The Alabama-Coushatta Indians (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas a & M University) PDF
Preview The Alabama-Coushatta Indians (Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas a & M University)
The Alabama-Coushatta Indians Centennial title: Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University ; No. 71 author: Hook, Jonathan B. publisher: Texas A&M University Press isbn10 | asin: 0890967822 print isbn13: 9780890967829 ebook isbn13: 9780585173900 language: English Alabama Indians--History, Alabama Indians--Government relations, Alabama subject Indians--Ethnic identity, Koasati Indians-- History, Koasati Indians--Government relations, Koasati Indians--Ethnic identity. publication date: 1997 lcc: E99.A4H66 1997eb ddc: 976.4/23504973 Alabama Indians--History, Alabama Indians--Government relations, Alabama subject: Indians--Ethnic identity, Koasati Indians-- History, Koasati Indians--Government relations, Koasati Indians--Ethnic identity. Page iii The Alabama-Coushatta Indians Jonathan B. Hook Page iv Copyright (c) 1997 by Jonathan B. Hook Manufactured in the United States of America All rights reserved First edition For Jordan The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48-1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hook, Jonathan B. The Alabama-Coushatta Indians / Jonathan B. Hook. p. cm.(The centennial series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A & M University ; no. 71) ISBN 0-89096-782-2 1. Alabama IndiansHistory. 2. Alabama IndiansGovernment relations. 3. Alabama IndiansEthnic identity. 4. Koasati Indians History. 5. Koasati IndiansGovernment relations. 6. Koasati IndiansEthnic identity. I. Title. II. Series. E99.A4H66 1997 976.4'23504973dc21 97-25945 CIP Page v Contents List of Illustrations VII Preface IX Chapter 1. Ethnicity and the American Indian 3 2. Early Contact to Reservation Establishment: The 18 Alabama-Coushatta Experience 3. "Fields White Unto Harvest": Governments and 36 Missionaries, 1854-1930 4. Three Decades of Government Paternalism, 1930-60 59 5. Ethnogenesis and Regenesis 82 Conclusion 99 Notes 109 Bibliography 135 Index 147 Page vii Illustrations following page 58 Chief Colabe Chief John Scott Chief Charles Martin Thompson Chief Bronson Cooper Sylestine Chief Robert Fulton Battise Douglas Williams, Jr. Chief William Clayton Sylestine Delores and Roland Poncho Indian Presbyterian Church Frances and Walt Broemer Jeanine Polite, Andy Snider, Maxine and Ardie Polite Jo Ann Battise Page ix Preface Several years ago I was in Soweto, South Africa, listening to members of the African National Congress articulate their frustration with the Nationalist Party regime and voice their aspirations for a nonracist government. As we sat down at the table in a small, dark room, guards were placed around the block to ensure that there were no surprise visits from the police. It was immediately apparent that living in an urban setting under apartheid had significantly affected their self- perceptions. These young men no longer identified themselves as Zulu or Tswana or Khosa. They were black, a label which included individuals officially designated by the government as "African," "coloured," and "Asian Indian.'' Personal identity was clearly being influenced by external political and cultural forces. Especially interested in indigenous responses to European imperialism and colonialism, upon my return to the United States I began an evaluation of the twentieth-century resistance press in southern Africa. My research led me to relocate to Houston, where, because of my Cherokee heritage and tribal membership, I became increasingly active in the American Indian community. Ninety miles northeast of Houston is the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation. There I danced at powwows, worshiped in the Indian Presbyterian Church, chaperoned youth trips, and became involved with a lawsuit intended to ensure that Native American boys could wear their hair long while in school. Page x The most emotional issues among rural and urban Southeast Texas Native Americans, including repatriation of remains, educational funding, health care, and cultural preservation, in some way address the question of personal identity. Difficulties in determining "who" and "what" are "Indian" continually divide the community. This became for me a compelling issue, and I subsequently changed my research topic to Native American ethnic identity. In examining American Indian historiography, I was impressed with the stylistic approach of several historians. At a conference on Indian leadership in Chicago sponsored by the D'Arcy McNickle Center of the Newberry Library, R. David Edmunds was a co-participant. He urged us to utilize biographies and solid research in the creation of composite historical scenarios, to set the environmental stage and bring historical characters to life. I found this method helpful in communicating the joy or pathos of a specific historical incident. Calvin Martin, in "The Metaphysics of Writing Indian-White History," (The American Indian and the Problem of History [1987]) asks historians to go a step farther: Enter the mind of the subject and thereby experience some elements of his or her culturally derived mental and emotional world. This is difficult to accomplish. While in southern Africa I realized that although I might feel moral outrage at the abuses of apartheid, I could never know the all-encompassing ramifications of being black in the Republic of South Africa. I do, however, know how it feels to be of American Indian descent in white and Indian communities which express little regard for those caught between two cultures: The middle-aged man spread his starburst-colored Pendleton blanket on the bench, adjusted his mescal-bead bandolier, and looked up at the circling turkey buzzard. Early June in East Texas could be oppressively hot and humid, but these few cool minutes of twilight were perfect. Sunset was almost instantaneous in the Piney Woods, and floodlights were being turned on to illuminate the grassy arena. The gourd dancer was proud of his new hawk wing fan. He smiled as he removed it from its cedar box and placed it on the bench next to his rattle. He noticed that the fringe at the bottom of his white leather "leggins" dragged the ground too much, and he decided to trim some of it before the next powwow. Page xi "The first set of gourd dancing will begin in five minutes. Singers please head toward the drum," blared the announcer over the scratchy public address system. The dancer felt good, felt that he was a part of the ebb and flow of Indian community life. He didn't notice the young, blonde-haired couple in blue jeans moving toward the folding lawn chairs immediately behind his bench. They fidgeted somewhat nervously in the new environment, unsure of what to do with the packages just purchased at the vendors' stalls encircling the periphery of the arena. It seemed that all of the craftwork they had bought, dreamcatcher, mandela, flute, and earrings, were decorated with fragile feathers which could easily be misshapen through improper handling. They carefully slid the items under the chairs for protection. The slim, attractive woman fingered a crystal pendant hanging from a short silver chain around her neck. Only recently had she learned that a powwow was a Native American celebratory dance and not only a slang verb for conversation. She had seen this one advertised in the Houston newspaper and had insisted that they come. Indians and Indian art held a great fascination for her, and she loved novels and movies with Indian settings and motifs. She was especially curious about Indian spirituality and subscribed to several "New Age" popular magazines. Her astrologer assured her that she had been an Indian in a previous incarnation, and there was some mention in her family history of an Indian princess (no one knew which tribe, but probably Cherokee or Sioux). Still unmindful of the couple, the dancer finished adjusting his intricately embroidered sash. He sat down on the bench and glanced over at the "head" gourd dancer, who was still sorting his "give-a-way" items. Seated at the drum in the center of the arena, the "head" singer finished his second cup of coffee and was ready to begin. Turning his head to smile at a friend sitting behind him, the dancer heard the last words of the woman's remark: ". . . really sad. I thought the dancers were going to be real Indians. Half of these guys are white." The words ripped at his heart. A brief wave of nausea swept over him as he repressed an angry retort. Why couldn't people let him be who he was, an integral part of the Indian community with both Indian and white ancestors. Why was everyone obsessed with
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