Harry James Watson "Jimmy" Belvin (1900–1986) was a Choctaw educator and politician who served as an Oklahoma State Representative and Senator. He was the first elected principal chief of any of the Five Civilized Tribes in the 20th century, and the longest serving principal chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He saw his tribe through termination, restoration, and a rebirth of Native Pride. He was a polarizing leader, seen by some as a semi-dictator who held onto the office of principal chief and used his power to advocate for complete assimilation into the dominant society, suppressing Choctaw traditions, language and ceremonial practices as undesirable remnants of an unrefined history. To others, he was a well-liked, populist leader, who went door-to-door talking with tribe members, informing them on issues, and trying to develop the means the alleviate the poverty and unemployment they faced.
Early life Jimmy Belvin was born in Boswell, Choctaw County, Indian Territory on December 11, 1900 to Watson J. and Mabel Powers Belvin. He was a direct descendant of the original Belvins who were forced over the Trail of Tears from the Choctaw homeland in Mississippi to Indian Territory. He attended school in Boswell and graduated from Southeastern Teachers College with a Bachelor of Science degree, going on to earn a Master's of Education at the University of Oklahoma which he completed in 1941.
Belvin taught school at Mayhew, Bryan County and in Choctaw County from 1923 until 1939. In 1941 he was elected Bryan County Superintendent of Public Instruction, a position he held until 1952. He then began operating a Hereford cattle ranch in Bryan and Choctaw counties.
After his first successful election to the Oklahoma legislature in 1955, Belvin served three terms in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives representing Bryan County. In 1960, he was elected as an Oklahoma State Senator.
Coal and asphalt lands As early as 1946, support for Belvin becoming principal chief had been growing. William A. Durant had served since 1937, and was seen as having made little headway on selling the asphalt lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw. At issue were some of lands that were jointly owned by the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. Based on a 1902 agreement, the US had agreed to purchase these lands within three years, but had still not done so. In 1946, Chief Durant and Chickasaw Governor Floyd Maytubby were asking for $33.1 million which the US government valued at $2.2 million. Belvin was, on the other hand was seen as an educated, galvanized leader who wanted to revitalize the tribe. Even before he was chief, he wrote long letters to Congressman Carl Albert, Congressman William Stigler, Senator Elmer Thomas, Senator Edward H. Moore, the Bureau of Indian Affairs office, and the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes criticizing the delays in finalizing the purchase.
When a settlement was finally reached of $8.5 million, Belvin again launched a letter-writing campaign questioning why the settlement was reached without allowing representatives of the Choctaw-Chickasaw Confederation to attend the negotiations. Considering that the land contained 770 million tons of readily available coal, another 1 billion tons of reserve coal and asphalt, and was near a recent oil strike, Belvin questioned how the coal could be valued at 1 cent per ton and the reserve coal, valued at 0.1 cent per ton. Belvin was also highly critical of the fact that Chief Durant had not attended the negotiations, leaving the decision of "the most momentous meeting affecting the tribe's welfare since the Atoka Agreement of 1897" up to Maytubby and the Choctaw Tribal attorney.
Choctaw-Chickasaw Confederation was officially created on 9 January 1947, though it had operated for several years, as a means for the tribes to track tribal assets, hold meetings and discussions and disseminate information outside of the "official" BIA structure. After the sale had been negotiated, Belvin wrote letters as president of the Confederation to tribal members and urged them to attend informational meetings and decide whether or not they wanted to accept the offer. He did not give his own opinions, but urged each tribemember to vote according to their own conscience. Though he thought the settlement amount was undervalued, once he became chief, Belvin stopped criticizing the amount and strove to collect the distribution so desperately needed by his poverty stricken tribe members.
Choctaw Principal Chief Belvin was first elected as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in 1948. In fact, he was the first elected chief of any of the Five Civilized Tribes and of the Choctaw Nation in the 20th century. All chiefs of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma since the implementation of the Dawes Act had been appointed by the president upon recommendation from the BIA. Until the 1970s, the only two exceptions to presidential appointment were that in 1948 and again in 1954, the Choctaw were allowed to elect their chief. Both times, they elected Belvin,Lambert (2007), p 66 though voting was limited to a fraction of the eligible enrollees.
