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McKennon Roll
Please Read!
Proposed Legislation for the Full-blood and identified Choctaws of
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama: Memorial Evidence and Brief
published I believe in 1913.
"Disapproval of McKennon Roll Without Notice, Hearing
or Investigation"
"The Indians identified by the Commission on the roll reported
March 10, 1899, had in some instances, that is to say, in the cases of
539 individuals, not appeared before the subsequent hearing of the
Commission and were therefore not included in the second roll of
Identified Mississippi Choctaws, which was prepared by the Commission
under the act of July 1, 1902, and was based upon the hearings conducted
in Mississippi in 1900, 1901 and 1902. On March 1, 1907, this roll
was disapproved without notice to anyone, without a hearing and without
considering the merits of the rights of the individuals enrolled who
were not included in the subsequent roll.
In the letter of Asst. Secretary Jesse E. Wilson of March 1, 1907;
disapproving the roll, he states that the Indian Office recommends,
"In order that the roll may be disposed of an no question may arise
concerning it in the future, that it be disapproved..... In accordance
with said recommendation I have this day disapproved the copy of the
roll in possession of this office."
The injustice and illegality of this action is commented upon in the
brief filed by the attorney for Robert L. Owen in the Court of Claims on
April 20, 1913, in the following words:
"It will thus be seen that there was a secret underhanded
opposition to the Mississippi Choctaws because it must be remembered
that this roll of identification made by the Dawes Commission March 10,
1899 and submitted by "report to the Secretary of the
Interior" was pigeon-holed for eight years and then disapproved
without notice. This policy was ruinous, for many of the
Mississippi Choctaw, full-blood Indians, relied upon the Interior
Department to advise them when their identification was complete so the
might move to the Choctaw country with safety. The Interior
Department held those identified on this roll of 1899 in ignorance and
uncertainty until it was too late to move and then disapproved the roll.
The gross injustice of this procedure is manifest and no pretense can be
made that the controlling officials of the Interior Department really
entertained any genuine sympathy with the enrollment of the poor full-blood
Mississippi Choctaws."
"The Secretary also refused to approve any plan proposed to finance
the removal of the Mississippi Choctaws who were too poor to remove
themselves, although plaintiff Owen urged that it be done from 1900 to
1903."
"The report declares that the Mississippi Choctaws were poor,
ignorant and helpless. This report in behalf of the full-blood
Mississippi Choctaws, signed and submitted by the Dawes Commission was
disapproved eight years later by Mr. Secretary Hitchcock on March 4,
1907 without notice or warning so that no person upon this roll ever
knew for eight years whether he was so far identified as to be entitled
to remove as an identified Mississippi Choctaw, and finally the entire
schedule was rejected without notice."
Case findings on the McKennon
Roll
The information for these pages is contributed by Jackie
Matte, author of "They
Say the Wind is Red", and Dusty.
We thank them for allowing us to provide our readers with this valuable Choctaw
history.
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