The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally occupying what is now the Southeastern United States (modern-day Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana).
The Choctaw were a tribe of Native American Indians who originated from modern Mexico and the American Southwest to settle in the Mississippi River Valley for about 1800 years. Known for their head-flattening and Green Corn Festival, these people built mounds and lived in a matriarchal society.
The term “Five Civilized Tribes” derives from the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States. It refers to five Native American nations—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek (Muscogee), and Seminole. The population currently living in Oklahoma are referred to as the Five Tribes of Oklahoma.
The Choctaw word for their traditional style home is “chukka.” It was a mud and reed cabin or wigwam with a thatched roof. It was shaped like a beehive with a high dome and a hole in the center to let in light and let out smoke.
Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com/americanindian) and Fold3 (www.fold3.com) now have the Dawes Commission census cards and packets available online as well.
Qualifying individuals can receive more than $2,000 in assistance, elders are eligible for around $2,700 and families with children can get more than $2,800 and additional funds for education and child assistance.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs uses a blood quantum definition—generally one-fourth Native American blood —and/or tribal membership to recognize an individual as Native American. However, each tribe has its own set of requirements—generally including a blood quantum—for membership (enrollment) of individuals.
To prove tribal heritage with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, you must be a descendant of someone listed as Choctaw or Mississippi Choctaw with a blood quantum on the Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory (also known as the Dawes Roll).
Choctaw religion never worshiped idols, or any works of their own hands, as other Indian nations. They believed in the existence of a Great Spirit, and that He possessed super-natural power, and was omnipresent, but they did not deem that He expected or required any form of worship of them.
American Indians and Alaska Natives are citizens of the United States and of the individual states, counties, cities, and towns where they reside. They can also become citizens of their tribes or villages as enrolled tribal members.
Five Civilized Tribes, term that has been used officially and unofficially since at least 1866 to designate the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole Indians in Oklahoma (former Indian Territory).
About 200 years ago the Cherokee Indians were one tribe, or ” Indian Nation” that lived in the southeast part of what is now the United States. During the 1830’s and 1840’s, the period covered by the Indian Removal Act, many Cherokees were moved west to a territory that is now the State of Oklahoma.
They were known for their rapid incorporation of modernity, developing a written language, transitioning to yeoman farming methods, and having European-American and African-Americans lifestyles enforced in their society. The Choctaw culture has it roots in the Mississippian culture era of the mound builders.
Social dance, stickball, basket making, traditional clothing, foodways, and other cultural traditions are places where the generations intersect, passing on wisdom along with recipes, advice about life as well as dance steps, and Choctaw words along with basket patterns, each generation teaching the next what it means
The Choctaw dress of today is usually of solid color of green, red, blue, purple, or other bright color with contrasting color trim.