History changed
in a single day with the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming
tribal sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma.
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A recent Supreme Court
ruling could potentially make the Oklahoma map look more like
the 1890-91 map in some older school textbooks. Illustration
by Chris Jennings
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In its ruling in the case of McGirt v. Oklahoma July 9, the Supreme
Court affirmed the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's sovereignty by confirming
it still occupies a distinct reservation. The court also confirmed
that the state has no role to play in the Muscogee Nation in terms
of criminal justice Muscogee tribal courts or federal courts
will handle all such cases.
Legal experts say that while the court's ruling concerned only
the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, it may well apply to all Five Civilized
Tribes, due to the similarities in their treaties with the U.S.
government. The Choctaw Nation's Treaty of 1866 with Washington,
as example, closely resembles the Treaty of 1866 signed by the Muscogees.
In issuing its historic ruling, the Supreme Court has rewritten
history.
Oklahoma history textbooks used across the state since statehood
say the tribal governments and their domains and sovereignty ended
Nov. 16, 1907 Oklahoma's Statehood Day. How was such an error
made and perpetuated through the years? Rather than being fact,
was the end of tribal sovereignty simply widely held conventional
wisdom, now disproved?
"It appears that way," says Jim Taylor, the longtime Oklahoma history
teacher at Durant High School. "All the textbooks we've used over
the years have said, in one form or another, that the tribes lost
their sovereignty in 1907. This is the first we've ever heard that
the situation might be different."
And indeed it is. But first how did this come about? Quite
simply, Congress was ensnared by its own actions.
How Did History Get it So Wrong
In passing the Enabling Act of 1906 paving the way for Oklahoma
to become a state, Congress did not terminate the tribal governments,
even though that was its original intention. It began working toward
this goal as early as 1893, when it kicked off a convoluted process
by which the Five Civilized Tribes' lands were surveyed, platted,
their citizens enrolled in a final roll, and their governments put
on a bumpy slide toward termination.
Policy in the American federal government ebbs and flows in two-
and four-year cycles, corresponding to elections for the U.S. House
of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency. The government's
policy toward the Five Civilized Tribes was carried out very unevenly
in the years following 1893. Congress initially intended closing
out the tribal governments in 1906, prior to statehood, but opted
to continue small administrations for the tribes in order for their
chiefs appointed by the President, following statehood
to conclude all remaining tribal business. In the case of the Choctaws,
this never took place, and the tribe had an appointed chief until
the reestablishment of self-governance in 1983.
Congress caught up and confused by its own complex web of
intrigue never circled back to formally conclude the tribal
governments or their domains.
The history books, however, give a different story. Choctaw tribal
member Muriel H. Wright granddaughter of Principal Chief
Allen Wright, who led the Nation following the Civil War
became a respected historian in Oklahoma, and firmly believed the
Choctaw Nation and the Five Civilized Tribes had been extinguished.
Her seminal Oklahoma history textbook published in 1939, and used
across Oklahoma for the next two decades, states that the federal
government succeeded in its quest to disestablish the Five Civilized
Tribes. Many Indians had opposed statehood but had been unable to
stop it, she said, with the former Indian Territory being carved
into 40 counties of the new state.
Ms. Wright clearly believed in the version of history she shared.
So have other historians before and since.
What the History Books Say
In Oklahoma, all textbooks used in public schools are vetted and
approved by the Oklahoma Textbook Committee. Four Oklahoma history
textbooks are currently approved and available for use by schools.
All four are sympathetic to the plight of the Five Civilized Tribes.
Unfortunately, all say our tribal governments and sovereignty ceased
to exist in 1907.
Oklahoma: Land of Opportunity, published in 2013, remains in use
but is being replaced by Oklahoma: Our History, Our Home. It closes
out its introduction to statehood by saying that, on Statehood Day
in 1907, "Some citizens
did not feel jubilant. In fact, many
Native Americans in the new state felt betrayed. A letter from Mary
L. Herrod, a Creek Indian, appeared in the Okmulgee Democrat the
day before statehood: 'As Friday the 15th of November will be the
last day of the Indian Territory, and after that we will no longer
be a nation, some of us feel that it is a very solemn and important
crisis in the history of the Indians
Now I've lived to see
the last step taken, and the Indian does not count any more even
in his own territory
I shall never write another letter. I
cannot date my letters 'Indian Territory', and I shall not write.'"
(Page 316.)
Oklahoma: The Sooner State was published in 2020. It describes
the closing out of the Indian Territory as follows: "With the Curtis
Act or the alternative agreements, their tribal governments were
finally abolished and their lands reduced to holdings of 160 acres
for each person. They were made powerless and subject to laws which
many Native people did not understand." (Page 205.) A later reference
says, "The allotment of Indian lands, the opening of three million
acres of tribal lands to non-Indian settlement, and the elimination
of tribal governments had left only statehood and citizenship to
be completed in the assimilation process. The Hamilton [Statehood]
Bill provided the way for those accomplishments." (Page 228.)
"The Story of Oklahoma," published in 2020, provides an extensive
write-up. It describes allotment as a "harsh process for dividing
the tribes' lands and abolishing their governments without their
consent." It noted that each of the Five Civilized Tribes reached
separate agreements with the Federal Government, saying, "Details
varied from one agreement to another, but all provided essentially
the same terms: the allotment of the national lands and the end
of the tribal governments." After the land was allotted and citizens
enrolled, "the tribal governments would end. Oklahoma's five Indian
republics would disappear." Central to this arc of history, it says,
is this: "Towering above all those complications was one plain truth:
Oklahoma's Five Tribes were losing the sovereignty that had been
promised to them for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran."
