38 Facts About Choctaw Nation

1.

Choctaw Nation is a Native American territory covering about 6,952,960 acres, occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States.

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2.

The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and the second-largest Indian reservation in area after the Navajo.

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3.

Chief of the Choctaw Nation is Gary Batton, who took office on April 29,2014, after the retirement of Gregory E Pyle.

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4.

Choctaw Nation is one of three federally recognized Choctaw tribes; the others are the sizable Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, with 10,000 members and territory in several communities, and the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana, with a few hundred members.

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5.

The latter two bands are descendants of Choctaw Nation who resisted the forced relocation to Indian Territory.

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6.

The Mississippi Choctaw Nation preserved much of their culture in small communities and reorganized as a tribal government in 1945 under new laws after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.

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7.

In English, the official name for the area was "Choctaw Nation", as outlined in Article III of the 1866 Reconstruction Treaty following the Civil War.

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8.

The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the federal and Oklahoma governments.

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9.

The chief of the Choctaw Nation Tribe, elected every four years, is not a voting member of the Tribal Council.

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10.

Some like Chief Batton and Dr Blue Clarke, a Muscogee Choctaw Nation citizen and a professor of Indigenous Law at Oklahoma City University, claim it is an issue about tribal sovereignty, though it's only within the last 50 years that they have not been recognized as citizens.

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11.

Politically, the Choctaw Nation is predominantly encompassed by Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district, represented by Republican Markwayne Mullin, a Cherokee.

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12.

The Choctaw Nation is located in one of the most conservative areas of Oklahoma, and while registered Democrats outnumber Republicans, the region has consistently gone to Republican candidates.

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13.

Choctaw Nation has the right to appoint a non-voting delegate to the US House of Representatives, per the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek; as of 2020 however, no delegate has been named or sent to the Congress by the Choctaw Nation.

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14.

Supreme executive power of the Choctaw Nation is assigned to a chief magistrate, styled as the "Chief of the Choctaw Nation".

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15.

The current Chief of the Choctaw Nation is Gary Batton, and the current Assistant Chief is Jack Austin, Jr.

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16.

The Tribal Council is responsible for adopting rules and regulations which govern the Choctaw Nation, for approving all budgets, decisions concerning the management of tribal property, and all other legislative matters.

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17.

Judicial authority of the Choctaw Nation is assigned to the Court of General Jurisdiction and the Constitutional Court.

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18.

Choctaw Nation underwent many changes to their government since its first interactions with the United States.

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19.

The Choctaw Nation acknowledges these treaties and categorizes them by “Pre-Removal Treaties” and “Post-Removal Treaties”.

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20.

Choctaw Nation has contributed to raising Bryan County's per capita income to about $24,000.

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21.

The Choctaw Nation has helped build water systems and towers, roads and other infrastructure, and has contributed to additional fire stations, EMS units and law enforcement needs that have accompanied economic growth.

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22.

Choctaw Nation is the first indigenous tribe in the United States to build its own hospital with its own funding.

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23.

The Choctaw Nation Health Care Center, located in Talihina, is a 145,000-square-foot health facility with 37 hospital beds for inpatient care and 52 exam rooms.

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24.

Choctaw Nation was one of 15 recipients of that year's Freedom Award, selected from 2,199 nominations.

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25.

The Choctaw Nation is the first Native American tribe to receive this award.

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26.

The Choctaw Nation has gone above and beyond to support those men and women, ” said Sen.

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27.

Midway through the Great Irish Famine, a group of Choctaw Nation collected $170 and sent it to help starving Irish men, women and children.

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28.

Choctaw Nation met with missionaries to discuss Selah B Treat's June 22,1848 letter permitting them to maintain fellowship with slaveholders.

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29.

Choctaw Nation was part Choctaw and had become influential in politics.

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30.

Several Choctaw Nation serving in the 142nd Infantry suggested using their native tongue, the Choctaw Nation language, to transmit army secrets.

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31.

Choctaw Nation created a democratically elected tribal council and a constitution to re-establish a government, but his efforts were opposed by the Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

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32.

Ultimately, the Choctaw Nation filed a claim with the Claims Commission on a technicality in 1951.

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33.

For Belvin, relief from BIA oversight of policies and funds seemed as if it might enable the Choctaw Nation to maintain their own traditional ways of operating and to reform their own governing council.

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34.

The Choctaw people had seen what termination could do to tribes, since they witnessed the process with four other tribes in Oklahoma: the Wyandotte Nation, Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, and Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma.

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35.

In 1969, ten years after passage of the Choctaw termination bill and one year before the Choctaws were to be terminated, word spread throughout the tribe that Belvin's law was a termination bill.

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36.

Some Oklahoma Choctaw Nation organized a grassroots movement to change the direction of the tribal government.

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37.

In 1971, the Choctaw Nation held their first popular election of a chief since Oklahoma entered the Union in 1907.

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38.

Choctaw Nation did not meet the new minimum age requirement of thirty-five.

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