Choctaw Freedmen?

Question:

Choctaw Freedmen?

I was going through some of my grandfathers old papers and found the Choctaw Freedmen Census cards for my grandfather's side of the family. My mother told me that when she was going to high school her and her sisters used to have roll numbers that helped them pay for their school lunches and other expenses. They said that they were going by one of my ancestors roll numbers. When they got out of school their roll numbers disappered. I looked up all the names I could find on the census card a found that most of my family were choctaw freedmen. I looked on the choctaw tribal website and it says that only those that are directly related to a choctaw who was choctaw BY BLOOD on the final dawes can have or use a cdib card and by choctaw tribal standards choctaw freedmen are not real citzens. If this is true I would like to know if this means that my grandfather was of choctaw descent. If you need more information about my family tree I will post it later. Thank You.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Choctaw Freedmen are Africans of the Choctaw Nation.
Brought to Indian Territory in the 1830's Black Choctaws arrived with the Choctaw Indians as slaves. Prior to removal the Choctaws had been exposed to Africans in their native homeland of Mississippi.
Most "Freedmen" remained in the nation, and began new lives as citizens among their fellow compatriots. Much discussion arose in the nation after the signing of the Treaty, and many in the nation had pressed to have the Freedmen removed from the Choctaw Nation. However, a majority of the Freedmen remained steadfast, determined to remain in the land of their birth, as law abiding Choctaw citizens. After discussion, debate, and years of political strategizing, in 1885, the Choctaw Nation finally adopted their former slaves as citizens into the nation. Their status would give them a legal right to remain and no longer to be considered as intruders in the land of their birth.
See the site below, it has a load of information about these unique individuals. While it does state that these "freedmen" were allowed to remain with the Choctaws, and that they were adopted as members of the tribe, there is also a list of those who left and resigned their position as choctaws. You may find some information that might prove useful.....good luck.