New Choctaw & Chickasaw Freedmen Group Makes a Splash on Social Media

 The new organization, Choctaw Chickasaw Freedmen Association has made a splash on Social Media. The new group announced its presence first on Facebook and also with a detailed press release. The new website CCFANow.org came live at the same time and much needed energy has been injected into the community of descendants from both Oklahoma-based federally recognized tribes.

The Facebook page for Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen has over 1000 members, and many are now frequenting the new CCFA website for links to pages reflecting their history and their ancestral culture. In addition, a new Instagram page has been created with rich information not only about the new group, but also with useful links to contemporary issues pertaining to Freedmen.

CCFA Instagram Page

The brainchild of Athena Gaiten Butler, originally of Kansas City Missouri, the group formed a small core group that worked together as a committee to establish, CCFA, the acronym for the group. One of the goals of this new organization is to reach out to Freedmen descendants of both Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. Although descendants of Freedmen at present do not have citizenship in either nation, descendants of both nations have much in common. Beyond the shared history of their ancestors having once been enlsaved in Indian Territory, their vision extends far beyond a goal of a tribal card.

Some of the goals of CCFA are reflected in their social media presence. CCFA's Instagram account presents history as well as contemporary issues pertaining to both Freedmen communities. Likewise the group also has an accont on Twitter and has had significant Twitter re-tweets to their posts as well.

Image from Twitter Page

Much discussion pertaining to CCFA interests stems from much of the activity found on the Facebook page. There are several communities of descendants from both nations, many still living on old land allotments from the past. In addition, many Freedmen descendants also still live within the geographic boundaries of both tribes, while many, especially elders still have a cultural identity to the tribes, despite decades of segregation disenfranchisement and estrangement.

Many Freedman descendants are found on the CCFA Faceboook page, and over 1000 are found on the Descendants group page. Last week on Facebook, in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, the Descendants group honored the day by honoring their ancestors, and posting images of them and identifying their relationship to their respective nations. Several dozen images were shaared and the reaction to the postings has been extremly positive!

Small Collage of Ancestors Honored on Freedman Facebook Page

On the Facebook Freedman Descendants page, portraits of ancestors were shared, along with the Roll number and Card number. Some who did not have portraits shared images of their ancestor;s Dawes Card. Some elaborated by telling a brief story about their ancestor. Much of this history of various families will be reflected on the website as well as on the pages of social media

Challenges Ahead
Chickasaw Freedmen descendants have  a particularly interesting situation, because the despite the fact that the tribe broke the treaty of 1866, where they promised citizenship for their former slaves, many Freedmen descendants today will still tell others that they are Chickasaw. Likewise, descendants of Choctaw Freedmen also live on land allotments within the geographic jurisdiction of their nation and will tell others that they too, are Choctaw.

Thousands of descendants of both Freedmen groups live "at large" meaning outside of Oklahoma, having had family that migrated north and west. They left seeking more opportunities when the harshness of Oklahoma Jim Crow laws and the appearance of Sundown towns drove them away from the land that was for over a century, their home.

CCFA seeks to educate descendants to their rich history, to interact with those of both nations about the history and culture, and to empower descendants by offering workshops focusing on education, and opportunities for growth. CCFA also hopes to reach out to the community of enrolled Choctaw citizens through cordial meetups, and to encourage social interaction bewteen Freedmen and other fellow Choctaws.

Culturally, many Choctaw Freedmen considers themselves to be among the "Choctaw Proud" or Chickasaw people, and many are unaware that some of their leifestyle, including foodways come from their own their tribal background.

Much of who the freedmen are, will continue to be reflected both on the website and much more is planned to unfold on social media.

Follow CCFA on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Rare Census Record Reveals Early Roots of Choctaw Freedman Family

 A rare 1890 census document is found in a collection of records from the Choctaw Nation. On that record is found the name of the Hall family, of Choctaw Freedmen. Thomas Hall, his wife Rachel, and his sister Charity are on the document. What distinguishes the record is that the applicants are elders, all over 70 years of age, placing their years of birth in the 1820s! Their ages indicate that they were born several years before Choctaw Removal in the early 1830s. 

