History of the Nation

Before the Europeans arrived in the New World the Chickasaw Nation resided in parts of what is now Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The tribe, originally a part of the Choctaw, was known for its formidable warriors. In 1540 the Chickasaw encountered Europeans for the first time when Hernando de Soto’s expedition reached Chickasaw territory. Eventually, the tribe was able to drive out de Soto’s expedition.

For the next hundred years or so the Chickasaw were able to avoid further encounters with any Europeans. However, once the British settled in Carolina in 1670 the Chickasaw Nation began to trade with the British. As their dependence on the European goods grew the tribe tried to expand their territory to obtain animal skins for trade. Consequently, they went to war with the Choctaw and neighboring tribes. In the 18th century the French became a major presence in the New World. While the Chickasaw sided with the British, the Choctaw allied with the French. This further fueled the Chickasaw’s rivalry with the Choctaw.

By the early 19th century the Chickasaw had become more sedentary and turned to farming. Between 1801 and 1832 the tribe signed many treaties, which ultimately diminished their holdings on their land. In 1837, with the passage of the Treaty of Doaksville, the Chickasaw were relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. They were the last of the Five Civilized Tribes to move to Indian Territory. Once there they were forced to merge with their enemies, the Choctaw.

During the Civil War the tribe allied itself with the Confederacy. After the defeat of the Confederacy white settlers moved into Indian Territory. By 1906 the tribal governments of the Five Civilized Tribes were dissolved. In 1907 Oklahoma officially became a state. The Chickasaw Nation turned to farming and ranching and by the 1970s was completely assimilated into American society. In 1983 the Chickasaw constitution was adopted. Today the tribe resides in south-central Oklahoma.

By Anastasia Smith

Works Cited

"Our History." The Chickasaw Nation. The Chickasaw Nation, n.d. Web. 15 May 2010. .

Segar, Jennifer. "Chickasaw." Minnesota State University Mankato. Minnesota State University, Mankato, n.d. Web. 15 May 2010.

"The Chickasaw People." University of Tennessee at Martin. The Weakley County State Bicentennial Committee, 3 Apr. 1996. Web. 15 May 2010.

Maps

Chickasaw Nation Before Removal:



http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/1357826/332/Distribution-of-Southeast-American-Indian-cultures



http://www.learner.org/interactives/historymap/indians6.html




Chickasaw Nation Located in Oklahoma after Removal:





http://www.chickasaw.net/images/map_LegDists.jpg


By Kalyn Dodge

Political Status

The Chickasaw Nation is Federally Recognized and is the thirteenth largest tribe recognized by the United States.

By Kalyn Dodge

Works Cited

"Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma."

http://www.oklahoma-tribes.com/chickasaw-nation-of-oklahoma/

Current Affairs

Economic Development:

The Chickasaw Nation as a whole saw a net revenue increase of just over Ten percent in 2009. Net assets of the entire tribe increased by sixteen percent. These numbers show that although the entire United States is in an economic recession, the tribe as a whole is flourishing economically. Some of the major assets acquired during 2009 are, but not limited to, the purchase of the WinStar Casino Hotel and the Remington Park Horse Racing Track and Casino. Some other successful businesses’ contributing to the success of the Chickasaw nation are Chickasaw Nation Industries and Solara Health Care. In the Future, Chickasaw Nation is opening a new 370,000 sqft. Medical Center, which is projected to be completed and opened in Spring 2010. This facility will be three times larger than the previous medical center and will employ 300 additional medical and administrative professionals to help boost an already thriving local economy.

Education:

Funding for education has increased considerably over the past few years. More than eleven million dollars in education assistance was given to students of all ages in fiscal year 2009. This was a two million dollar increase between 2008 and 2009. With this money, more that 2,000 students received grants and scholarships to assist with various college costs. This money is not just for college bound students, but also for younger men and woman to use in their pursuit of knowledge. And innovative science-technology-math academy was opened in April of this year. This academy will enable young people the explore career opportunities in the sciences with the proper resources.

