Indigenous Peoples of Mississippi

The word Mississippi comes from and Indian word meaning "Father of Waters"

Tribes and Bands of Mississippi
The following list of American Indians who have lived in Mississippi has been compiled from Hodge's Handbook of American Indians... and from Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America. Some may simply be variant spellings for the same tribe.

Choctaw, Choula, Grigra, Houma, Ibitoupa, Koasati, Koroa, Mississippi Band Choctaw, Mactobi, Natchez, Ofo or Ofogoula, Okelousa, Pascagoula, Pensacola, Quapaw, Taposa, Tiou, Tunica, Yazoo

Mississippi Band of Choctaw

Reservations
From the mid-1800s, the official policy of the United States government toward the American Indian was to confine each tribe to a specific parcel of land called a reservation. Agencies were established on or near each reservation. A government representative, usually called an agent (or superintendent) was assigned to each agency. Their duties included maintaining the peace, making payments to the Native Americans based on the stipulations of the treaties with each tribe, and providing a means of communication between the native population and the federal government.

Sometimes, a single agency had jurisdiction over more than one reservation. And sometimes, if the tribal population and land area required it, an agency may have included sub-agencies.

The boundaries of reservations, over time, have changed. Usually, that means the reservations have been reduced in size. Sometimes, especially during the later policy of "termination," the official status of reservations was ended altogether.

The following list of reservations has been compiled from the National Atlas of the United States of America, the Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America , and other sources. Those reservations named in bold are current federally-recognized reservations, with their associated agency and tribe(s). Others have historically been associated with the state or are not currently recognized by the federal government.


 * Choctaw Reservation:
 * Mississippi Choctaw: State, under jurisdiction of Choctaw Agency, Tribe: Choctaw

Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Agencies and subagencies were created as administrative offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its predecessors. Their purpose was (and is) to manage Indian affairs with the tribes, to enforce policies, and to assist in maintaining the peace. The names and location of these agencies may have changed, but their purpose remained basically the same. Many of the records of genealogical value were created by these offices.

The following list of agencies that have operated or now exist in Mississippi has been compiled from Hill's Office of Indian Affairs..., Hill's Guide to Records in the National Archives Relating to American Indians , and others.


 * Chickasaw Agency
 * Choctaw Agency, 421 Powell, Philadelphia, MS 39350

Reference


 * Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1180: Historical Sketches. Clearwater Publishing Co., Inc., 1974.

Family History Library

 * Superintendent of Indian Trade Choctaw Trading House records 1803-1924 T 500 Family History Library 1st film of 6: 1025085

See Also:
Mississippi - History for a calendar including dates of importance to American Indians

Mississippi - Military for a list of forts