Reconciling African Enslavement and Chickasaw Removal

Summary

Native American removal from lands east of the Mississippi River is often recounted in narratives that emphasize injustices (e.g. physical stressors of migration). However, the paper-trail documenting the Chickasaw semi-forced migration provides glimpses of people of African descent whose lives were shaped by generations of displacement in captivity. These enslaved migrants made a significant difference in the fortunes of indigenous slaveholders, playing a role in issues such as the amount of land U.S. officials allocated to Chickasaws (based on household headcounts, including slaves). Archaeological research is picking up on the trails of Chickasaws and Africans in Mississippi and Oklahoma, and in the process attempting to reconcile contradictions of interest and historical interpretation. An Archaeology of Chickasaw-African Removal also has the potential to shed light on neglected gender histories and the complexities of identity transformations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeologies of Removal   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-80,01