Choctaw - Definition and Overview

The Choctaws are a Native American group who, in times past, lived in the land occupied by the southeast United States, using the trail that is now known as the Natchez Trace as a trade route to the north.

Some Choctaws escaped the Indian Removal of the 1830s and formed the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Others organized the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

In World War I, a group of Choctaws serving in the American Army used their native language as a code. This was the forerunner of the much larger group of Native Americans from various tribes who were used as radio operators, or code talkers, during World War II.

James Meredith, the first person of African American heritage to attend the University of Mississippi, and Roy Rogers the singing cowboy and Western film actor were of Choctaw heritage.

See also

• Choctaw mythology
• Choctaw language
• Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek
• Battle of Ackia

External links

• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (official site) (http://www.choctawnation.com/)
• Mississippi Band of Choctaws (official site) (http://www.choctaw.org/)
• "Choctaw" entry at Encyclopedia of North American Indians (http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_007300_choctaw.htm)