Named after | Choctaw people, Apache people, Ebarb, Louisiana |
---|---|
Type | state-recognized tribe, nonprofit organization |
EIN 72-0875349 [1] | |
Legal status | school, charity [1] |
Purpose | B82: Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services [1] |
Location | |
Membership (2022) | 11,200 |
Chairman | Thomas N. Rivers [1] |
Revenue (2018) | $10,211 [1] |
Expenses (2018) | $14,001 [1] |
Funding | grants, contributions [1] |
Staff (2018) | 3 [1] |
Website | choctawapachetribeebarb |
The Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb is a state-recognized tribe and nonprofit organization in Louisiana. [2] The members of the tribe are the descendants of Choctaw and Lipan Apache people [3] [4] and are required to prove lineal descent as part of their state-approved membership process. [5] The tribe is based in the towns of Zwolle, Louisiana and Ebarb, Louisiana (powwow grounds), both of which are in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, where the group have lived since the early 18th century. [6] [7] [3]
Louisiana Indian Agent Dr. Sibley reported to the U.S. Congress that the Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb began in the early 18th century, after the Spanish founded Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes Presidio, a fort in the area defended by Mestizo and Spanish soldiers. Dr. Sibley reported they married or had unions with local Caddo, Adai, and formerly enslaved Lipan Apache women living in the area. As the State's Indian Agent, Dr. Sibley offered refuge to these Indians allowing them to settle and remain in Louisiana. Dr. Sibley's reports are on record at the Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress. [8] [4] [3] When the Spanish dissolved the fort in 1773 and ordered the soldiers to return to San Antonio, many remained behind with their families. They settled in the area of Zwolle and Ebarb. [3] [9]
Following the Louisiana Purchase by the United States in 1803, bands of Choctaw began moving into this area in search of new hunting grounds. [3] Additional Choctaw were moved into the area by US Indian Agent John Sibley. [10] [4] Twenty-one Choctaw families were listed in the 1870 Census for the area. [10]
In the 20th century, the people mostly worked in the timber and oil industries. They lived along the east bank of the Sabine River until the states of Texas and Louisiana created a project to dam it for flood control and electricity generation. The states claimed 180,000 acres of the ancestral land to create the Toledo Bend Reservoir. The people in the area were forced to move. [11] [12]
The tribe historically spoke a dialect of Spanish dating from the establishment of Los Adaes. [13] Due to the community's history, their dialect is derived from rural Mexican Spanish of the late 18th century, and bears little resemblance to Isleño Spanish. [14] A similar dialect has been spoken around Moral, west of Nacogdoches, on the other side of the Toledo Bend Reservoir, which also derives from the Los Adaes settlement. This dialect is very endangered; as of the 1980s, there were no more than 50 fluent speakers on either side of the Sabine River. [15]
In 2008, the group reported they had 2,300 members living in the area and additional members in other regions. [10]
The group formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1977, with the mission "to assist tribe members and obtain federal recognition. Continued to work on member documentation needed for federal recognition." [1]
Louisiana state-recognized the Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb by legislative action in 1978 (also reported as 1977). [10] [3]
Louisiana House Bill 660 established the Native American Commission in 2018 to promote Native American culture and identify needs facing that community. One member from each of the 15 recognized tribes serves on the commission. [16] The tribe's Chief, Thomas N. Rivers, serves on the board as the Chairman of the Native American Commission for the State of Louisiana. [17]
On March 22, 1978, John W. Procell sent the Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb's letter of intent to petition for federal recognition to the US Department of the Interior. [18] Raymond L. Ebarb sent the petition for federal recognition in 1978; [19] however, they do not have a petition in process. [20]
The group hosts a biannual powwow in mid-April and November in Noble, Louisiana. [21] [22]
Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and northern Mexico. Historically, they were the easternmost band of Apache.
The Adai were a Native American people of northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas. They were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands and part of the Caddo Confederacy.
