The Choctaw's were an important tribe (or confederacy) that formerly held most of Southern Alabama and Mississippi, but they now reside in Oklahoma.  According to their own tradition, they were once connected with the Chickasaw.  Their first appearance in history was in 1540, when their giant chief, Toscalusa (the Black Warrior), opposed De Soto's march in what was perhaps the most terrible Indian battle ever fought in the Eastern United States.  They were generally more friendly to the French than to the English.  They made their first treaty with the United States in 1786, since which time they have never been at war with the Government.  In 1820, they sold their last remaining lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remove to Oklahoma.  The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830 forced the remaining Choctaw to move.  Over twenty thousand Choctaws were moved on this long journey.  Seven thousand survived the move on what has come to be called "The Trail of Tears."

The Choctaw were agricultural, dwelling in regularly arranged towns, with houses of logs plastered with clay, or of poles covered with mats or thatch.  They were noted for their beautiful pottery and artistic basketry.  

Among their peculiar customs was that of flattening the head, and of digging up and cleaning the bones of the dead; after a short internment for preservation in the family.  They were much given to an athletic ball-play, which is still a favorite among them in the West.  Their tribal organization was lax and without central authority.  They had the clan system with descent in the female line, but the number of their clans is not definitely known.

Culturally, the Choctaw have always honored their women as the head of every family household.  They were (and still are today) considered the care takers of the children, the elders, and the home.

The Choctaw population has grown form the original seven thousand survivors to more than seventy thousand.  The Choctaw people have overcome enormous obstacles in their quest for self reliance in a changing and often hostile world.