Proposed Finding for Federal Acknowledgment of the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians

SUMMARY: Pursuant to 25 CFR 83.10(h), notice is hereby given that the

Assistant Secretary proposes to acknowledge that the Jena Band of

Choctaw Indians, c/o Jerry D. Jackson, P.O. Box 14, Jena, Louisiana,

71342, exists as an Indian tribe within the meaning of Federal law.

This notice is based on a determination that the tribe meets the seven

mandatory criteria set forth in 25 CFR 83.7. Therefore, the Jena Band

of Choctaw Indians meets the requirements necessary for a government-

to-government relationship with the United States.

DATES: As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(i), any individual or organization

wishing to challenge the proposed finding may submit factual or legal

arguments and evidence to rebut the evidence relied upon. This material

must be submitted within 180 calendar days from the date of publication

of this notice. As stated in the new regulations, 25 CFR 83.10(i),

interested and informed parties who submit arguments and evidence to

the Assistant Secretary must also provide copies of their submissions

to the petitioner.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the proposed finding and/or requests for a copy

of the report of evidence should be addressed to the Office of the

Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1849 C

Street NW., Washington, DC 20240, Attention: Branch of Acknowledgment

and Research, Mail Stop 2611-MIB.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Holly Reckord, (202) 208-3592.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians directly

descends from a community of Choctaws who resided in western Catahoula

Parish, now LaSalle Parish, in the vicinity of Jena, Louisiana, since

first identified by the census of 1880. The linguist Albert Gatschet

reported finding three Choctaw families on Trout Creek, Catahoula

Parish in 1886. The Trout Creek settlement lived in log huts on land

owned by Thomas Whatley. They were known locally as the Eden Indians,

the Choctaw Indians on Trout Creek, and the Whatley Indians in

reference to their residences or to the landowners with whom they were

associated. After World War II, most of the tribe moved into the nearby

town of Jena, Louisiana. They formally incorporated in 1974, as the

Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, but usually refer to themselves as the

Jena Choctaws.

Aboriginal Choctaw territory lay east of the Mississippi River, but

the Choctaws also hunted west of the river. Although wandering Choctaws

had been observed in Louisiana before 1800, there is no evidence to

connect any of the Jena Choctaws with the earliest Choctaw inhabitants

of Louisiana. There is some evidence that they had attempted to go

north to the Choctaw Nation, but returned to Louisiana from there.

Gatschet's interviews, the Federal censuses, and the testimony of

ancestors before the 1902 U.S. Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes,

known as the Dawes Commission, all substantiate that the Jena Choctaws

came from Scott and Newton counties in Mississippi and probably arrived

in the vicinity of Jena, Louisiana during the 1870's.

Several of the Choctaws from the Jena vicinity removed to Oklahoma

between 1903 and 1920, but the remnants of four families remained, thus

maintaining the community. Between 1914 and 1917, a large family of

Choctaws, who lived less than 20 miles east of Jena at Manifest or

Aimwell, Louisiana, moved to Trout Creek and began marrying into the

remaining families. Their arrival saved the community at Trout Creek

near Jena, which had suffered significant losses due to the removals.

The ancestors of the Jena Choctaws have been identified both as

Choctaws and as an Indian entity by scholars, local officials, and

state and Federal sources on a substantially continuous basis since

1900. No one has denied the Indian identity of the Jena Choctaws. The

1903 Dawes Commission identified the ancestors of the petitioner as

full-blood Mississippi Choctaws who were eligible to receive land

allotments in the Choctaw Nation, or what is now Oklahoma. Local

residents, local store records, and occasional state newspaper articles

all referred to them as Indians. Federal and state school officials

from 1929 to 1940 all considered the Jena Choctaws to be Indians, and

some referred to them as a small tribe. Indian children were not

allowed to attend the white public schools of the parish, while the

Indians refused to attend the black schools. Local authorities and

private individuals made efforts to create a school specifically for

the Indian children. During the 1930's, the Penick Indian School

operated with some funding from the Federal Office of Indian Affairs.

The Office of Indian Affairs proposed moving those Choctaws who

were willing to move to Federal trust lands in Mississippi so that

their children could be educated with other Indian children at Pearl

River, Mississippi. Although the proposal was not carried out, it is

clear that the Federal officials considered the Jena Choctaws to be

eligible members of the recognized Mississippi Choctaw tribe.

When the Office of Indian Affairs provided Federal aid for tuition

for the Choctaw students at the Penick Indian School, it did not deal

directly with the Indians but provided funds to state and local

governments. In short, although briefly providing some Federal services

to individuals, the Federal Government had not recognized the Jena

Choctaws as a separate tribal entity. Because the Choctaws from rural

Jena, Louisiana, were not removed to Oklahoma in 1903 or to Mississippi

in 1938, they retained their identity as a separate and distinct Indian

group.

