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Series Preface
- University of Nebraska Press
- Chapter
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Series Preface At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we often use the word “miracle” to describe the Mississippi Choctaws. Examining their history before the “miracle,” Katherine M. B. Osburn reveals that the achievements of these people do not really constitute a miracle. Refusing to remove when the United States forced the Choctaw Nation west in the 1830s, the Mississippi Choctaws struggled tirelessly for their right to remain in Mississippi, for their economic survival, for the preservation of their identity as Choctaws, for education, for land, for federal recognition and services, and, most importantly, for their right to manage their own affairs. They did so by skillfully manipulating Mississippi politicians and using white supremacy to their own advantage. By focusing on how Mississippi Choctaws negotiated race, Osburn tells a quintessential story of Indians in the American South. At the same time, it is a story of unparalleled success. When they finally were able to exercise tribal sovereignty, largely free of meddling by federal bureaucrats and local politicians, Mississippi Choctaws created an economic system that has sustained their people and their culture. Osburn has written an enormously important book about a tribe whose accomplishments are often noted but whose history is barely understood. We welcome it in the series Indians of the Southeast. Theda Perdue Michael D. Green ...