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1519 until 1821. Spain claimed ownership of the region in 1519. Slave raids by Spaniards into what became Texas began in the 16th century and created an atmosphere of antagonism with Native Americans (Indians) which would cause endless difficulties for the Spanish in the future. Spain did not attempt to establish a permanent presence until after France established the colony of Fort Saint Louis in 1685. In 1688, the French colony failed due to internal dissention and attacks by the Karankawa Indians. In 1690, responding to fear of French encroachment, Spanish explorer Alonso de León escorted several Catholic missionaries to east Texas, where they established the first mission in Texas. That attempt to establish a Spanish colony failed due to the hostility of the Caddo Indians.
The Houma are a historic Native American people of Louisiana on the east side of the Red River of the South. Their descendants, the Houma people or the United Houma Nation, have been recognized by the state as a tribe since 1972, but are not recognized by the federal government.
The Spanish Missions in Texas comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholic Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans to spread the Catholic doctrine among area Native Americans, but with the added benefit of giving Spain a toehold in the frontier land. The missions introduced European livestock, fruits, vegetables, and industry into the Texas area. In addition to the presidio and pueblo (town), the misión was one of the three major agencies employed by the Spanish crown to extend its borders and consolidate its colonial territories. In all, twenty-six missions were maintained for different lengths of time within the future boundaries of the state of Texas.
State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under assorted state government laws for varying purposes or by governor's executive orders. State recognition does not dictate whether or not they are recognized as Native American tribes by continually existing tribal nations.
The Hainai were a Native American tribe that lived in what is now east Texas.
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is a state-recognized tribe, located in southwest Alabama, with a population largely based in southern Washington County and some membership in northern Mobile County.
The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians are one of three federally recognized Choctaw tribes in the United States. They are based in La Salle, Catahoula, and Grant parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The Jena Band received federal recognition in 1995 and has a reservation in Grant Parish. Their headquarters are at Jena, Louisiana. Tribal membership totals 327.
The Yowani were a historical group of Choctaw people who lived in Texas. Yowani was also the name of a preremoval Choctaw village.
Ebarb is an unincorporated community in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is located along Louisiana Highway 482, west of Zwolle and east of the Toledo Bend Reservoir. The American Indian community has a multicultural heritage with strong Spanish and French influences.
The Taovaya tribe of the Wichita people were Native Americans originally from Kansas, who moved south into Oklahoma and Texas in the 18th century. They spoke the Taovaya dialect of the Wichita language, a Caddoan language. Taovaya people today are enrolled in the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
Dón Antonio Gil Ybarbo (1729–1809), also known as Gil Ybarbo, Gil Ibarbo, and many other name variants, was a pioneering settler of Nacogdoches, Texas. Ambiguously described by the National Park Service as a "prolific trader and smuggler," Gil y'Barbo's contribution to Texas was essential to the well-being of "his people," and a critical element in providing a staging point for the Anglo-American settlers that would follow them.
The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas is a cultural heritage organization of individuals who identify as descendants of Lipan Apache people, based in McAllen, Texas.
Sabine River Spanish is a variety of the Spanish language spoken on both sides of the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana. It has been spoken by a few communities descended from the 18th-century colonists who established Los Adaes and Nacogdoches. Due to its historical origins, it has a mostly conservative phonology with a vocabulary derived from rural Mexican Spanish. It is facing language death as it has not been passed onto children for several generations.
The Lipan Apache Band of Texas is a cultural heritage organization of individuals who identify as descendants of Lipan Apache people The organization LABT is based in Edinburg, Texas; with members living in Texas, Louisiana, California, and Mexico.
Dr. Hiram F. “Pete” Gregory Jr. is an archeologist and professor of four-field anthropology at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
The Adai Caddo Indians of Louisiana is a state-recognized tribe in Louisiana and 501(c)(3) organization in Robeline, Louisiana. Its members are descendants of the Adai people. The chief is John Mark Davis, as of 2023.
Horace Pierite Sr. was an American politician, farmer, trapper, and Native American leader.