Who Am I Now? A Question of Creek Identity, 1830-1907

In regards to Native Americans, the notion of “federal recognition” is important, but also problematic. Federal recognition is problematic in that it generally does not take into account socio-cultural factors regarding identity. Prior to their removal, the Creeks based their concept of identity on socio-cultural factors inherently based upon a matriarchal infrastructure. This paper aims to discuss how the paradigm of Creek identity dramatically shifted during the nineteenth century after their removal to Indian Territory. It will argue that Protestantism, education, the Civil War, and the enrollment of the Creeks onto a federally endorsed tribal roll altered the Creeks' perception of their identity. It will show how, by the dawn of Oklahoma statehood in 1907, the adherence to former socio-cultural norms was no longer an adequate demarcation of Creek identity. It will further argue that, by 1907, for one to be Creek meant that the outside world – that is the world of non-Creeks – saw that person as Creek.