Courtesy of the Muscogee Nation.
Resources for Tribal Partners
- Transfer Control
- Acquisitions and Care and Trust
See Their Stories
Creation and Migration Stories
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana: A Brief History
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana members outline a brief history of their Tribe including their creation story, language, and enduring beliefs.
Chickasaw Migration
To find their homeland, the Chickasaws and Choctaws migrated across the continent. They prayed each night for direction. A force manifested in the Leaning Pole indicated which path to follow. Two brothers led the procession and the two tribes didn’t part until they reached the Mississippi River.
Growing as a People
Chickasaw Clans to Constitution
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans who interacted with the Chickasaws found negotiating trade or building alliances to be challenging and struggled to understand the complexity of their socio-political and kinship organization. Following the American Revolution, intrusion by Americans into the Chickasaw Homeland became a tipping point. This led to a shift in the governing structure of the tribe and the kinship-based clan system.
The Last Choctaw Removal of 1903
Choctaw Tribal members Ryan Spring and Deanna Byrd joined MDAH's History is Lunch to discuss Choctaw Removal and NAGPRA. Byrd conveys how the NAGPRA process “helps to heal the past by forging a path forward for the return of Ancestors removed from Mississippi, western Alabama, and Louisiana.”
A Brief History of the Muscogee Nation
Muscogee Nation's Turner Hunt discusses the Tribe's removal and history linking to Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.
Enduring Cultures
Chickasaw Voices of our Ancestors
For centuries, the sacred stories of the Chickasaw people were passed down from one generation to the next in their native tongue as oral histories, chronicling the unique journeys of Chickasaw families and their shared connection to their tribe. Today, with fewer than 50 native speakers, that connection is threatened like never before—a threat set in motion over a century ago.