Green McCurtain

Greenwood "Green" McCurtain (November 28, 1848 – December 27, 1910) was a Choctaw statesman and law enforcement officer, and the last elected Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation (1896–1900 and 1902–1906), serving a total of four elected two-year terms. After 1906 and dissolution of tribal governments under the Dawes Act prior to Oklahoma's annexation and achieving statehood, McCurtain was appointed as chief by Theodore Roosevelt. He served in that capacity until his death in 1910, and was the last freely-elected Chief of the Choctaws until 1971.

Green McCurtain also achieved notice for represented his tribe as a delegate at the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention. This was an effort by American Indian nations in Indian Territory to create an Indian-controlled state in what is now Oklahoma. They were not successful in getting Congressional support for this proposal, as Euro-Americans who had established considerable presence in the Oklahoma Territory with Federal backing, lobbied strongly for the two territories to be admitted as a single state.

Personal life Greenwood "Green" McCurtain was born on November 28, 1848, in Skullyville, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, the third son of Cornelius McCurtain, born in Mississippi, and Mayhiya "Amy" Blevins, both Choctaw. He became a trader and married into the Choctaw tribe.

In 1833, McCurtain's parents and older brother Jackson had moved with numerous other Choctaw to Indian Territory as part of Indian Removal and the Choctaw Trail of Tears. His family became prominent as leaders of the tribe. His older brothers were Jackson McCurtain, born in Mississippi (1830-1885); Edmund Aaron McCurtain, (1842-1890);

Marriage and family McCurtain was a Baptist, at a time when numerous Choctaw had become Protestants, influenced by missionaries.

He married Martha Ainsworth, a European-American woman, and together they had a son, D.C. McCurtain. He later lived in Spiro, Oklahoma. The senior McCurtain later married his second wife, Kate 'Kittie' Spring. They had a son and four daughters together: Alice, Lena, Bertha and Cora.

By the late nineteenth century, he represented the Tuskahoma, or Progressive party of his tribe, also known as the "Eagles", who began to favor negotiation with the United States over proposals for allotment and statehood of the Choctaw communal lands. Much like Chief Kiliahote, McCurtain was originally opposed to this, but came to believe he needed to negotiate to try to achieve the best outcome for the Choctaw prior to what he saw was an inevitable annexation.

The nation was violently torn by the prospect of losing their sovereign governance and lands, and being annexed into the United States. The day after the 1884 elections, a Nationalist named Charles Wilson was brutally killed. While more than one Progressive was implicated in the assassination, several Choctaw were acquitted and only Jackson Crow, an African American, was convicted and executed for the crime. In the 1890s, Silan Lewis, a committed Nationalist, killed five Progressives in related retaliatory political assassinations. He was convicted and executed by the Choctaw in 1894.

He continued to serve until October 1906, despite the fact the tribal governments and institutions were dissolved by the United States under the Dawes Act in March 1906, paving the way for annexation. Under Theodore Roosevelt, the Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed McCurtain to continue as chief, where he acted under BIA supervision until his death in office in 1910.

His former home, the Green McCurtain House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 21, 1971. The house was in ruins at the time following a tragic fire, and has since been reconstructed. Built in 1880, it is a two-story, L-shaped residence.

Legacy and honors McCurtain County, Oklahoma was named for his family.