Economic success put to good use:

Along with a couple large investments to boost the Chickasaw economy further, the Nation built three new Social and Political landmarks. The first is the new Chickasaw Cultural Center, which is planned on being opened to the public on June 24th after twenty years of official and unofficial public requests. The Cultural center is located on 109 acres of hills, woodlands, and streams near the Chickasaw National Recreation area. The Cultural Center uses live demonstrations, ancient artifact replicas and Nature to tell Chickasaw stories. The Second and Third are the new Legislative and Judicial buildings the represent two of the three branches of Chickasaw government. The Legislative building is a 13,880-sqft facility. It has a 130-set legislative chamber with modern audio and visual equipment, and office for each representative, three state of the art conference rooms, and a gym. The Judicial building is perhaps even more impressive. The 15, 610 sqft judicial building has two courtrooms’, each with digital evidence presentation equipment, a secure evidence room, holding rooms for prisoners, and a full time security monitoring system. Both these buildings set the standard for not just reservation politics but local politics throughout the regular United States. These landmarks exemplify the Chickasaw Nations current economic prosperity.

By Michael Bracelin

Works Cited

"Current Affairs." The Official Site of Chickasaw Nation. http://www.chickasaw.net/governor/index_5258.htm

"Current Affairs." The Official Site of Chickasaw Nation. http://www.chickasaw.net/governor/index_5198.htm

"Current Affairs." The Official Site of Chickasaw Nation. http://www.chickasaw.net/governor/index_1653.htm

Government

The government of the Chickasaw Nation took over one hundred years to become what it is today. After the removal took place and the Chickasaws were relocated to Oklahoma they put a new constitution in place in 1856. The constitution was modeled after the United States government with three branches of government dividing power; it also strived to guarantee the nation to be of free people and government with essential principals and rights. At this point traditional bodies and establishments within the nation changed to resemble a more democratic state. The tribal chief had to be elected by a popular vote and could serve for a two-year term as the nation’s governor. The council house became a bi-cameral legislature housing the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 1856 constitution lasted ten years before being updated for the post Civil War era, the new constitution acknowledged freedmen and banned slavery.

Two primary parties emerged during this time period, the Progressive and the National. The Progressive party advocated for accommodation and economic growth but never quite won wide spread support. The National party’s platform of conservativeness resonated with more people and was the dominate political power of the nation from 1874 to 1902. In this time education was the primary focus and was able to increase and schools were reopened. The political autonomy the Chickasaw Nation believed they had gained was over with the adoption of the Curtis Act in 1906; at this point the nation lost all of their laws, courts, and government. Despite petitioning the United States government for statehood all efforts failed and the Chickasaw Nation did not formally exist from 1907 to 1983. While in non-existence the nation put a new constitution together modeled after the 1886 constitution in 1979. Once the nation had received approval from the United States they were able to ratify it in 1983, this led to the election of Bill Anoatubby and the nation being led successfully into the 21^st century.

Today the Chickasaw Nation is a democratic government made up of three branches, Executive, Judicial, and Legislative, resembling the United States federal system. The Executive branch is headed by the governor and supported by the lieutenant governor they run as a team and are elected by the people. The governor runs the tribe day-to-day, speaks officially for the tribe, signs official documents, and makes official appointments. Similar to the federal president the governor also has administrators who help guide him in decisions, and they may run divisions of the government. The Judicial branch is the tribal Supreme Court made up of three elected justices. Similar to the United States Supreme Court the tribal justices also perform duties of interpretation of the nation’s constitution. The Legislative branch is a thirteen person tribal legislature, where the members of the legislature serve three year terms. The three year terms and the small number of members mean often a third of the seats are up for election each year.

The Chickasaw Nation of today has a vision and a mission they strive to achieve and values they live by. Their mission is to overall enhance the quality of life for their people and their vision of being “a Nation of successful and united people with a strong cultural identity” supports this belief. Their values in their people, cultural identity, leadership, selflessness, perseverance, stewardship, trust, respect, loyalty, honesty, integrity, and teamwork are ways the nation works toward holding up their vision and mission.

By Jaclyn Dyos

Works Cited

“Government.” The Official Site of the Chickasaw Nation. http://www.chickasaw.net/about_us/index_47.htm.

Pate, James P. “Chickasaw.” Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma State Universtiy. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CH033.html.

Economic Status

The Chickasaw Nations website states“ From Bank2, Bedre Chocolates, KADA, and KYKC radio stations and the McSwain Theatre, to the many gaming centers, travel plazas and tobacco stores, the variety and prosperity of the Chickasaw Nations businesses exemplifies the epitome of economic success”. The Chickasaw Nation is not just a community but a fully incorporate business as well. With much of its economic focus concentrated on the I-35 corridor between Dallas and Oklahoma City, the Chickasaw Nation now operates both an extensive tourist industry as well as several large-scale gaming operations.

