The Gift at 178: Reflections on an enduring relationship

March 23rd marks the 178th anniversary of the meeting at Skullyville, Oklahoma in which members of the Choctaw Nation took up a collection in aid of the starving in Ireland during the Great Hunger of the 19th century. The Choctaw Gift, as it has come to be known, represents a relationship founded on a moment of generosity that characterises this long-standing bond between geographically distant peoples. As we mark the anniversary of this founding moment, how might we understand the legacies the Gift has left us today?

Historical resonances between Indigenous and Irish experiences of colonisation are evident. Shared histories of land displacement, cultural and linguistic erasure, and migration as a result of catastrophic colonial policies are indicative of the ways in which imperial strategies span global contexts. In 1830, the Indian Removal Act paved the way for the forced migration of first the Choctaw, then the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee Creek and Seminole Tribes on the Trail of Tears – a move which saw tribes pushed westwards in order to open up lands for European settlement in the southeastern part of the United States. Whilst the Irish were also forcibly displaced from their lands during the Cromwellian period in the 17th century, these newly “available” lands in the southeastern region of the United States also partially supported the increase in Irish immigration, which rocketed both during and in the aftermath of the Great Famine. Despite these sometimes more difficult inheritances in Indigenous-Irish relations, specific episodes such as the Choctaw Gift of 1847 can be remembered as an example of friendship and generosity that continues to shape relations between peoples to this day.

So what might we learn from the legacy of the Gift today? Our research over the past 18 months has revealed the complexities inherent in this intriguing historic episode. From stories of hunger that have shaped Choctaw understandings of seasonality to the unlikely culinary connections that have emerged between Irish and Choctaw communities, ‘Sharing Lands’ has examined the understudied historic dimensions and contemporary legacies of this compelling relationship between peoples. What we have learned is that the partnership based on friendship and diplomacy that was begun on that spring day at Skullyville is a covenant that must be maintained. Contemporary reiterations of mutual respect and support for sovereignty such as the Chahta Foundation’s scholarship programme and acts grounded in and inspired by the Choctaw concepts of ‘iyyikowa’ (serving those in need) and ‘ima’ (giving) set the stage for future relationships that stretch from Choctaw lands to Ireland and beyond. ‘Sharing Lands’ is honoured to play even a small part in deepening and extending this relationship as part of our research.