Greenwood "Green" McCurtain (1848–1910) was Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation (1896-1890) and (1902-1910), serving four two-year terms. He was the third of his brothers to be elected as chief, and after 1906 and the dissolution of tribal governments under the Dawes Act, he was appointed as chief by the United States government. (His brothers Jackson Frazier McCurtain and Edmund McCurtain had previously been elected as chief, serving a total of three terms.)
Green McCurtain represented his tribe as a delegate at the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention, an effort by American Indian nations to create an Indian-controlled state in what is now Oklahoma.
Contents |
Green McCurtain was born on November 28, 1848 in Skullyville, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, the third son of Cornelius McCurtain, born in Alabama, and Mayhiya "Amy" Blevins, both full-blood Choctaw. Blevins' grandmother was Sho-Ma-Ka, a captive from a neighboring tribe who was adopted into the Choctaw.
McCurtain's family moved to Indian Territory in 1833 as part of the Choctaw Trail of Tears. Green's older brothers Jackson Frazier McCurtain (1880-1884) and Edmund McCurtain (1884-1886) were elected as principal chief before him.[1] His family name is of Scots-Irish origin, but McCurtain was full-blood Choctaw.[2]
His first wife was European American, and together they had a son, D.C. McCurtain. He later lived in Spiro, Oklahoma. His second wife was Kate Spring, and the couple had one son and four daughters: Alice, Lena, Bertha and Cora.[1] He was a Baptist.[2]
McCurtain represented the Tuskahoma, or progressive party of his tribe. He first served as Choctaw National Treasurer for two terms and oversaw the distribution of $2 million dollars in treaty settlements. Twice he served as a Choctaw Delegate to the US federal government in Washington, DC.
He served as a member of his district's board of education within the tribe, and subsequently served as district attorney. In 1896 and 1898, McCurtain was elected Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation. Term limits prevented him for running again immediately. In 1902, he was eligible to run again and won the election. He won a fourth term in 1904.
Under the Dawes Act, in 1906 the US government broke up tribal governments and institutions. The Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed McCurtain as chief, and he acted under BIA supervision until his death.[2]
The Green McCurtain House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 21, 1971. The house was in ruins at the time and has since been reconstructed. It is a two-story, L-shaped residence.[3]
McCurtain died December 27, 1910[2] at his home in Kinta, Oklahoma. He was buried at his old home in San Bois Cemetery in Kinta, Haskell County, Oklahoma.[4]