Alabama (people)

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The Alabama or Alibamu (Albaamaha in the Alabama language) are a Southeastern culture people of Native Americans. The Alabama language is part of the Muskogean language family, as is the language of the Creek and Choctaw people, with whom the Alabama also share cultural features. They were members of the Creek Confederacy. The home lands of the Alabama were on the upper Alabama River.

History

The Alabama first encountered Europeans when Hernando de Soto arrived in 1540. In the eighteenth century, the French arrived on the Gulf Coast and built a fort in Detroit, Michigan.

The Alibamu and Koasati tribes were part of the Creek Confederacy. They had less contact with British settlers than other Creek tribes, so they were the first to leave when the British settlers swarmed into the area by the middle of the 18th century. By 1820, there were three main Alabama towns and three large Coushatta towns in east Texas, in the region known as the Big Thicket. In 1854, the Alabamas were given 1,280 acres (5 km²) in Polk County. The following year, 640 acres (2.6 km²), also in Polk County, were given to the Coushattas. The Coushatta claim was disputed by white settlers in 1859. When the Coushatta lost the land claim, the Alabama asked them to come live on their land claim. The federal government approved a large grant to purchase land near the reservation in 1928. It was granted to the "Alabama and Coushatta tribes." Since that time, the reservation has officially been known as “Alabama-Coushatta.”

The two tribes also share cultural characteristics. In a hearing before the Indian Claims Commission in 1974, Dr. Daniel Jacobson suggested that the Alabama and Coushatta tribes were culturally related because of intermarriage. The "Handbook of Texas" reports that the languages come from the same stock, even though there could be some word variance. Origin myths focus on the interconnectedness of the tribes. One myth states that the two tribes sprouted from either side of a cypress tree. Another legend was recorded in 1857 from Se-ko-pe-chi, one of the oldest Creeks in Indian Territory. He said that the tribes “sprang out of the ground between the Cohawba and Alabama Rivers.” The symbol of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, featured on their website, portrays two intertwined waterfowl, symbolic of the connection between the two tribes.

Present

Texas

The Alabama who relocated to Texas supported Texas independence, and in gratitude, Sam Houston recommended that Texas purchase land for the tribe when their existing land was overtaken by settlers. They merged with the Coushatta to become the present-day Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, whose sovereignty was formally recognized by the federal government in 1987. The current tribal lands are in eastern Polk County, Texas, where the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation has 18.484 km² (7.137 sq mi) of land. The 2000 census reported a resident population of 480 persons within the reservation.

Oklahoma

In Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, the Alabama Quassarte Tribal Town was established in 1936. The descendants of the Alabama who live there are linked also to the Muskogee Creek Nation.

References

• Grant, Bruce. Concise Encyclopedia of the American Indian, Wings Books, New York, 2000 (3rd Edition)
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York: Checkmark, 1999. ISBN 0-8160-3964-X
• Alabama-Coushatta Reservation, Texas United States Census Bureau
• Jacobson, Daniel, Howard N. Martin, and Ralph Henry Marsh. "(Creek)Indians Alabama-Coushatta." New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1974.
• LaVere, David. "The Texas Indians." College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004.
• http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/AA/bma19.html
• http://www.alabama-coushatta.com/History/TheLegendofTheTwinManifestations/tabid/63/Default.aspx

External links

• Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
• Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act notice returning artifacts to Alabama-Quasserte and others

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Last updated on Friday February 01, 2008 at 13:49:09 PST (GMT -0800)
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