Hi All: I wanted to share the below information with you as I'm some don't know about the book that Jacqueline Anderson Matte has written. I asked Jackie if it would be okay to post the below information on this list. I'm hearing a lot of raves about this book from those who have recently purchased it. If you are interested, please go to the below URL <http://freepages.cultures.rootsweb.com/~choctaw/windred.htm> Sandi :) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ABOUT THE BOOK They Say the Wind is Red is the moving story of the Choctaw Indians who stayed behind when their tribe was relocated. In doing so they were continually subjected to attempts to extort from them their land rights by so-called legitimate government agents. Throughout the 1800's and 1900's they repeatedly tried to obtain the right from the government to choose their own agents so unscrupulous people who would steal their land and money would not take advantage of them. During this time they have always maintained their Indian communities even when government census takers listed them as black or mulatto, when they listed them at all. In the South there were only two races—white or black. Mrs. Matte spent over 15 years researching the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians for documentation required for the federal acknowledgment they have sought for 169 years. Compiling a written history for the "oral history," which the tribe has used for hundreds of years, Ms. Matte documents an unbroken chain of a people whose ancestors once owned a part of the Old Mississippi Territory. The U.S. government does not recognize their oral history, acknowledged by sociologists for ancient cultures, but it powerfully portrays the people who have passed it down from generation to generation.