Chickasaw Clan System

In the ancient days, clans helped govern and provide social structure to Native American villages. Each clan had a hierarchy reflected in the way they sat around the fire, how they conducted themselves in ceremonies and how their houses were positioned. Here, learn about those ancient clans and how they helped to develop Chickasaw society.

7 Items

Descending from Clans: A Matrilineal Society

Joshua Hinson

Matriarchs

Joshua Hinson explains that traditionally, Chickasaw heritage descended solely from the female.

1m 30s

The Chickasaws: Clan System Enabled the "Indian Grapevine"

Richard Green, Author & Former Chickasaw Nation Historian

The clan system enabled the Chickasaws to trade with and be welcomed by other tribal members of the same clan.

1m 30s

The Ancient Language of Clans

Joshua Hinson

Arts & Music

Joshua Hinson describes how his family learned the history of its clan, the Panther Clan.

1m 30s

Clan Systems in a Matrilineal Society

LaDonna Brown, Tribal Anthropologist, Department of History & Culture, Chickasaw Nation

LaDonna Brown explains how the clan system provided a societal structure for the southeastern tribes.

The Southeast Clan System Defined Societal Structure

LaDonna Brown, Tribal Anthropologist, Department of History & Culture, Chickasaw Nation

LaDonna elaborates on the societal structure clans provided, such as who could be leaders, doctors or warriors.

Muskogean Tribes: Clan Systems Organized Life

Joshua Hinson, Director, Language Department, Division of Culture & Humanities, Chickasaw Nation

Clan structure and the smaller house groups were organizing forces from the Mississippian period until the middle 1800s.

Lowak Costumes: Detail on Clans

Margaret Roach Wheeler

Margaret Wheeler provides some background on the clans, which governed and provided social structure to early Indian villages.