MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,600 total enrollment (10,000+) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States ( Alabama) |
|
| Languages | |
| English, Choctaw | |
| Religion | |
| Catholic, Protestant, traditional tribal religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Apalachee, Apache, Natchez |
The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians have been acknowledged as follows:
International Recognition:
United States Federal Recognition:
The Choctaw Nation of Indians which were originally discovered and labeled on the maps in Louisiana Territory of France in 1732 (the Cresnay Map of 1732) was physically located in Mobile County at or about what is called 27 Mile Bluff or Chastang's Bluff in Mobile County and immediately below Ward's Bluff or what was known as Florida, the Natchez, the Town of Mobile, Fort Stoddard/Stoddart/Stoddert and now Mount Vernon, Alabama. The St. Stephens Road which was named St. Stephens Road or Highway 96 and now Coy Smith Highway is where the Weaver School of 1835 is reported by the Smithsonian Institution.
The Choctaw Indians of Mobile and Washington County have been recognized by the United States by Treaties with England, France, and Spain, as well as various Treaties between the years of 1786 to 1866 in which the Choctaw Nation is consistently located in what is now the State of Alabama along the Tombigby/Tombigbee River and in the Eastern Natchez District. Various state sponsored historical societies sought to "stretch the map" and move the Chickasaw and Choctaw further West to the present day Mississippi River and as far North as the Tennessee River despite the fact that references to the old Natchez can be found in the old version of the Mississippi Territorial Acts and the Mississippi Territorial Congress had to wrangle with how to move Tennessee further north beyond the 35th degree north latitude while leaving Memphis outside of the State of Tennessee in the bargain. The old Memphis in Alabama is now a ghost town and the old Clarkesville is now a memory as well.
The United States Congress recognized the entire Choctaw Nation as named in the Treaties of 1786–1866 in §25 U.S.C. 1779 in 2002, formally recognizing the Alabama Choctaw, who are specifically named as such in the Choctaw Treaty of 1866, under Article 13, and more closely to the Mobile and Washington County Band of Choctaw Indians in the Choctaw Treaty of Washington in 1825 when Washington was located in what is today Washington County Alabama where the Tombigby/Tombigbee is also specifically named. The federal stature §25 U.S.C 19 is the application of the Non-Intercourse Act of 1834 §25 U.S.C. 177 (updated in 2006) which allowed for the Choctaw Nation to assert its Treaty Rights over a land dispute involving the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas along the Red River.
The Choctaw Indians of Mobile and Washington County were acknowledged under the §25 U.S.C. 450 et al. or Public Law 93-638 which is known as the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 in which the American Indian Policy Review Commission was created and on May 17, 1977 completed its final report to the Congress of the United States Committee of Indian Affairs and listed the Choctaw Indians in Volume I on page 468 as a "nonfederal recognized tribe" which was one of the more than 100 tribes which the Commission recommended to be "federally acknowledged" as soon as possible or as soon as a government to government relationship could be re-established with each of these tribes.
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