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Those Who Stayed Behind continued.
The annual report to the commissioner of Indian affairs in 1849, showed that there were 557 Indians still living in Mississippi. Four years later, a census was taken by Douglas H. Copper, it revealed that there were 2,069 Choctaws in Mississippi and 193 in Louisiana. By 1900, they had developed stable communities around their churches and schools. In 1903, under pressure from local businessmen and politicians they were removed a second time. This nearly devastated the few Choctaw families that remained. In 1918, the federal government created the Federal Choctaw Agency of Mississippi. In, 1978, a Supreme court decision in the case the United States verses John declared that the Mississippi Choctaw Band possessed the same degree of sovereignty that the other Indian Tribes possess .With the support of the Senators and representatives from Mississippi , a bill was passed recognizing the Mississippi Choctaw as federal Indians. This entitled the Choctaw to Indian services through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1944, the federal government bought land in Neshoba County Mississippi for the remaining Choctaw. The majority of the Indians were living in and around Neshoba County at that time. The land purchased for the Choctaws was a 1600 acre tract to be used as a reservation. By 1960, there were 3,119 Indians living on the reservation, and by 1980 there were 6,313. There are other independent surveys that show approximately 2,000 Choctaws living off or around the reservation in 1980. Today, there are Choctaws living in 10 counties in Mississippi. There are also communities of Choctaws still living in the Southeastern United States in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana. The State of Louisiana has five separate bands living within her boarders Today the Choctaw of Mississippi proudly proclaim Chahta Hapia Hoke We Are Choctaw".
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