Arkansas Petition for Freedmen’s Rights, 1869

So that all persons of African descent may remain in said Nations; select and hold forty (40) acres of Land each and be entitled to all the rights and privileges of any class of Citizens in said Nations including the right of Suffrage.
. . . there are three thousand persons of African descent living and residing in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, who were formerly held in servitude by said Nations, and who are desirous of remaining in said Nations and enjoying all the rights and privileges of Citizens thereof.

Arkansas Petition for Freedmen’s Rights 1869

Legislators in Arkansas sent this petition to Congress in 1869 in an effort to help the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen secure their rights as tribal citizens. The Choctaw and Chickasaw never granted citizenship to their freedmen.

National Archives, Records of the U.S. Senate