List of Choctaw chiefs is a record of the political leaders who served the Choctaws in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
Original three divisions
The eastern Choctaw Nation, in what is now Mississippi and Alabama, was divided into three regions: Okla Hannali, Okla Falaya, and Okla Tannip.
Okla Hannali (Six Towns) Yowannee Mingo Pushmataha Oklahoma or Tapenahomma (Nephew of Pushmataha) General Hummingbird Nitakechi Sam Garland
Okla Falaya Apukshunnubbee Robert Cole Greenwood Leflore Chief Red Turkey Feather of Okla Falaya Clan
Okla Tannip Homastubbee Mushulatubbee David Folsom
District Chiefs in the New Indian Territory After removal, the Choctaws set up their government also divided up in three regions: Apukshunnubbee, Mushulatubbee, and Pushmataha. The regions were named after the three influential Choctaw leaders of the "old country."
Moshulatubbee District Mushulatubbee, 1834–1836 Joseph Kincaid, 1836–1838 John McKinney, 1838–1842 Nathaniel Folsom, 1842–1846 Peter Folsom, 1846–1850 Cornelius McCurtain, 1850–1854 David McCoy, 1854–1857
Apukshunnubbee District Thomas LeFlore, 1834-1838 James Fletcher, 1838-1842 Thomas LeFlore, 1842-1850 George W. Harkins, 1850–1857
Pushmataha District Nitakechi, 1834-1838 Pierre Juzan, 1838-1841 Isaac Folsom, 1841-1846 Nitakechi, Died Salas Fisher, 1846-1854 George Folsom, 1850-1854 Nicholas Cochnauer, 1854-1857
Unified leadership as governor Alfred Wade, 1857-1858 Tandy Walker, 1858-1859 Basil LeFlore, 1859-1860
Principal Chiefs George Hudson, 1860-1862 Samuel Garland, 1862-1864 Peter Pitchlynn, 1864-1866 Allen Wright, 1866-1870 William Bryant, 1870-1874 Coleman Cole, 1874-1878 Isaac Garvin, 1878-1880 Jackson McCurtain, 1880-1884 Edmund McCurtain, 1884-1886 Thompson McKinney, 1886-1888 Benjamin Franklin Smallwood, 1888-1890 Wilson Jones, 1890-1894 Jefferson Gardner, 1894-1896 Green McCurtain, 1896-1900 Gilbert Dukes, 1900-1902 Green McCurtain, 1902-1906
The Choctaw Nation was temporarily discontinued in 1906 with the advent of Oklahoma statehood.
Choctaw Nation "token" government Chiefs were appointed by the U.S. President after U. S. Congress stripped recognition of the Choctaw national government.
Green McCurtain, 1906-1910, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt Victor Locke, Jr., 1910-1918, appointed by President Howard Taft William F. Semple, 1918-1922, appointed by President Woodrow Wilson William H. Harrison, 1922-1929, appointed by President Warren G. Harding Ben Dwight, 1930-1936, appointed by President Herbert Hoover William Durant, 1937-1948, appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Harry J. W. Belvin, 1948-1970, appointed by President Harry S. Truman (Choctaw were allowed to elect their delegate in 1948 and 1954 which the president confirmed.)
Current tribes Indian termination policy was a policy that the United States Congress legislated in 1953 to assimilate the Native American communities with mainstream America. In 1959, the Choctaw Termination Act was passed. Unless repealed by the federal government, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma would effectively be terminated as a sovereign nation as of August 25, 1970.
After a long struggle for recognition, the Mississippi Choctaw received recognition in 1918. The Mississippi Choctaw soon received lands, educational benefits, and a long overdue health care system.
In 1945, lands in Neshoba County, Mississippi and the surrounding counties were set aside as a federal Indian reservation. There are eight communities of reservation land: Bogue Chitto, Bogue Homa, Conehatta, Crystal Ridge, Pearl River, Red Water, Tucker, and Standing Pine. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 allowed the Mississippi Choctaws to become re-organized on April 20, 1945 as the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Oklahoma Choctaws
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Harry J. W. Belvin, 1948, 1954, 1971–1975 C. David Gardner, 1975–1978 Hollis E. Roberts, 1978–1997 Gregory E. Pyle, 1997–2014 Gary Batton, 2014–Present
Mississippi Choctaws
Pre-reorganization Era (Before 1945)
Wesley Johnson (Wesley Wakatubee), 1913-c. 1914 (Chief) Ed Willis Pat Chitto Joe Chitto
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (1945-Present) Emmette York (Chairman) Phillip Martin (Chairman) Calvin Isaac (Chief) Phillip Martin, 1978—2007 (Chief) Beasley Denson, 2007—2011 (Chief/Miko) Phyliss J. Anderson, 2011—2019Meyers, Debbie Burt. "Anderson unseats Denson." The Neshoba Democrat. 7 Sept 2011 (retrieved 24 Sept 2011) (Chief) Cyrus Ben, 2019—present (Chief)
Louisiana Choctaws
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians Christina M. Norris, present"Tribal Governments by Area: Southeast." National Congress of American Indians. (retrieved 7 Sept 2010)
Notes
External links Choctaw chiefs