Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Chickasaws for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students
and teachers to visit our main Chickasaw Indian website
for more in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with
Chickasaw pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages.
How do you pronounce the word "Chickasaw"? What does it mean?
It's pronounced "CHICK-a-saw." It comes from their own tribal name, Chikasha, which was the name of a legendary Chickasaw leader.
Where do the Chickasaws live?
The Chickasaws are original people of the American southeast, particularly
Mississippi,
Alabama,
Tennessee,
Kentucky and
Missouri.
Most Chickasaws were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800's, and their descendants live in Oklahoma today.
Some Chickasaws escaped by hiding or pretending to be white, and the descendants of
these people are still living in the original Chickasaw homelands.
How is the Chickasaw Indian nation organized?
The Chickasaw tribe has its own government, laws, police, and services, just like a small country. However, the Chickasaws
are also US citizens and must obey American law.
In the past, the Chickasaw tribe was ruled by a council of hereditary clan chiefs,
led by a minko, or war chief, who made military and political decisions for the whole tribe.
Today, the Chickasaw councilmembers and governor are popularly elected.
What language do the Chickasaws speak?
Most Chickasaw people speak English today. Some people, especially elders, also speak their native
Chickasaw language. Chickasaw is a rhythmic language that is very similar to
Choctaw. Speakers of the two languages can understand each other without much
difficulty. If you'd like to know a few easy Chickasaw words,
"chokma" (pronounced choke-mah) is a friendly greeting, and "ayali" (pronounced ah-yah-lee) means 'goodbye.'
You can also read a Chickasaw picture glossary here.
What was Chickasaw culture like in the past? What is it like now?
Here is a link to the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma,
where you can learn about the Chickasaw people past and present.
How do Chickasaw Indian children live, and what did they do in the past?
They do the same things all children do--play with each other, go to school and help around the house.
Many Chickasaw children like to go hunting and fishing with their fathers. In the past, Indian kids had more
chores and less time to play, just like colonial children. But they did have beaded dolls,
toys and games to play with.
Lacrosse
was also a popular sport among teenage boys as it was among adult men. Chickasaw mothers, like many
Native Americans, traditionally carried their babies in
cradleboards
on their backs--a custom which many American parents have
adopted
now.
What were men and women's roles in the Chickasaw tribe?
Chickasaw men were hunters and sometimes went to war to protect their families. Chickasaw women were farmers and also did most of the
child care and cooking. Both genders could succeed at storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. In the past, Chickasaw chiefs were
always men, but today a Chickasaw woman can be chief too.
What were Chickasaw homes like in the past? The Chickasaw people
lived in settled villages of houses and small farms.
Chickasaw houses were made of plaster and rivercane walls with thatched roofs.
Here are some pictures of the kind of housing used by the Chickasaw Indians.
Most towns also had a lacrosse field with benches for spectators. Chickasaw villages were often surrounded by palisades
(reinforced walls made of tree trunks) to guard against attack.
Today, no one uses an old-fashioned Chickasaw home for shelter, any more than white Americans live in a log cabin.
Chickasaws live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you.
What was Chickasaw clothing like? Did they wear feather headdresses and face paint?
Chickasaw men wore a breechcloth, sometimes with leather leggings
to protect their legs. Chickasaw women wore wraparound skirts made of woven
fiber or deerskin. The Chickasaws also wore moccasins
on their feet. Shirts were not necessary in Chickasaw culture, but men and women both wore poncho-style blouses in cooler weather.
In colonial times, the Chickasaws adapted European costume into their own characteristic style, including long colorful tunics for men
and full skirts decorated with ribbon applique for women. Here are some photographs
and links about Indian clothes in general.
The Chickasaws didn't wear long headdresses like the
Sioux. Chickasaw men usually shaved their heads except for a
single scalplock, and sometimes they would also wear a porcupine roach.
(These headdresses were made of porcupine hair, not their sharp quills!) Chickasaw women often tied their hair up on top of their heads
with strings of beads. Important Chickasaw men tattooed themselves
with special patterns in honor of their accomplishments, and the
Chickasaws often painted their faces and bodies bright colors during battles and festivals.
Today, some Chickasaw people still wear moccasins
or a ribbon shirt, but they wear modern clothes like jeans instead of breechcloths... and they only wear roaches in their hair on special
occasions like a dance.
What was Chickasaw transportation like in the days before cars? Did they paddle canoes?
Yes--the Chickasaw Indians made long dugout canoes from hollowed-out logs.
Over land, the Chickasaws used dogs as pack animals.
There were no horses in North America until colonists brought them over from Europe.
Today, of course, Chickasaw people also use cars... and non-native people also use canoes.
What was Chickasaw food like in the days before supermarkets?
The Chickasaw Indians were farming people. Chickasaw women did most of the farming, harvesting crops of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers.
They also gathered wild plants such as nuts, berries, plums, and herbs.
Chickasaw men did most of the hunting, shooting deer, wild turkeys, and small game and fishing in the rivers and along the coast.
Chickasaw dishes included cornbread, soups, and stews cooked on stone hearths. The Chickasaws also enjoyed sassafrass tea.
What were Chickasaw weapons and tools like in the past?
Chickasaw hunters primarily used bows and arrows. Fishermen generally used fishing spears.
In war, Chickasaw men fired their bows or fought with tomahawks and lances. Chickasaw warriors
used hide shields to defend themselves, and sometimes set arrows on fire before shooting them at their enemies.
What are Chickasaw arts and crafts like?
The Chickasaws were known for their rivercane baskets and other
containers, woodcarvings, mulberry-bark textiles, and
pottery.
When they were forced to move to Oklahoma,
the Chickasaws couldn't get the materials they used to use for some of their traditional crafts, so they concentrated more
on other crafts such as beadwork.
What other Native Americans did the Chickasaw tribe interact with?
The Chickasaws traded regularly with all the other Southeast Native Americans. These tribes communicated using a simplified trade language
called Mobilian Trade Jargon. The most important Chickasaw neighbors were the
Choctaws. Long in the past, the Choctaws and Chickasaws used to
be the same tribe, but then they split. After that, the two tribes sometimes fought each other, and other times were allies.
What kinds of stories do the Chickasaws tell?
There are lots of traditional Chickasaw legends and fairy tales. Storytelling is very important to the
Chickasaw Indian culture. Here is a story about the origin of the Chickasaw Nation.
What about Chickasaw religion?
Religions are too complicated and culturally sensitive to describe appropriately
in only a few simple sentences, and we strongly want to avoid misleading anybody. You can visit this site to learn more about
Chickasaw religious customs or this site about
Native American religion in general.
Can you recommend a good book for me to read?
You may enjoy The Chickasaw Adventures,
a series of four comic-book style adventure stories from Chickasaw history.
Two good books for kids on Chickasaw culture in general are
for kids are The Chickasaw Nation and
Chickasaw.
You can also browse through our reading list of recommended American Indian books in general.
How do I cite your website in my bibliography?
You will need to ask your teacher for the format he or she wants you to use. Our names are Laura Redish and
Orrin Lewis and the title of our site is Native Languages of the Americas. The site was first created in 1998 and last updated in 2007.
Thanks for your interest in the Chickasaw Indian people and their language!
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