The Family of Thomas Hall, Choctaw Freedmen 
Typically, when researching records of the Freedmen of Indian Territory, the enrollment cards which are part of the Dawes records, are studied. In this case, the family of Thomas, Rachel, and Charity Hall, are found on Enrollment Card #435.

The National Archives at Fort Worth; Fort Worth, Texas; Enrollment Cards, 1898-1914; NAI Number: 251747; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Record Group Number: 75  (Choctaw Freedman Card #435)

On the reverse side of the card the names of Thomas and sister Charity's parents are revealed: 

Source: Same as above. Image shown is reverse side of card.

Sam and Nancy Hall are their parents. In many cases with elders who were Choctaw Freedmen, the names of parents are not always recorded, but in this case they were. Rachel, Thomas' wife also identified her own parents, who were Ben Seward and Phillis Seward. It is stated that they were actually somewhere in Texas. But the interview from the Application Jacket reveals that most of their entire life was spent in Indian Territory.

Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898–1914. Microfilm M1301, 468 rolls. NAI: 617283. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75. The National Archives at Washington, D.C. (Image accessed on Ancestry)


Additional Records Reveal Much More

The first extensive Federal census in Indian Territory was taken in 1900 so the Dawes records are  critical to examininig Freedmen history before that time. However, a rare record from 1890 was shared in an online Facebook group known as The Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Descendants group.(Special thanks, Sandra Riley.)

The document was part of a collection of records from the Oklahoma Historical Society. They are now digitized and found on Ancestry as part of earlier pre-statehood records from the Choctaw Nation known as CTN records. (CTN means Chotaw Nation)

On the microfilm reel  CTN 4, also found on Ancestry, there are many records from the old districts in the Choctaw Nation.  There are 468 images on the reel. On image #318 some records from Towson in the Choctaw Nation are reflected and two of the pages reflect Freedmen. On that record are the Halls.

Source: Indian Marriage and Other Records, 1850–1920. Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Image acessed from Ancestry  CTN 4 Image #316 of 468. 1890 Census of Towson Choctaw Nation

It should be pointed out that most of the 1890 census was destroyed by fire in 1923. However, this unique census record was not part of the records housed in the U. S. Commerce building, when the fire struck the records. Thankfully this rare set of pages were not affected as they were not in the Commerce building at the time.

Interesting Data About the Thomas Family

That 1890 census record reflects some interesting details about this family. Thomas and his sister Charity were born in Mississippi. His wife Rachel however, was born in Virginia!  And both of her parents were also born in Virginia. Virginia ancestry is rare for a Choctaw Freedman.  On her enrollment card (shown in first image above), it says that her parents Ben and Phillis Seward were located or had been situated in Texas--to the south of Indian Territory.  So clearly in her early years she and her parents were either sold or removed with others from Virginia, to Texas, but clearly Rachel somehow ended up enslaved in the Choctaw Nation. 

In addition to Rachel being born in Virginia, she could also read. This reflection of her literacy as well as place of birth for her and her parents makes this rare image even more interesting! But how Rachel came to be in Indian Territory will not be known, but it is clear that she was in the Choctaw Nation quite early, because she and her husband were enslaved by the same Choctaw man, Eastman Loman. 

Did Loman go to Texas to purchase slaves or to purchase a female for Thomas?  Or was Rachel removed from her parents when taken to the territory? Was contact ever made with them after freedom?  The answers are not known and will perhaps never be, however, the record does exist to point to an early American presence of this family in post colonial Virginia. Many untold stories remain to be told, especially how many Choctaws obtained their human chattel slaves. 

It is revealed on the record, that sister Charity was never married, and remained close to her brother and family into their later  years. Seeing a rare household only of only elders living together makes this find even more special. Thankfully they all lived to receive allotments of land, and it is hoped that there were generations that followed them and that lived to tell their story.