When Bill Anoatubby entered the office of Tribal Governor in 1987, the Chickasaw Nation employed 250 people and had an annual budget of $11 million, now that is up to 9,000 people with an annual budget of over $350 million. This increase is largely due in part to the expansion of the gaming industry within the Nation. Prior to 1987 the Tribe relied primarily on federal funding (90%) to maintain its programs and services. The focus on gaming within the nation has provided many economic opportunities within the Tribe. Using the revenue from its gaming operations the Tribe was able to invest internally as well as externally. The establishment of a gaming consultation firm increased the tribe’s revenue to such a large degree that it was able to invest and acquire properties outside of its jurisdictional boundaries. The Tribe under Windall Gilliam who is the CEO of Chickasaw Nation Industries, which is one of the largest Tribal Companies in the lower 48 oversees all of the tribes businesses and owns and operates 18 casinos including the largest gaming resort in the state of Oklahoma.[1] According to the Chickasaw Nation Industries website the tribe received it’s Federal Charter from the Department of the Interior in 1996 “ and was created for the purpose of promoting the economic development of it’s sole stakeholder the Chickasaw Nation of Southeast Oklahoma.” CNI. Inc operates ten businesses, which range from construction and consultation firms to aviation companies. Its client list includes not just the Department of Defense and NASA but other federal and private institutions as well.[2]

The Tribes other revenue sources include four radio stations, two newspapers, a community garden which produces both flowers and vegetables for local markets and numerous other industries such as convenience stores, truck stops and hotels which capitalize on the Nations close proximity to a major interstate. The Nation has also invested heavily into developing a tourist industry within southern Oklahoma. The Nation is currently meeting with National Park Service to take over the managerial role of several tourist sites which would allow not only for further development for the Tribes industries, but for increased tourist revenue as well.[3] Tom John the administrator for Chickasaw Nation Division of Self-Governance stated, “ Our long term goals include expanding on existing partnerships and developing a more unified approach to economic development and tourism in the region”.[4]

---

[1] Michael Baker, “Chickasaw Nation in talks over land in south central Oklahoma”, OKnews, April 23, 2010.

[2] ibid

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

By William Caraway

Works Cited

Baker, Michael. “Chickasaw Nation in talks over land in south central Oklahoma”. OKnews. April 23, 2010.

Housing

The place where you lay your head and raise your family has always told a lot about who you are and how you have chosen to raise your family. It is not any different with the nation of the Chickasaw people. After researching this they mainly had two different types of housing and had three council houses, which are the hub of activity for the nation. I have only highlighted two of the council houses. The family housing and the council houses were based on the needs of the family and the climate that they were residing in.

The families resided in two types of housing. The summer and winter houses housed the extended family. Much thought was put into the houses. The people would be able to defend the houses if needed through little portholes that you as an outsider could not see but inside they were clearly visible.


Summer House 1

The houses were rectangular and were constructed of pitch-pine, dried honey locust, and sassafras to maintain the durability of the house. Many Chickasaws owned a fowl house, a corn house as well as a winter house. Many people were in the tribe. This could up to two hundred families. If each had a four buildings this would make for a very large settlement and order would be needed.


Winter House

The first council house intrigued me it was the mountain house. This house was important to the people because this is where everyday decisions for the tribe were made before the removal in the “Trail of Tears”.


Mountain Council House

It was also much larger then the winter and summerhouses and thus had many more functions. This council house contained many things such as couches and small benches. This is a special place to the Chickasaw people. In this house is the Pontotoc Creek Treaty was signed on October 20, 1832. This treaty made just about six million acres of once Chickasaw land belong to the United States.

The most recent council house was in operation until 1970. It was originally built in 1898. It was the hub of activity until it was taken over by Johnston County as its courthouse in 1907 at which time the Chickasaw nation was forced to leave the building. The nation was forced to be repurchase the building and they finished paying for it in 1989 at which time it was put on the National register of historic buildings and made into a museum for the people of the Chickasaw nation.



By Elizabeth Strickland

Works Cited

“Housing.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.
“Summerhouse.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.
“Mountain House.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.
“Council House #3.” www.chickasaw.net. May, 18 2010.