Home |  PublicationsEncyclopedia |  Five Tribes

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

FIVE TRIBES.

By the twenty-first century the designation "Five Tribes" had become accepted usage in describing a generic historical grouping of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, and Seminole nations of pre-statehood Oklahoma. The term has superseded an older usage, "Five Civilized Tribes," which is now considered to be demeaning. Nevertheless, "Five Civilized Tribes" is still found in the titles of numerous twentieth-century scholarly books and in some official documents. The earlier terminology also prevails in colloquial speech in Oklahoma and elsewhere.

Bibliography

"Historic Context Review: A Planning Tool for the Oklahoma Historical Society," 24 January 2018, Vertical File, Publications Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City.


Browse By Topic

American Indians


Citation

The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
“Five Tribes,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=FI015.

Published September 20, 2018

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.