Muskogee, Indian Territory — October 23, 1900
A hearing already in progress.
No establishing speech. No explanation of the law.
A stenographer, MYRA YOUNG, takes the words down.
Across from the Commission sits MARY CAROLINE ATKINSON, thirty-eight.
The surviving transcript does not name the individual examiner.
So neither do we.
COMMISSIONWhat is your name?
MARYMary Caroline Atkinson.
COMMISSIONWhat is your age?
COMMISSIONWhat is your post-office address?
MARYDurant, Indian Territory.
Question.
Answer.
Question.
Answer.
The room finds its rhythm.
COMMISSIONWhere did you live prior to your residence in the Indian Territory?
MARYPontotoc County, Mississippi, in the town of Pontotoc.
COMMISSIONHow long did you live in Mississippi?
MARYI was born and raised there.
COMMISSIONHow much Choctaw blood do you claim?
Mary considers it.
MARYI suppose about one sixth.
Myra records.
COMMISSIONWhat is your father’s name?
The name lands without music.
COMMISSIONIs your father living?
COMMISSIONWhat is your mother’s name?
COMMISSIONThrough which one of your parents do you claim your Choctaw blood?
COMMISSIONHow long has your father been dead?
MARYHe’s been dead four years.
COMMISSIONWas his name ever on any of the tribal rolls of the Choctaw Nation?
MARYYes sir it was on the roll of the Mississippi Choctaws, the treaty of 1830. It was registered in Mississippi.
COMMISSIONHow old was your father when he died?
COMMISSIONYou state that your father was a member of the Choctaw tribe of Indians in 1830 and was enrolled by the Choctaw authorities at that time?
MARYHis name is on the register.
COMMISSIONHave you any evidence of the fact that he was a recognized member of the Choctaw tribe of Indians at that time?
MARYOf course I don’t know anything only what I have heard them say. His name is there and I have often heard him speak of his right here.
Myra records.
COMMISSIONWhen did your father come to the Indian Territory?
MARYWhen I did, five years ago.
COMMISSIONDid he make application to the Choctaw tribal authorities in the Indian Territory for citizenship in the Choctaw Nation?
MARYHe never did. He was sick when he come and did not live very long after we moved here.
A beat.
The questioning continues.
Mary has never applied before.
Her name is not on the tribal roll in the Commission’s possession.
She was not an 1896 applicant.
She was not admitted by United States court judgment.
This is her first application.
COMMISSIONYou are now making application for identification as a Mississippi Choctaw?
COMMISSIONWill you state plainly to the Commission the ground upon which you make this claim?
MARYWell, my father’s name was on the roll and that is the ground that we have for citizenship that our father was part Choctaw.
COMMISSIONWhat evidence have you of the fact that your father was a recognized and enrolled member of the Choctaw tribe of Indians?
MARYHis name is there on the roll.
MARYI don’t know what they call it. Mississippi Choctaws. The treaty of 1830. I don’t know what they call it.
A brief silence.
The Commission has a record.
Mary has Robert Bell.
The Commission reads from its record.
COMMISSIONNo party by the name of Robert Bell appears upon the approved roll of locations of the Choctaw reservations under the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830 approved by the President of the United States June 3rd, 1836.
Nothing moves.
ROBERT BELL.
Mary is still sitting there.
COMMISSIONMrs. Atkinson, there is no record of your father having been on the roll of citizens of the Choctaw Nation who elected to remain in Mississippi under the 14th article of the treaty of 1830 and who received and claimed land there.
MARYHe didn’t receive any land there.
COMMISSIONDo you claim under the provisions of the 14th article of the treaty of 1830?
MARYThat is when my father registered there.
COMMISSIONDo you make your claim under the provisions of the 14th article of the treaty of 1830?
COMMISSIONDid any of your ancestors ever comply with the provisions of the 14th article of the treaty of 1830?
COMMISSIONDid any of your ancestors ever receive or claim any land in Mississippi as beneficiaries under the 14th article of the treaty of 1830?
The Commission explains its authority.
Article Fourteen.
Documents.
Compliance.
Proof.
The words accumulate around Mary.
COMMISSIONHave you any documentary evidence showing that any of your ancestors ever complied with the provisions of that treaty either in receiving or claiming any lands in Mississippi as beneficiaries thereunder?
MARYI don’t think that my father ever received any land there or was ever benefitted by the lands there. If he was I—we always had a home there and lived there until we come out here. I know that he was very anxious for his family all to come to the Indian Territory.
COMMISSIONHow did your father acquire possession of the land that he held in Mississippi?
COMMISSIONHe did not receive it as a grant from the United States government as a member of the Choctaw tribe of Indians?
MARYNo sir, we did not live in that reservation. I know there was a reservation where a great many Indians lived but there wasn’t any in the county where we lived. It was in the lower counties, further south from where we were.
COMMISSIONDid you or your father ever live in the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi?
MARYI don’t know. I don’t think we ever did. Grand mother’s people did.
The Commission keeps narrowing.
COMMISSIONDo you make any claim by reason of any of the other provisions of the treaty of 1830?
MARYI want a claim, if I am not accounted a Mississippi Choctaw I want to be recognized as a Choctaw because my grand mother was.
COMMISSIONWhat I am trying to find out from you is on what ground you are basing your claim.
The Commission gathers her answers together.
Rolls.
Citizenship.
Application.
Mississippi.
Land.
Then—
COMMISSIONYou state that your father never received any land in Mississippi—
Mary stops it.
MARYI said not that I knew of.
Silence.
Myra records that too.
COMMISSIONAnd the Commission is unable to identify your father, whom you claim to have been on the 1830 roll in Mississippi as being there, and I want to know if you make your claim on any other treaty stipulations?
MARYI don’t know much about the treaties. I have never read anything about them and of course I don’t know very much about it only what I have heard my ancestors say.
COMMISSIONIs there anything further you want to say in regard to your claim? Any material facts that you want to present to the Commission?
MARYNothing more only that my father was a part Choctaw. That is all the grounds I have.
There may be a whole lot more but I don’t know what it is.
Of course I don’t want to say anything only what I know to be so.
COMMISSIONAre you married?
COMMISSIONWhat is your husband’s name?
Six children.
Don Ellis.
Cammie Elizabeth.
Robert Pratt.
Sallie Bell.
The twins, Leonard and Lottie.
Four months old.
Their claims are identical with Mary’s.
Papers are offered.
The original petition.
Affidavits.
EXHIBIT A.
Identified.
Filed.
Made part of the record.
The examination is finished.
COMMISSIONThe decision on your application and those of your six minor children will be mailed to you in writing in the near future to your present post-office address.
Mary rises.
A small, ordinary leave-taking.
Nothing ceremonial.
Then she goes.
Her footsteps.
The door opens.
Mary passes through.
The door closes.
BOOM.
BLACK.
Silence.
A date appears against the black.
APRIL 15 1902
REFUSED.
Hold it only long enough to read.
Gone.
BLACK.
TWO FAMILIES,
ONE ROBERT
