VANCLEAVE — The Vancleave Live Oak Choctaw Tribe, based in Jackson County, is working to preserve and revive its language, ceremonies and cultural identity — despite lacking recognition from both state and federal governments. 

Since organizing in 2013, the tribe has grown to more than 1,000 members. Council Leader William “Terry” Ladnier said that despite the momentum, efforts to restore Native American practices have been stifled by limited resources. Without official recognition, the group cannot access grants or tribal services that support elders, education or cultural programs. 

Still, members are determined to preserve their traditions. 

“We need to bring back our native ways … we want to bring back the language and the ceremonies and gatherings and all the different things that we can,” Ladnier said. 

Restoring a cultural community 

The tribe has made steady progress in building their community, which in turn has drawn growing interest from descendants rediscovering their ancestry. 

In recent years, the tribe has self-published a history book, created a community cookbook, erected a totem pole, installed signs marketing the group and established a dedicated tribal building to serve as a central gathering place. 

Members also connect on social media to share stories, explore their ancestry and discover how they’re related. 

Brittany Preedom joined the tribe three years ago after she and her mother began researching their Native roots. 

“I was excited (to join) because we always wanted to know more about our Native side, but we didn’t know where to start,” Preedom said. 

She said she hopes her children will grow up connected to their heritage by learning traditional practices, receiving Native names and speaking the Choctaw language. 

“I don’t want to see my kids one day forget who they are,” she said. “I don’t want them to lose the potential to learn harmony (with nature), the Native language — to learn the Native ways. I want them to understand this land.”  

Others in the community have expressed similar hopes about reconnecting with their culture and passing it on to the next generation. But even as interest grows, the path to long-term preservation remains uncertain. 

Preserving the past to secure the future 

Steve Register, the community’s historian, has spent more than 40 years gathering documents, records and oral history for the Vancleave Live Oak Choctaw. 

His research shows the group originated along the coast before many members migrated inland to work. 

“A lot of our people moved up here and started working in the timber business,” he said. 

Because Native children were not allowed to attend regular public schools, the Live Oak Pond Indian Creole School — namesake of the tribe — was built in 1918. Register said the school operated until 1965. 

Leroy Waltman, 75, attended the Live Oak school, but he left in the fifth grade to help support his family — part of a larger pattern of limited access to education in the community’s history. 

Up until the school’s final years, eighth grade was the highest level offered, since state and county only covered funding for the school through that point, and the tribe could not afford to provide high school education on its own. 

Rick Ely, another tribe member, said that lack of access to education prevented many in his family from fully understanding or preserving their Native identity. 

“They had no education. They couldn’t read; they couldn’t write,” Ely said. “My grandpa, Joseph — he had to have a white man go with him to get land.” 

Ely said he always knew about his family’s heritage but didn’t openly celebrate it until recently. 

“When I was a little boy, right before I started school, I would sit on the hood of our car — my grandpa’s station wagon — and I’d watch them,” Ely said. “That’s what I learned — my history, through my people.” 

Recognition to restore culture 

One of the biggest barriers to the tribe accessing support to preserve its heritage is the challenge of securing recognition itself, Ladnier said. 

To be recognized on the federal level, tribes must prove continuous existence, self-governance and cultural continuity dating back to at least 1900. 

The U.S. has formally recognized 574 Native American tribes — including just one in Mississippi: the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. 

Some tribes in other states pursue state recognition as a step toward federal recognition. 

In 2016, the Vancleave Live Oak Choctaw Tribe worked with Republican Rep. John Read of Gautier to pass a House resolution recognizing the group, but Ladnier said it did little to advance their cause without support from the governor’s office. 

Currently, Mississippi has no process or state entity to formally recognize tribes that are not already federally recognized, Ladnier said. 

“There’s no procedure for setting up a state-recognized tribe — what goes with it, how you do it and what would happen if you had a state-recognized tribe,” he said. “So, we’re in limbo right now, trying to move forward.”  

Without recognition at either level, Ladnier said, the group’s legitimacy can be questioned — and it cannot access grants or programs aimed at supporting Native communities. 

Ladnier said the cost of legal assistance to gain federal recognition remains out of reach. 

“At this point, we couldn’t afford a full-time attorney … probably couldn’t hardly hire an attorney right now to help us out on anything,” he said. 

For now, the Vancleave Live Oak Choctaw are focused on what they can control: teaching their history, practicing traditional ways and staying connected to the land. 

“We still feel like we’re Native,” Ladnier said. “We still live a lot like that — hunt, fish and grow crops … and preserve them — can them and do all the things … that were done by the Native people.”