IN THEIR DARKEST HOUR: THE PLANNED TERMINATION OF THE CHOCTAW AND THEIR STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL 1907-1975

Abstract

For an eleven-year period starting in 1959 and ending in 1970, the Choctaw Nation was scheduled for termination by the federal government and the remaining properties and assets owned collectively by the Choctaw people were to be liquidated at auction. This thesis will provide an in-depth coverage of the Choctaw Termination era by placing it within the context of the "darkest hour" of a nighttime cycle. A period that started when Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907 to the election of C. David Gardner as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in 1975