The Chaloklowa Chickasaws are a remnant of the Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

 tribe of the eastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 that avoided the forced Indian removal

Indian Removal

Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...

 during the 1830s to what is now Oklahoma.

Some members of the tribe avoided the transfer and subsequent legal discrimination by concealing their Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 status, and managed to live as "The Shadow People" for several generations until legal discrimination ended. In 2005, members of the tribe gained official recognition from the State of South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, and have their tribal headquarters at Indiantown, South Carolina

Indiantown, South Carolina

Indiantown is an unincorporated community in rural Williamsburg County, South Carolina, United States. Prior to the arrival of Europeans to North America, it was the site of a Chickasaw village and the area was a favored hunting and fishing ground...

 which was their historic eastern homeland.

Chalaklowa means "dancing turkey," in reference to the ritualized mating dances of the wild turkey

Wild Turkey

The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...

. The tribe, officially known as the Chaloklowa Chickasaw Indian People is governed by Mingo

Mingo

The Mingo are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans made up of peoples who migrated west to the Ohio Country in the mid-eighteenth century. Anglo-Americans called these migrants mingos, a corruption of mingwe, an Eastern Algonquian name for Iroquoian-language groups in general. Mingos have also...

es (chiefs) Vernon Tanner and Uly Joe Tanner. The group has started recreating a small village as a living history and teaching center for the public.

The group has been able to preserve many of the old customs and traditions by oral history

Oral history

Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...

 and pow wow

Pow woW

Pow woW is French musical group. Their biggest hit was "Le Chat" in 1992. Their next single was the French version of song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", titled "Le lion est mort ce soir".- Albums :* Regagner les plaines...

s (pau waus) held secretly as family reunions. According to Chief Vernon Tanner many of the eastern tribes have lost their traditions and have had to borrow from the western tribes.

Reference to South Carolina Native Americans