Background
George Washington Harkins was born into a high-status Choctaw clan through his mother, Louisa "Lusony" LeFlore. His father was John Harkins, a European American.
George Washington Harkins was born into a high-status Choctaw clan through his mother, Louisa "Lusony" LeFlore. His father was John Harkins, a European American.
Harkins was educated at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
In 1850, he was chosen as chief of the Apukshunnubbee District (one of three) of the Choctaw Nation, where he served until 1857. Harkins learned from both his cultures, but identified as Choctaw first and foremost. He earned a law degree from Cumberland University.
Chief In October 1830, the national council deposed Greenwood LeFlore as chief because of his having signed the treaty for removal.
They elected George Harkins, who belonged to the same clan and was a nephew of LeFlore through his mother. In the Choctaw matrilineal system, the mother"s clan was most important to a person"s status.
To proceed with Indian Removal, President Jackson refused to recognize Harkins’s authority with the tribe. After Indian Removal, Harkins rose in influence in the tribe.
In 1834, he was elected judge of the Red River District in Indian Territory.
The council of chiefs of the Indian District elected him as principal chief of the District (which was one of three in the Nation), where he served from 1850–1857. The districts represented the longstanding geographic and political divisions that had existed in the tribe in the Southeast. Gradually, in Indian Territory, they became less important.
Harkins" 1831 "Farewell Letter to the American People," denouncing the removal of the Choctaw, was widely published in American newspapers.
To this day it is widely regarded as one of the most important documents of Native American history. Harkins wrote in part:.
