Choctaw Apache Tribe of Ebarb

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The Choctaw Apache Tribe of Ebarb is located in western Sabine Parish, Louisiana. They are recognized by the state of Louisiana and have petitioned for federal recognition.

Officially recognized by the state of Louisiana in 1978, the Tribe is the second largest of eight officially recognized American Indian communities in Louisiana. Most Choctaw Apache reside in the towns of Zwolle and Ebarb.

This tribe is made up of descendants of mission Indians of Texas, Apache slaves who were sold at slave markets in French and Spanish colonial era Natchitoches, and Choctaw hunters who began migrating into the region during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Research into the tribe’s history has verified that many of the Indian ancestors were natives of the Spanish mission and presidio of Los Adaes, adding a strong Adayes (Adai) identity to the Tribe. 

Official Tribal Name: Choctaw Apache Tribe of Ebarb 

Address: P.O. Box 1428, 35 Lonnie Road, Zwolle,La 71486
Phone: (318) 645-2588

Email: achoctaw@yahoo.com

Chippewa Cree t-shirt

Official Website: http://www.choctaw-apache.org

Recognition Status: State Recognized

Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning: Chahta – The name of a legendary chief

Common Name: Choctaw

Alternate names / Alternate spellings / Mispellings:

Chactaw, Chaktaw, Chatha, Chocktaw, Lipan Apache

Name in other languages:

Region: South Eastern

State(s) Today: Louisiana

Traditional Territory: Choctaw hunters began migrating into their present area in the late 1700s and early 1900s. They were established in the area before the town of Zwolle was settled.

Later, Dr. John Sibley gave refuge to Choctaw in an effort to protect them from persecution by their Creek and Chickasaw neighbors by moving some Choctaw families into the area. These families were in the area prior to the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

Confederacy: Five Civilized Tribes, Muskogean, Apache Nations

Treaties:

The Choctaw signed nine treaties with the United States before the Civil War, beginning with the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786 – which set boundaries and established universal peace between the two nations. Subsequent treaties, however, reshaped those borders and forced the Choctaw to cede millions of acres of land. In 1830, the United States seized the last of the Choctaw’s ancestral territory and relocated the tribe to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

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Tribal Enrollment Requirements:

Persons who possesses at least 1/64th degree or more blood of Lipan Apache, Choctaw or other American Indian person(s) comprising the Choctaw-Apache Tribe as historically documented, living in the Parish of Sabine, Louisiana at the time the tribal constitution was enacted, or a lineal descendant of such a person is eligible for enrollment in the tribe. If you have a degree of blood from any other federally recognized Indian tribe, but are not enrolled in that tribe, you can include that blood quantum with those named above to meet the 1/64th degree minimum requirement.

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Language Classification: Muskogean >> Western Muskogean >> Choctaw

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Dictionary:

The Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, Translated into Choktaw Language

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Apache Bands and Clans

The Choctaw like all of the Muscogean tribes was a matriarchal and clan culture. There were two distinct Moieties: Imoklashas (elders) and Inhulalatas (youth). Each moiety had several clans or Iskas. It is estimated there were about 12 Iskas altogether. Identity was established first by Moiety and Iska, so a Choctaw identified himself first as Imoklasha or Inhulata and second as Choctaw.The Choctaw clans include the Wind, Bear, Deer, Wolf, Panther, Holly Leaf, Bird, Raccoon and Crawfish Clans.

Related Tribes

Traditional Allies:

The Choctaw were early allies of the French, Spanish and British during the 18th century.

Traditional Enemies:

In the 1750’s the tribe was involved in a Civil War that decimated whole villages. The division was driven by factions affiliated with the Spanish and the other the French. In the 18th century the Choctaw were generally at war with the Creeks or the Chickasaw Indians.

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Choctaw Stickball

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Apache Museums:

Albuquerque Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico
American Research Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Art Center in Roswell, New Mexico
Bacone College Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma
Black Water Draw Museum in Portales, New Mexico
Coronado Monument in Bernalillo, New Mexico
Ethnology Museum in Santa Fe, NM
Fine Arts Museum in Santa Fe, NM
Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Great Plains Museum in Lawton, Oklahoma
Hall of the Modern Indian in Santa Fe, NM
Heard Museum of Anthropology in Phoenix, Arizona
Indian Hall of Fame in Anadarko, Oklahoma
Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM
Maxwell Museum in Albuquerque, NM
Milicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico
Northern Arizona Museum in Flagstaff, AZ
Oklahoma Historical Society Museum in Oklahoma City, OK
Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, OK
Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, OK
State Museum of Arizona in Tempe, AZ
Stovall Museum at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK
San Carlos Apache Cultural Center in Peridot, Arizona.

Apache Legends / Oral Stories:

Choctaw Creation Story

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Apache women were chaste before marriage. Apache culture is matrilineal. Once married, the man went with the wife’s extended family, where she is surrounded by her relatives.

Spouse abuse is practically unknown in such a system. Should the marriage not endure, child custody quarrels are also unknown: the children remain with the wife’s extended family.

Marital harmony is encouraged by a custom forbidding the wife’s mother to speak to, or even be in the presence of, her son-in-law. No such stricture applies to the wife’s grandmother, who frequently is a powerful presence in family life.

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Choctaw-Apache Chiefs and Famous People

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Tribe History:

During World War I and II, the U.S. Military used members of the Choctaw Nation for secure communications. They became the first code-talkers.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the states of Texas and Louisiana staked its claim on over 180,000 acres of ancestral land. This forced the people to sell their land for as little as $25 an acre.

The Choctaw – Apache people were removed from their land so Toledo Bend Reservoir could be created.

Choctaw History Timeline

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