S2, E18, P2: A Fascinating New Look at Our Choctaw History by the Decade: Megan Baker

Most people have heard about the Trail of Tears, or what’s called the “Removal”, in which our Indigenous people were removed from their lands starting in the early 1800s and were relocated to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

The Choctaw were the very first to make the trek from Mississippi to their new home. The journey was deadly for some. Many of our people passed away due to harsh weather conditions, illness, starvation, and even at the hands of the soldiers who were transporting them.

But what happened next, once the Choctaw arrived in Indian Territory? And what came of the Choctaws who refused to be removed and to those who ran away into the swamps to hide? These questions have come to my mind over the years, and I’ve found answers here and there, but I needed to learn more. And not only that, I’ve probably pondered 100 other unanswered questions too.

Enter Megan Baker.

Megan is a Research Assistant for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma’s Historic Preservation department and is currently working on her PhD in Anthropology from UCLA. Her masters is in American Indian Studies from UCLA and she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnicity and Race Studies from Columbia University.

I’ve eagerly followed Megan’s monthly series in the “Iti Fabvssa”, a column in our Choctaw Nation’s Biskinik paper for quite a while, soaking in our history that she has tirelessly broken out by decades. But not only that. She has studied thousands of original documents, records and accounts by the Choctaw themselves (not just the history books) to bring us a very different viewpoint than what we’ve heard before. So it was an honor when she agreed to join me in this special 2-part Native ChocTalk episode.

So please join Megan and me in this journey through each decade with the story of the Choctaws after their removal to Indian Territory. And yakoke to Megan for her hundreds of hours of research that came in handy when I asked hundreds of questions – keep up that great work for our tribe and for future generations to come!

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