Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb facts for kids

The Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb, also known as the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, is a state-recognized tribe and nonprofit organization in Louisiana. The community describes themselves as the descendants of Choctaw and Lipan Apache people and is primarily based in the town of Zwolle, Louisiana, with pow-wow grounds in Ebarb, Louisiana, both of which are in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, where the group say they have lived since the early 1700s.

They are not federally recognized as a Native American tribe.

History

The group writes that the Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb began in the early 1700s, after the Spanish founded Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes Presidio, a fort in the area defended by Mestizo and Spanish soldiers. They say they married or had unions with local Caddo, Adai, and formerly enslaved Lipan Apache women living in the area.When the Spanish dissolved the fort in 1773 and ordered the soldiers to return to San Antonio, many remained behind with their families. They settled in the area of Zwolle and Ebarb.

Following the Louisiana Purchase by the United States in 1803, bands of Choctaw began moving into this area in search of new hunting grounds. Additional Choctaw were moved into the area by US Indian Agent John Sibley. Twenty-one Choctaw families were listed in the 1870 Census for the area.

In the 20th century, the people mostly worked in the timber and oil industries. They lived along the east bank of the Sabine River until the states of Texas and Louisiana created a project to dam it for flood control and power generation. The states claimed 180,000 acres of the ancestral land to create the Toledo Bend Reservoir. The people in the area were forced to move.

Language

The Ebarb community has traditionally spoken a dialect of Spanish dating from the establishment of Los Adaes. Due to the community's history, their dialect is derived from rural Mexican Spanish of the late 18th century, and bears little resemblance to Isleño Spanish. A similar dialect has been spoken around Moral, west of Nacogdoches, on the other side of the Toledo Bend Reservoir, which also derives from the Los Adaes settlement. This dialect is very endangered; as of the 1980s, there were no more than 50 fluent speakers on either side of the Sabine River.

Membership

In 2008 the group reports they had 2,300 enrolled members living in the area, and additional members in other regions.

Organization

The group formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1977, with the mission "to assist tribe members and obtain federal recognition. Continued to work on member documentation needed for federal recognition."

State-recognition

The Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb received state recognition as a tribe by the state of Louisiana in 1978 by legislative action (also reported as 1977).

Letter of intent to petition for federal recognition

In 1978, John W. Procell wrote the Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb's letter of intent to petition for federal recognition to the US Department of the Interior; however, the organization has not yet submitted a completed petition for federal recognition.

Activities

The group hosts an annual powwow in mid-April in Noble, Louisiana.