Go here for a map of what claims to be Oklahoma:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2259651,-103.2082307,6z
You might be surprised to see the borders of the former State of Oklahoma now contains Choctaw Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Cherokee Nation and then the remainder of the area labeled Oklahoma.
There was a time when all of eastern Oklahoma consisted of five nations, each one of the Five Civilized Tribes -- Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Muskogee Creek and Seminole. The Five Civilized Tribes earned the enmity of the Federal Government by siding with and fighting alongside the Confederate States of America.
The US government got payback in the 1890s by parceling out the Nations, giving each tribe member a certain number of acres and then throwing open the rest for white settlement. In 1907, Oklahoma became a state, number 47. All former Nations members were to become prosperous farmers, as decided by the US government.
Still, I do not remember a secession vote in Oklahoma to form the present-day three nations.
Could the three nations apply for United Nations membership?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/10/supreme-court-declares-half-of-oklahoma-tulsa-to-be-native-american-land
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link. I covered the Choctaw area for four years for a Texas newspaper and got a lot of history I never knew before. There is much more history than that taught in schools.
ReplyDelete