The Mississippi Choctaw Band of Indians reinaugurated their fifth democratically elected Tribal Chief, Cyrus Ben, at the Silver Star Convention Center.
Before Europeans claimed Choctaw land for their own in the early 19th century, the tribe owned a large swath that cut across the present-day state.
Pearl River Elementary School organizes the yearly Pearl River Spring Festival to celebrate the spring season, as well as the end of the school year.
Central Academy was one of Mississippi’s dozens of segregation academies that opened in the 1960s in anticipation of a final Supreme Court mandate, while many others were “founded in 1970” soon after the Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education decision finally ended legal public-school segregation. They demanded and often got public funding even as they excluded Black children and openly taught racism to many of today’s prominent white Mississippians and decision-makers.
Our fair, in Neshoba County, means different things to each of us, but collectively, it is a time to get together as a tribe and showcase our rich culture and openly invite the public to visit us and learn about us in our homeland that my ancestors refused to leave during the removal period of the 1820s and 1830s.
Today’s Choctaw Indian Fair looks much different than its very simple, humble beginnings. Tribal members exhibited their garden produce at the time, just as our ancestors did during harvest season when the gathering in the old days was known as the New Corn Ceremony or the Green Corn Festival. A princess pageant wasn’t part of the Fair until 1955, and country-music concerts added a decade later.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit the Mississippi Choctaw Band of Indians harder than any major city in the nation—and 10 times harder than the rest of Mississippi. Of the 10,000 Choctaws the tribe serves, one in 10—1,092—has tested positive for COVID-19.
Tonight, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben issued a State of Public Health Emergency Declaration for the next 30 days due to
For Choctaws, not attending funeral services may be the hardest part of the COVID-19 public-health guidance to follow. It’s hard to be told not to attend services or to be able to provide physical comfort for the family in mourning.
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
125 S. Congress Street #1324
Jackson, MS 39201
[email protected]
[email protected]
601-362-6121
The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).