The Choctaws, like the Creeks, Cherokees, and Chickasaw tribes, are matrilineal in nature. This means that a child’s inheritance passes through the mother instead of the father. Before Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act (1830) exiled Choctaws and other Alabama tribes to Oklahoma, the Choctaws lived in southeastern Mississippi and southwestern Alabama. Today, some Choctaws remain in Mississippi.

The men and women had separate, distinct roles in their culture, and the women were the heads of households.

Choctaw Women’s Roles

Childbirth

Pregnant Choctaw women were deeply honored in Choctaw society, for childbirth was their most important contribution to it. When they went into labor they would go to a secluded place where, without any assistance, their child would be born. Although husbands weren’t allowed to be present anywhere near her during this time lest harm befall him or the child, they did fast for their wives.

Farmed, Cooked, and Stored Food

If one visited a Choctaw village before the 18^th century, he/she would see three types of farms.

First Type: A garden, planted in March, beside individual families’ houses.

Second Type: A communal farm. Here, crops were planted in May. Women worked together while tending its crops.

Third Type: Pumpkin and melon patches.

As the centuries rolled into the 1700s, the Choctaw started adopting the White man’s style of farming by learning to use plows and raising their crops as an individual family instead of as a community.

What sort of crops did they grow, cook, and store? Corn was a staple. Also squash, watermelons, and sunflowers, just to mention a few.

Made Clothing

Women tanned the hides of animals, such as deer, to make clothes for themselves and their family members. They also used fabric made from such things as buffalo wool and milkweed.

Before the White man came they wore wraparound dresses, skirts, and blouses made of these animal skins and fabrics. With the coming of the White man, they eventually moved away from this and wore cotton clothes.

Sources

“Traditional Agriculture,” Choctaw Nation Culture, May & June 2012, 2012.05-0 Agriculture.pdf (choctawnationculture.com)

“Traditional Dress,” Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Traditional Dress (choctawnation.com), 2024

“Women—the Givers and Supporters of Life,” Choctaw Nation Culture, 2011.05 women – the givers and supporters of life.pdf (choctawnationculture.com)