In the lead up to the 1954 election, the Department of the Interior informed Belvin that they did not believe the tribe warranted a full-time chief. Belvin contacted Congressman Carl Albert, also a proponent of tribal democracy, who worked behind the scenes to keep the Choctaw Principal Chief as a full-time position. Belvin believed so strongly in the right of the tribes to elect their own governance, that he persuaded the Chickasaw to press for their own elections. Though the Chickasaw tried for many years to convince the Bureau of Indian Affairs to allow them to vote on their own leadership, their requests were ignored.
Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes There had been several joint relationships among the Five Civilized Tribes throughout their history—the 1842 Inter-Tribal Council of the Deep Fork River, the 1861 United Nations of Indian Territory, and the 1866 Okmulgee Council. Because of their similar histories and situations in Oklahoma, with removal, allotment, and government oversight, there was a recognition that tribal goals for development, education, services for tribe members, health initiatives and poverty alleviation were virtually the same and working together would be of benefit. In fact, informally the tribes had already been working jointly on projects. In March, 1949, Belvin had gone to Washington, DC not only to prod lawmakers regarding the coal and asphalt settlement, but to present a proposal drawn up by representatives of the five tribes as a far-reaching "relief" plan. They proposed more effective administration of Indian affairs, a new land policy, rehabilitation, education, health, conservation, and road building and maintenance as the means to alleviate distress in their nations and had obtained the endorsement from the local agency office.
In September and October 1949, the leaders of the Five Civilized Tribes met in Muskogee, Oklahoma and formed the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes (ITC). They pledged to work together to attain for themselves and their descendants the rights and benefits which they were entitled to under law, state or federal, and to seek equity for tribal affairs and tribe members by promoting the common welfare of American Indians. The constitution of the organization was approved on February 3, 1950. Inter-Tribal Council membership includes the principal chief and four members from each of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole nations.
Belvin served on the ITC from its founding in 1949 through 1975. After obtaining Congressional approval, and pressing for the withdrawal of House Concurrent Resolution 108, the ITC has spent over a half-century of activity focusing on education, health care, housing, and sovereignty to serve the special cultural, economic, and social needs of all tribespeople.
Termination As part of the Indian termination policy pursued by the US government from the 1940s through the 1960s, a series of laws were passed to enable the government to end its trust relationships with native tribes. One of the first of these laws passed on August 13, 1946—the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946, Pub. L. No. 79-726, ch. 959. Its purpose was to settle for all time any outstanding grievances or claims the tribes might have against the U.S. for treaty breaches, unauthorized taking of land, dishonorable or unfair dealings, or inadequate compensation. Claims had to be filed within a five-year period, and most of the 370 complaints that were submitted were filed at the approach of the 5-year deadline in August, 1951. In 1946, the government had appropriated funds for the tribal sale of coal and asphalt resources, but had charged almost 10% of the $8.5 million award in administrative fees.
When Belvin became chief in 1948, he realized that only federally recognized tribes were allowed to file a claim with the commission. If he wanted to get that money back, his tribe needed to reorganize. He created a democratically elected tribal council and a constitution to re-establish a government, but his efforts were opposed by the Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Ultimately, the tribe was able to file a claim for around $750,000 with the Commission in 1951 on a technicality. The suit was classified as a renewal of the 1944 case against the US Court of Claims, but that did not stop the antagonism between Belvin and the area BIA officials. The BIA had had management issues for decades. Poorly trained personnel, inefficiency, corruption, and lack of consistent policy plagued the organization almost from its founding. For Belvin, relief from BIA oversight of policies and funds seemed as if it might pave the way for the Choctaw to maintain their own traditional ways of operating and reform their own governing council.
Early on, it may also be that Belvin believed termination was what the tribe wanted. In a 1954 presentation to the Intertribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, he told the chiefs of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole nations that the majority of Choctaw were not interested in tribal affairs and supported discontinuance of the tribe. But he also stated in an interview that same year with the Lubbock Avalanche, that he thought proposing termination was another way for the government to "shirk its responsibility to a people who owned the entire continent of North America when the white man first invaded, not discovered, this country".
After eleven years as Choctaw chief, Belvin persuaded Representative Carl Albert of Oklahoma to introduce federal legislation to begin terminating the Choctaw tribe. What Belvin proposed was relief from the paternalistic watch of the BIA, which allowed the tribe to choose their own chiefs and handle tribal business and assets without federal supervision. On 23 April 1959, the BIA confirmed that H.R.2722 had been submitted to Congress at the request of the tribe, and would sell all remaining tribal assets, but would not affect any individual Choctaw earnings. It also provided for retention of half of all mineral rights which could be managed by a tribal corporation.