The Jena Band of Choctaw Indians maintained their community through

a high degree of in-group marriages. Before 1950, 85 percent of the

marriages of members were to other members, and 50 percent of the

existing marriages in 1959 were to other members of the tribe. Perhaps

supported by the in-group marriages and close family ties, the

community continued to speak the Choctaw language almost exclusively

until the late 1930's and in many households until the late 1950's.

Although the Choctaw did not live in an exclusively Indian

neighborhood, they did live in close proximity of one another in the

Trout Creek or Eden neighborhood from before 1880 until after World War

II. They shopped in the local Whatley stores where they paid for goods

by skinning and tanning hides as well as by day labor and household

help. They were identified by the shopkeepers by their first name and

the title ``Indian,'' rather than by a first and last name. They

traveled into town as a group on a Saturday night, where they were

often met with harassment from the general population and in particular

from the town marshall.

Maintenance of the White Rock Indian cemetery has been a central

activity of Jena Choctaw throughout the history of the group. Not only

have they continually buried their dead in the cemetery, but the

frequent clean-up days also became a time for social contact between

the various families. They brought food for a cook out, visited,

discussed community concerns, and even camped over night at the

cemetery. Until the late 1930's, the tribe exercised traditional burial

practices, which involved a mourning period, cutting hair, and

participating in a ``cry'' or funeral some six months after the burial.

The cemetery, which was located on land owned by the Whatley family,

was deeded to the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in 1982.

Aside from informal social interaction and continued maintenance of

the White Rock Indian Cemetery, members of the tribe shared economic

resources and provided each other with services in the 1950's and

1960's. After incorporation, the tribal council assumed a major role in

providing for the members' needs. It has provided tutoring, school

supplies, clothing, and free haircuts for school children. To teach and

maintain a sense of Indian identity, the tribe conducts Choctaw

language and history classes at the tribal center after school hours

and during the summer.

A traditional leader or chief led the group in burial practices,

conducted marriages, and conducted the affairs of the Indian community

until the late 1930's. After World War II, when most of the membership

started attending Christian churches, the role of the traditional

leader became less active than in previous generations; however, he

continued to organize community support of members in need and to

arrange for maintenance of the Indian cemetery. During the 1950's and

1960's informal leaders also helped to meet the needs of the membership

by furnishing goods and services such as mid-wifing. After the death of

the last traditional leader in 1968, there was a transition period

between the old-style of leadership and the formally organized entity.

Since 1974, the Jena Choctaws have elected their leaders and members

have participated in the governance of the tribe.

The first formal governing document for the tribe was the 1974

Articles of Incorporation. It was followed in 1990, by a constitution

which reflected how they governed themselves and defined their

membership. Membership consists of Choctaws possessing \1/4\ or more

blood quantum who descend from the Choctaws who settled in LaSalle

Parish and who were listed as Indian on the 1880, 1900, and 1910

censuses. The constitution also allows that at specified future dates,

descendants with less than \1/4\ Choctaw blood quantum will be allowed

to enroll as members. The members are not members of any other

recognized tribe, nor has Congress terminated or denied a government-

to-government relationship with the tribe.

There are 153 names on the 1993 membership roll. One hundred

percent of the membership descends from at least one ancestor who was

identified as a Choctaw Indian on the 1900 and 1910 Federal censuses or

as Indian on the 1870, 1880, or 1920 Federal censuses. Over 88 percent

of the membership also descends from someone who was identified as a

full-blood Mississippi Choctaw on the 1903 preliminary roll of the

Dawes Commission.

Under the new regulations, the high degree (over 50 percent) of in-

group marriages through 1959 is considered to be a high level of

evidence for the existence of an Indian community to that date. The new

regulations also provide that the petitioner is assumed to have

exhibited tribal political authority over its members prior to 1959

because of the high level of evidence that it maintained a community

during those years. Interaction between Jena Choctaws has been

maintained since 1959 with informal ``visiting'' and since 1974 with

activities sponsored by the tribal council.

Based on this preliminary factual determination, we conclude that

the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians meet all seven mandatory criteria and

should be granted Federal acknowledgment under 25 CFR part 83.

As provided by 25 CFR 83.10(h) of the new regulations, a report

summarizing the evidence, reasoning, and analyses that are the basis

for the proposed decision will be provided to the petitioner and other

interested parties, and is available to other parties upon written

request.

After consideration of the written arguments and evidence rebutting

the proposed finding and within 60 days after the expiration of the

180-day response period described above, the Assistant Secretary--

Indian Affairs will publish the final determination of the petitioner's

status in the Federal Register as provided in 25 CFR 83.10(l).

Ada E. Deer,

Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 94-26835 Filed 10-28-94; 8:45 am]

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