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Choctaw Academy is a uniquely important historical site that exemplifies antebellum America. During the lifetime of the school--1825-1848, the United States transformed from an east coast nation into a continental empire. The territorial growth of the United States forged a multicultural, multiracial society, but that diversity also sparked fierce debates over race, citizenship, and America's destiny. Choctaw Academy, a place of race-mixing and cultural exchange, emerged as a battleground. Its history affords us an intimate view of the ambitions and struggles of American Indians, settlers, and enslaved people who were trying to secure their place in a changing world.
The last standing building is nearing collapse and this place is just too important to let it fall.
Exceptional Impact
The first secular federal boarding school on request of the Natives. 1825-1848.
The most important place in Antebellum America. 600 students from 17 tribes!
Doctors
Joel Barrow was the first formally trained native physician. He came to the Academy as an orphan in 1837. After securing a grant and recommendations, he went to Transylvania College and graduated in 1844. Although William Trahern may have been the first to be accepted to a medical school in 1833, Joel was the first to finish. He later went on to serve his Potawatomi trive in 1848 as tribal physician.
Lawyers
Joseph Bourassa attended Transylvania Law school in 1831, although he wasn’t the first, he was likely the second Native to receive a law degree in US history.
Educators
A few went on to become educators.
Chiefs
Others, like Peter Pitchlynn went onto become tribal chief of the Choctaw Nation 1864
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