(Pages 194-196.)
This is not the first time Oklahoma's history textbooks have fallen
short of the task. Many failed to mention the Tulsa Race Riot of
1921, in which a state government commission later reported that
over 300 blacks were killed, 1,200 homes were destroyed and 200
were looted. An angry white mob torched a hospital, library, school
and churches. The African-Americans living in the affected area
were descendants of Muscogee (Creek) freedmen. Oklahoma history
textbooks generally did not carry accounts of it for many years.
History Class: Not Just Textbooks
Oklahoma follows a fairly standard model for making textbooks available
to public schools. The textbooks are commissioned, produced, and
sold by the publishing houses which publish them. The Oklahoma Textbook
Committee, which is appointed by the governor and supported administratively
by the Oklahoma Department of Education, vets prospective textbooks
for their eligibility according to set standards.
Three publishers produce the four Oklahoma history textbooks currently
approved for use. Individual school districts select the textbooks
they wish to use from the list of approved books and purchase them
from the publishers. But these are not your father's textbooks:
the schools also purchase online access to a complimentary trove
of multimedia content designed to engage students, expand upon the
textbooks, and respond to breaking events.
The state textbook committee closed out its most recent six-year
approval cycle for history textbooks in November 2019. Having approved
the textbooks in use for the next six years, the committee will
not review them again for approval or reapproval until November
2025.
The three publishers are aware of the Supreme Court decision and
plan on taking different measures to address it. Tom Quaid of the
Oklahoma History Press, which publishes two of the four approved
books, notes that the state textbook committee's last six-year adoption
process concluded only nine months ago, and his publishing house
has been selling and promoting its books since the committee's vote.
Quaid says his publishing house will add the Supreme Court case
to the online version of its book and website, and altered its print
run. Quaid publishes the popular Oklahoma: The Sooner State as well
as the provocatively and realistically titled book, Oklahoma: Uniquely
American.
Tommy Lankford, president of Clairmont Press, which publishes Oklahoma,
Land of Opportunity, and the book which is replacing it, Oklahoma:
Our History, Our Home, reports, "Our new Oklahoma history textbook
has been written and is currently being sold." Lankford says once
it is confirmed that all Five Tribes are affected by the recent
Supreme Court decision, "we will make changes to the digital materials
to reflect that." (Choctaw tribal leaders believe this may be months
or over a year away.) It is too late to alter the text of the newly
published book, Lankford says, but "future editions will also reflect
the recent change and include all affected tribes."
Dale Bennie, Director of the University of Oklahoma Press, publishes
"The Story of Oklahoma." Bennie, like Quaid and Lankford, says updating
the online content available to students will be key, in the short-
to medium-term, to giving teachers and students new information
to work from. His publishing house commissioned a consultant to
help them prepare the material.
What's Next
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Muriel Wright, the granddaughter
of Principal Chief Allen Wright, became a renowned historian.
Her Oklahoma history textbook, used in schools across the
state for over two decades, said tribal sovereignty ceased
with statehood in 1907. We now know otherwise but it
took 113 years and a surprising legal argument to reach this
point." Submitted photo
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Jim Taylor of Durant High School, notes that while the textbooks
are designed to support a full year of instruction, Oklahoma history
classes across southeastern Oklahoma are generally only one semester
in length, with the next semester being a different subject. At
his school, Oklahoma history is taught in the fall semester, meaning
his students began using the newly out-of-date textbooks in August
and are using them now.
Taylor, and others, say it's a relief the publishers are able and
willing to correct the historical record being presented to Oklahoma's
school students. They also acknowledge the business needs of the
publishers involved, noting that existing print runs of thousands
of books can't be wished away overnight, nor can new textbooks be
commissioned, compiled, produced and approved within any time frame
that meets the current need.
The question is, what will carry us from now through the next several
monthsand particularly the fall semester, which is already
underway?
Bennie, of the University of Oklahoma Press, with his consultant's
help, updated the online materials available to students using his
textbook. The new online passage notes that Congress, in passing
the Curtis Act of 1898 to begin the process of dividing and allotting
tribal lands, intended dissolving tribal governments and clearing
the way for statehood. "But did the reservations in fact end once
the land was all allotted? Or, in legal language, were the reservations
disestablished by the time Oklahoma became a state?" The new passage
answers the question and walks the students through the twists and
turns that led to McGirt v. Oklahoma and whatever follows.
Quaid, of Oklahoma History Press, also intends taking quick action
and has volunteered to work with the Choctaw Nation to help determine
what the new online content might be. The Choctaw government has
provided Quaid with historical information and content, fully documented,
for his review, in support of his efforts. "I was born in Durant,
raised in Wilburton, and taught at Southeastern," he says. "I am
very aware of the importance of Choctaw heritage and culture
We want to get this right!"
(Correction: In last month's edition historian, Muriel Wright
was described as being the wife of Principal Chief
Allen Wright. She was his granddaughter; Principal Chief Wright's
wife was Harriet Newell Mitchell Wright.)
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