male to female breakdown. 

(same source as above image)

Turning the page again, the vertical columns are important to take note of and it is clear that Choctaw Freedmen will be reflected in columns 8 and 9. Note the parts of the image below highlighted in red.

Zooming in closely two columns categories of people of African descent are noted--"Free Persons of Color" and Freedmen from States or Other Nations.

(same source as above image)

Both Freed people as well as people those classified as Choctaws "by blood" are enumerated on the same page, but taking note of how the pages are marked those names that have columns 8 and 9 marked reflect those of people of African descent.

(same source as above image)

Some of the pages reflect no persons of African descent those images. In this case sections 8 and 9 do not contain marks of "Free persons of color" nor do they contain marks reflecting "Freedmen from other states and nations."

Meanwhile, there are other pages on the microfilm that clearly  reflect clearly entire Freedmen families. This is shown in the image below.

Although there is no specific year noted on the documents, these records are worth exploring. In addition, if one studies the family groups a rough estimate of the document creation can be made. This can determined roughly when studying some of the persons listed appeared on the Dawes Roll. One should note to see if the children on the Dawes card, were even born when this record was made, taking note of the age of the enrollee at that time. Based on an analysis of other records from other Choctaw Nation Districts, it appears that the records found in the first post-civil war years.

Study the community

Assuming that these records were made sometime before the Dawes era (1898), take note of the number of Freedmen recorded in the community on this record. In this case the community was Boktuklo. Secondly, make a study of the same area during the Dawes era.

How many Choctaw Freedmen from Boktuklo had Dawes cards?
How much had the same community grown within those years?

By pulling up families listed in Boktuklo, one can learn even more about the families that lived there. However, the process will be a tedious one, because it will require looking at every single enrollment card to take note of the Residence and Post Offices used by the enrollee.

It is clear that Boktuklo had a Freedman population in those early post civil war years, and many continued to reside there, through the Dawes era and into statehood. These early records reflect some of that, and all are encouraged to study them to get a glimpse of the first time that the ancestors' names appear on the records as free families in the Choctaw Nation.