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Abstract
In response to white settlers' demands for
tribal lands in the southeast, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act
in 1830.
The “Five Tribes”—Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Muscogees (Creeks), and Seminoles—were then forced to Indian Territory
(now Oklahoma). Natives had access to a vast array
of fruits, vegetables, and game meats, and until the Civil War, their
health
problems appeared to be maladies such as wounds,
parasites, contagious diseases, and illnesses associated with unsanitary
conditions. Around the mid-1860s, natives' diets
began changing in two ways: either they included an overabundance of
wheat
flour, sugar, salt, and lard that resulted in
diet-related ailments such as diabetes, obesity, and tooth decay; or the
amount
of food was inadequate, and natives suffered from
malnutrition. Using testimonies of early explorers and elderly residents
of 1930s Oklahoma who recalled their days in the
Territory, this essay explores the sustenance of the Five Tribes and
considers
how changing from a diet of fresh flora and fauna
to calorie-dense, fatty, and carbohydrate-laden meals may have
contributed
to their declining health.
