Gathering at Choctaw Capitol in 1938
Tvshkahomma Capitol Museum Collection

Gathering at Choctaw Capitol in 1938 (Taken during the rededication event)

The Labor Day Festival and the Annual Iksa Meeting, Part I

Iti FabvssaPublished April 1, 2025

By Reno Crims

This month, Iti Fabvssa would like to answer a popular question, “When was the first Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival?”

Over the next few months, we will be running a series of articles that will discuss the answer to this question by looking at a few important historical events, including the 1938 reconstruction of the Choctaw Capitol Building and the yearly celebration connected to it called the “Annual Iksa Meeting.” This Annual Iksa Meeting, and later meetings, would evolve into what we celebrate today as the Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival.

There are multiple stories about when the first Choctaw Labor Day Festival was held. Often, people connect its beginning to the Choctaw cultural revitalization movement of the 1970s. They may also recall the earliest instances of the annual Choctaw Princess Pageants in the late 1960s. Many elders also say that the festival was put on in the 1950s by Chief Belvin. Some members of the community point to the similarities that the annual gathering shares to the historic General Council Meetings from the 19th century, which would occur in early October of every year. All of these events and remembrances are associated with the Choctaw Labor Day Festival. However there is more to this history that spans back to the reconstruction of the Choctaw Capitol Building.

Older newspaper announcements of the Labor Day Festival show that during the 1960s and 1970s, the Choctaw community considered the first instance to be in the year 1948. This is an important year for the Choctaw Nation. It marks both the passing of Chief William Durant and the democratic election and appointment of Chief Harry Belvin.

Newly elected Chief Belvin celebrated by holding a festival at Tvshkahomma, which he characterized as the “Choctaw-Chickasaw Labor Day Meet.” He held the meeting alongside then Chickasaw Governor Floyd Maytubby. The event was also organized to honor the life and legacy of Chief Durant.

It is easy to assume that the 1948 meeting would mark the finite beginning of the present Labor Day Festival, but this is not the case. On September 9, 1948, the Antlers American published Belvin’s intentions to create “an annual custom of the Labor Day gathering of the Choctaws and their friends, resuming the custom which began soon after the restoration of the old council house in the early 1930s under Chief Durant”. The “resuming the custom” phrase tells us that Belvin’s gathering was expressly a continuation of earlier events that were tied to the renovation of the Capitol Building in the 1930s.

1938-1939 Civilian Conservation Corps
Talihina American1938-1939 Civilian Conservation Corps Indian Division

Built in 1884, the Choctaw Capitol Building was in common use until the Choctaw Government was “closed” in 1906 and the Capitol fell into varying states of disuse and disrepair. Over the course of 30 years, the Capitol become hazardous. It was also purchased by the Oklahoma Presbyterian College which initially planned to scrap the Capitol for its bricks and raw materials. It took the combined efforts of the Choctaw Advisory Council to regain the property and provide for the extensive renovation that included reconstructing some elements of the building.

In the late 1930s, the Choctaw Advisory Council, under the supervision of Chief Ben Dwight and later Chief William Durant Administrations, was able to fund the complete rebuilding of the Tvshkahomma Capitol Building as part of a WPA (Works Progress Administration project). The work was completed by the CCC-ID (Civilian Conservation Corps – Indian Division).

Newspapers at the time stated that Chief Durant boasted the division who worked on saving the Capitol was entirely composed of Choctaws.

The repairs were expected to take approximately four months. Members of the Choctaw Advisory Council advocated to acquire and develop the surrounding two hundred acres. At the end of the renovation, the Capitol was to be used for “educational and historical purposes.” It was described as a “museum for the preservation of tribal records (…) and for future activities of the tribe as a whole.” On December 9th, 1937, Peter James Hudson announced that a full month’s work restoring the Capitol had been completed.

The project’s completion in 1938 was celebrated with a two-day event planned by Chief William Durant and members of the Choctaw Advisory Council. During this event, Chief Durant held a program that began with Judge Thomas Hunter, another Choctaw Republic alumnus and Advisory Council member, who presented a piece titled The Traditions and Legends of the Choctaw People.

The event also held a program that honored the history of the Chiefs of the Choctaw Nation stretching back to the leaders of the Skullyville and Doaksville Constitutions (1857 and 1860 respectively). Past tribal leaders were honored by representatives who gave speeches dedicated to each leader’s life and legacy. Some notable speakers scheduled for the event included Peter J. Hudson, Muriel H. Wright, Joseph Dukes, Silas Cole, and former Chief Victor Locke Jr.

During this two-day ceremony, they also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the construction of the Nvnih Waiya Capitol Building south of Tvshkahomma, which was completed in 1838. The Nvnih Waiya Capitol Building was the first capital of the Choctaw Nation after removal to Indian Territory.

The event also featured a barbecue organized by Lizzie Aikman, a daughter of former Chief Jackson McCurtain. Lizzie and her mother, Jane McCurtain, had been long-term caretakers of the Capitol for years prior to its reconstruction. The Goodland Indian Orphanage, provided music and other individual singers were featured throughout the celebration. Traditional Choctaw Dances were abstained from, as the organizers believed the custom was wholly abandoned, and Pawnee tribal members demonstrated their dances instead.

Next month, in Part II, we will cover how rededication evolved into the Annual Iksa Meeting, also called the “Annual Gathering of Choctaws.” That article will also share significant events of the 1939 and 1940 meetings.

Works Cited