Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas

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Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
Flag of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.PNG
Total population
1,137 [1]
Regions with significant populations
Flag of the United States.svg  United States (Flag of Texas.svg  Texas)
Languages
English, Alabama, Koasati
Religion
traditional tribal religion, Protestant Christianity [2]
Related ethnic groups
other Alabama and Koasati people
Large sign at the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation east of Livingston, Texas Alabama Coushatta Tribe - panoramio.jpg
Large sign at the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation east of Livingston, Texas
Smaller sign at the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation east of Livingston, Texas Alabama-Coushatta Rez.jpg
Smaller sign at the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation east of Livingston, Texas

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas is a Federally recognized tribe of Alabama and Koasati in Polk County, Texas. The tribe hosts an annual powwow in early June. These peoples are descended from members of the historic Muscogee or Creek Confederacy of numerous tribes in the southeast United States, particularly Georgia and Alabama.

Alabama people Southeastern culture people of Native Americans

The Alabama or Alibamu are a Southeastern culture people of Native Americans, originally from Alabama. They were members of the Muscogee Creek Confederacy, a loose trade and military organization of autonomous towns; their home lands were on the upper Alabama River.

Polk County, Texas County in the United States

Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 45,413. Its county seat is Livingston.

Muscogee Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States

The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Creek and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy, are a related group of indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands. Mvskoke is their autonym. Their original homelands are in what now comprises southern Tennessee, all of Alabama, western Georgia and part of northern Florida.

Contents

History

They are one of eight Federally recognized tribes whose members are descended from the Creek Confederacy of the Southeast. Four tribes are located in Oklahoma, to where most of the Creeks were forcibly removed from the indigenous Creek homeland in Alabama and Western Georgia in the 1830s during the trail of tears under Indian Removal, one tribe is in Louisiana where another band of Creeks fled European encroachment in two waves in the late 1700s and the early 1800s and another tribe comprises the Poarch Band of Creeks who remained in Alabama. The Seminole Indian Nation in Florida also includes a large percentage of descendants of the Creek Confederacy who relocated there and merged with another tribe.

Under pressure from European-American settlement, the ancestors of this tribe were Alabama and Coushatta peoples who migrated from Alabama and the Southeast into Louisiana and finally east Texas when it was under Spanish rule in the late eighteenth century. They settled in an area known as Big Thicket and adapted their culture to the environment of forest and waters. [1]

When the area began to be settled by European Americans from the United States, the tribes established friendly relations and traded with the new settlers. Sam Houston helped protect them during years of conflicts with other Native Americans in the area. After annexation of Texas by the United States, settlement increased and the tribes were under pressure again. They appealed to the state to have land set aside for their exclusive use. [1]

Sam Houston nineteenth-century American statesman, politician, and soldier, namesake of Houston, Texas

Sam Houston was an American soldier and politician. An important leader of the Texas Revolution, Houston served as the 1st and 3rd president of the Republic of Texas, and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He also served as the 6th Governor of Tennessee and the 7th governor of Texas, the only American to be elected governor of two different states in the United States.

Termination Efforts

As part of the Indian termination policy followed by the US government between the 1940s and 1960s, the Alabama Coushatta Tribe was targeted. On 23 August 1954 the United States Congress passed laws to terminate the federal relationship with the tribe. Public Law ch. 831, §1, 68 Stat. 768 provided that the Secretary of the Interior was to transfer to the State of Texas the tribal lands for the benefit of the tribe. In addition, it terminated the federal trust relationship to the tribe and the individual members of the tribe and canceled any federal debts. [3]

Indian termination was the policy of the United States from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and policies with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society. Assimilation was not new. The belief that indigenous people should abandon their traditional lives and become "civilized" had been the basis of policy for centuries. But what was new was the sense of urgency, that with or without consent, tribes must be terminated and begin to live "as Americans". To that end, Congress set about ending the special relationship between tribes and the federal government. The intention was to grant Native Americans all the rights and privileges of citizenship, reduce their dependence on a bureaucracy whose mismanagement had been documented, and eliminate the expense of providing services for native people.

On 22 March 1983, Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox released an opinion (JM-17) stating that the state's assumption of power over the property of the Alabama-Coushatta was a violation of the Texas Constitution. He stated that as the federal government had withdrawn its recognition the tribe was "merely an unincorporated association under Texas law, with the same legal status as other private associations ... the 3,071 acre tract is entirely free from any legally meaningful designation as an 'Indian Reservation'." [4] In response to concerns by the tribe, Representative Ronald D. Coleman of Texas introduced a federal bill on 28 February 1985 to restore federal jurisdiction for the tribe. [5] Because the initial bill HR 1344 allowed gambling, amendments were made and the Yselta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act was reintroduced as HR 318. [6] Public Law 100-89, 101 STAT. 666 was enacted 18 August 1987 and restored the federal relationship with the tribe. Section 207 (25 U.S.C. § 737) specifically prohibits all gaming activities prohibited by the laws of the state of Texas. [7]

Jim Mattox American politician

James Albon Mattox was an American lawyer and politician who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives and two four-year terms as state Attorney General, but lost high-profile races for Governor in 1990, the U.S. Senate in 1994, and again as attorney general in 1998. He was known as the "people's lawyer" because of his advocacy of what he deemed the needs of everyday Texans. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Ronald D. Coleman American politician

Ronald D'Emory Coleman is an American politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas. He was elected as a Democrat to the 98th United States Congress and to the six succeeding Congresses. He served from January 3, 1983 until January 3, 1997. He was not a candidate for re-election to the 105th United States Congress. He was implicated in the House banking scandal in 1992 but was reelected following receipt of a letter of no wrongdoing from the Department of Justice. In Congress he was a member of the House Appropriations Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Reservation

The Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation was established in 1854, [8] when the state bought "1,110.7 acres of land for the Alabama Indian reservation. About 500 tribe members settled on this land during the winter of 1854–55. In 1855 the Texas legislature appropriated funds to purchase 640 acres for the Coushattas" but never followed through. [1] The Coushatta began to live with the Alabama on their reservation.

Both the peoples struggled after the Civil War, as few spoke English and they had difficulty finding jobs. [1] They acquired more land and today their reservation is 4,593.7 acres large, located 17 miles east of Livingston, Texas. About half the tribe, or 500 people, live on the reservation. [1]

Language

Both the Alabama and Koasati languages are Muskogean languages. They are mutually intelligible. [1]

Government

The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas is headquartered in Livingston, Texas. The tribe is governed by a democratically elected seven-member council, as well as a principal chief and second chief who serve for life. The current administration is as follows:

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Howard N. Martin, "Alabama-Coushatta Indians." Handbook of Texas Online, uploaded 9 June 2010, retrieved 26 May 2013.
  2. Pritzker 363–4
  3. "Public Law ch. 831, §1, 68 Stat. 768". US Code. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  4. "Mattox Opinion No. JM-17". Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  5. "All Info - H.R.1344 - 99th Congress (1985-1986): Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act - Congress.gov - Library of Congress".
  6. McArthur, Narcissa. "From Termination to Restoration". Weebly.com. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  7. "Text of H.R. 318 (100th): Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration ... (Passed Congress/Enrolled Bill version) - GovTrack.us". GovTrack.us.
  8. Pritzker 364
  9. "Tribal Leadership." Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas. updated 16 January 2015.

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References

Further reading