I dedicate this book to: My Future Children

Table of Contents:

Indians and their way of life- pg.3-4

Large Tribes- pg.5-9

Trail of Tears- pg.10

Europeans- pg.11-15

Indians are a type of people who lived and grew up in our state, a long, long, time ago. We still celebrate their ways of life, and will continue for years to come!

Indians (Native Americans) stayed in our state, about 2,000 years before we were even thought of. This is called, early time periods of the Native Americans. Over many many years, these people ate big animals, like deer, then small animals like rabbits and birds, and finally went to learning how to grow crops instead. This is because, over time weather changed from very cold to hot. Women and men had different jobs to do inside and outside. Native Americans lived in clans( their family groups ). Indians lived differently than today! They lived by many different rules, dressed almost naked for a long time, ate other things, and much more! It was very different for them, than it is for us!

There was many different types of Indians, known as tribes. There was small and large tribes. I am going to tell about three large tribes of Indians!

They are the Natchez, Choctaw, and Chickasaw.

Natchez Tribe Chickasaw Tribe Choctaw Tribe

Choctaw Indians

The Choctaws owned, or lived on most of our land. They fought with other Indians over land, because some places were a lot better than others.This didn't always turn out as they hoped. The Choctaws did make mounds, which were graves for those who died. They also played games, but not like the one we play now. They played games called Chunky and Stickball, in which they would try to prevent a fight, known as war.

Chickasaw Indians

The Chickasaw Indians mainly did everything similar to the Choctaws.They danced and sang a lot. They had many veggies that they ate, like corn, which was mostly eaten by all Mississippi Indians. They hunted for a living, while the Choctaws grew many vegetables. The Chickasaws also let some of the Natchez live with them after a fight between the French and the Natchez Indians. They were eventually forced with other Indians to move to a place called Oklahoma. The Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes also focused on spiritual things and feelings about the people in each tribe, too!

Natchez Indians

The Natchez Indians had a lot of money. They fought with others over land.They lived near rivers like some other Indians. There was sickness that spread in places like that.They did build secret mounds over graves of the dead just like other Indians. The Natchez Trace was the only main road, it connected where they stayed, to a place known as Tennessee!

Trail of Tears-

From many arguments over land, Indians were told that they had to leave where they had lived for almost all their life. They had to move to Oklahoma, because new people wanted to live there. This was very hard for them to do. They were very sad to leave, and they would have to get used to new places, food, and many different things! This was a very hard time in their lives!