permission to publish granted by The Tuscaloosa News and Adam Jones

Near a creek just west of Sumter County in Mississippi, leaders of the Choctaw nation and representatives of the United States signed a “treaty of perpetual friendship, cession and limits” 180 years ago.

Called the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, it was the first treaty with American Indians that not only handed over land to the states — nearly 11 million acres — but also forced the removal of tribes to U.S. territory in present-day Oklahoma, the first step to the infamous Trail of Tears.

In Alabama, it opened up Sumter County to white settlement in 1830, and the University of West Alabama, located in Sumter County, is hosting a commemoration of the treaty’s signing Wednesday. It is part of UWA’s year-long celebration of it’s founding 175 years ago.

“It’s significant to the region because it is out of that treaty that ultimately Sumter County was carved and led to the founding of the university five years later,” said Ashley Dumas, head of the Black Belt Museum at UWA.

Held in the Bell Conference Center, remarks will be given by representatives from Choctaw tribes in Mississippi and Oklahoma along with a lecture from James Carson, a history professor at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, who studies American Indian culture in antebellum U.S. He wrote a book in 1999 about Choctaws from pre-history to removal.

After the lecture and remarks, there will be a panel discussion followed by a performance of the Ala Hinte Children’s Dancers from Tennessee band of Choctaws.

The University of Alabama will take a Crimson Ride bus from Moundville Archaeological Park, where the Native American Festival will be this week, to Livingston for the ceremony, Dumas said.

Despite the fanfare, Dumas is careful to point out Wednesday is not a celebration of the treaty. It is likely the first time anybody has formally gathered to remember the signing of the treaty, at least in the Southeast, said Kennith York, director of the development for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

“I guess because it’s a dismal event in our history the tribe here in Mississippi really doesn’t celebrate it,” York said.

Still, York agreed to come and speak at UWA because the treaty is important, he said.

“Good or bad, we should have some recognition of what’s gone on in our history,” York said.

The treaty was decidedly bad for Choctaws, but, at the time, the chiefs who signed likely thought they were doing the best thing for their people, at least in the short term, Carson said.

“They could see the writing on the wall,” he said.

Signed Sept. 27, 1830, it was the first treaty with native Indians after the passage of the Indian Removal Act by Congress in, a measure supported by the popular President Andrew Jackson.

Although Southern states were sparsely populated, settlers coveted lands held in the region by the Chickasaw, Seminole, Choctaw, Creek and Cherokee people, plus leaders of the Southern states did not want sovereign nations within their federally defined borders. Jackson, a Southern hero for victories over Indians before he was president, proposed giving American Indians land in federal territory.

After Congress passed the removal act in May, 1830, Jackson dispatched two federal agents to meet with the Choctaws near a creek in present-day Noxubee County, Miss. The conference was well attended by Choctaw tribes, but after days of negotiations many of the leaders who refused to sign left.

On Sept. 27, after 13 days of talks, federal agents made it clear to the Choctaw that there would be no federal protection from Mississippi and Alabama leaders if they didn’t sign the treaty. Laws were beginning to pass in both states to outlaw Indian ways of life.

“The threat was you’re going to be tossed to the wolves,” Carson said.

The leaders present knew resistance and armed conflict would end badly for the Choctaws. The federal government agreed to allow any Choctaws that remained to become U.S. citizens along with land allowances, the lone silver lining of the treaty for the Choctaws.

If you go
What: Commemoration of the 180th Anniversary of Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek
Where: Bell Conference Center at the University of West Alabama
When: Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. Reception at 5 p.m. with remarks beginning at 6 p.m.