They Say the Wind Is Red: The Alabama Choctaw-Lost in Their Own Land [Paperback]

Jacqueline Anderson Matte (Author), Vine Deloria (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

They Say the Wind Is Red tells the history of the Choctaw Indians who managed to remain in Alabama when other southeastern Indians were forcibly removed to the West in the 1830s. This small band lived mostly hidden from public view in the swamps and piney woods of Mobile and Washington counties. Often misidentified as black or even cajun, the ancestors of today’s MOWA Choctaw maintained their Indian communities throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. This book chronicles the Choctaws’ pride, endurance, and persistence in the face of abhorrent conditions imposed by government at all levels.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I found They Say the Wind Is Red moving and convincing." -- Virginia Pounds Brown, author of Cochula's Journey

"Jacqueline Matte makes a compelling case for the the historical origin of the MOWA Choctaws in her book." -- Dr. Greg Waselkov, Director of the Center for Archaeological Studies, University of South Alabama

"They Say the Wind is Red represents the successful effort of the MOWA Choctaw to articulate their own history." -- W. Richard West, Director, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution

About the Author

Jacqueline Matte holds master’s degrees in History and Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a B.S. from Samford University. She is the author of The History of Washington County, Alabama and the co-author of Seeing Historic Alabama. Ms. Matte testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearings for federal recognition of the Alabama Choctaw. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: NewSouth (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588380793
• ISBN-13: 978-1588380791
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Genealogy, Great History, Great Saga, August 2, 2003

By 

Bill Reid (MS, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Say the Wind Is Red: The Alabama Choctaw-Lost in Their Own Land (Paperback)

This book tells the story of my family and other native peoples whose identities were essentially taken from them by Alabama politicians who over several decades mischaracterized them as "Cajans." My great grandfather (Seaborn Reid) and his extended family were living in post-Civil War Washington and Mobile Counties in southeast Alabama where, as free mixed Indian people, his ancestors had made their homes for many years, before the state began to deny their Indian heritage. Eventually, Seaborn would bring his whole family to Mississippi to escape the arbitrary and discriminatory treatment they experienced under Alabama's laws and practices respecting his people. Once in Mississippi, he and his clan were treated as white citizens, and his progeny slowly loss their awareness of their heritage as years went by. Until I read "They Say the Wind is Red," little of this history was known by anybody in the family.

So, whether your interest lies in the genealogy of Washington and Mobile County persons, or in the history of that region, or in what is a great telling of how native peoples' identity was taken from them and how they are now seeking to reclaim their rights as members of a tribal community, this is a must-read book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing truth that touches & hurts...a must read, April 4, 2004

By 

mike (atl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Say the Wind Is Red: The Alabama Choctaw-Lost in Their Own Land (Paperback)

All I can say is this book helps you understand the difficult, yet enduring tribe of Choctaw that live with honor--- in a harsh country they once owned. This book makes you think and feel for a people who were treated unfairly by their country and their government. This pearl of literature might have been lost in the biased written history books of America if J.A.Matte would have accepted anything less than the truth. Born in a time when women were struggling to be regconized & heard...J.A.Matte became an educator as well as a champion for American history...recorded correctly. This book really touched me & my family. Read it & know the truth.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A people's determination to endure, October 7, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Say the Wind Is Red: The Alabama Choctaw-Lost in Their Own Land (Paperback)

Now in a newly revised edition which include a resource guide for Southeastern Indian genealogy, They Say The Wind Red: The Alabama Choctaw Lost In Their Own Land, by Jacqueline Anderson Matte (who testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Hearings for federal recognition of the Alabama Choctaw) is a compelling and accurate history of those Choctaw Indians who successfully remained in Alabama, when other southeastern Indian tribes were compelled to relocate to the American West during the 1830s. The Alabama Choctaw were a small band of Native Americans who were often mistaken as being either blacks or cajun, and who stayed in the swamps and pine woods of Mobile and Washington counties in spite of federal government's efforts to remove them. An invaluable addition to the growing library of Native American Studies, They Say The Wind Is Red is very highly recommended history of pride, love of land, danger, and a people's determination to endure and preserve their way of life in spite of severe and enduring hardships.