SUMMARYMississippi Choctaw: neither "white" nor legally "colored" (Mississippi, 1830–1912) [Connections: Gulf, Louisiana, Texas & Mexico, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDKatherine M. B. Osburn (Southern Cultures 14:4) writes that Mississippi Choctaws "were not officially classified under the segregation statutes as 'colored,'" but "had no access to 'white' schools and facilities," and "state poll taxes and literacy requirements disenfranchised them." In 1912 Pat Harrison claimed "the Choctaw Indians have always stood with the white men of the South"; Osburn presents this as self-serving. Under Article 14 of the 1830 treaty, only sixty-nine family heads were allowed to register (Matte). An online family account (not a record) describes a full-blood Choctaw ancestor who stayed in Mississippi and was "called negro/colored because his skin was brown."
PATTERNThe Choctaw who stayed fell between the categories, and county officials decided their color case by case
LENS (WW9)The Choctaw who stayed home were left off every list but the one that served the official
OPENNeeds deep research: the 1830s–1850s "free colored" census entries for Choctaw descendants in Neshoba, Leake and Kemper counties. The family account needs documents
SOURCEOsburn, "Mississippi Choctaws and Racial Politics" (Southern Cultures); Open History Hub thread, 1830 census "colored".