On the Scene: Choctaw Uprising

THIRTY years ago, the Choctaw Indian tribe in rural Mississippi suffered from the same legacy of poverty, dependency, and despair that has plagued American Indians across the country for over a century. They regularly suffered from 75 per cent unemployment, and those that did work were poorly compensated sharecroppers. Eighty-five per cent of Choctaw housing was classified as substandard. Local education stopped at the sixth grade. The only health care was from a nearby federally run hospital. Life expectancy was only 45 to 50 years, and infant mortality was among the highest in the U.S. A local newspaper called the Choctaw tribe, “the worst poverty pocket in the poorest state of the union.”

But then Chief Philip Martin rose to tribal leadership. Today, the Choctaws are an economic powerhouse, the proprietors of a sprawling, multi-enterprise, industrial empire. They are the largest employer in Neshoba county, and among the ten largest employers in the whole state.

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Peter Ferrara

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THIRTY years ago, the Choctaw Indian tribe in rural Mississippi suffered from the same legacy of poverty, dependency, and despair that has plagued American Indians across the country for over a century. They regularly suffered from 75 per cent unemployment, and those that did work were poorly compensated sharecroppers. Eighty-five per cent of Choctaw housing was classified as substandard. Local education stopped at the sixth grade. The only health care was from a nearby federally run hospital. Life expectancy was only 45 to 50 years, and infant mortality was among the highest in the U.S. A local newspaper called the Choctaw tribe, “the worst poverty pocket in the poorest state of the union.”

But then Chief Philip Martin rose to tribal leadership. Today, the Choctaws are an economic powerhouse, the proprietors of a sprawling, multi-enterprise, industrial empire. They are the largest employer in Neshoba county, and among the ten largest employers in the whole state.