Our speaker on 17th of November was Rebecca Spears, a member of the Choctaw nation in Oklahoma. Rebecca told us how Native Americans live among us and not just on reservations. She shared the history of Choctaw origin stories, who are roughly from central Mississippi. She then showed a map of how the Choctaw lands were lost to the U.S, and discussed their “migration” to Oklahoma territory, known as the “Trail of Tears and Death” from 1831-33. During that time period, 17,000 Choctaws were moved to Oklahoma. 6000 remained in Mississippi and had to take on white culture to stay. Thus, two distinct Choctaw tribes were left – in Oklahoma and in Mississippi. Rebecca told us about Dawes Commission, which was formed to convince the Five Civilized Tribes to cede tribal title of Indian lands in Oklahoma. These none-native commissioners decided who was and not a member of the Choctaw nation based upon physical appearance and then divided the tribal lands among the various individuals they deemed part of the Choctaw nation. If a person did not receive an allotment, then they were denied citizenship in Choctaw nation. This was a way to take more of the land away. The current State of the Choctaw Nation is 11,000 square miles in southeastern Oklahoma. It has 200,000 members, making it the third largest tribe in the U.S. The Choctaw Nation is one of the more prosperous and educated Native American nations. Thank you, Rebecca, for a very interesting presentation!