Douglas H. Johnston

Douglas H. Johnston
Governor of the Chickasaw Nation
In office
September 1904 – June 28, 1939
Nominated byTheodore Roosevelt
Preceded byPalmer Mosely
Succeeded byFloyd Maytubby
In office
1898–1902
Preceded byRobert M. Harris
Succeeded byPalmer Mosely
Personal details
Born
Douglas Hancock Cooper Johnston

(1856-10-16)October 16, 1856
Skullyville, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory
DiedJune 28, 1939(1939-06-28) (aged 82)
Oklahoma City, U.S.
NationalityChickasaw
RelationsTe Ata Fisher (niece)
Signature

Douglas Hancock Cooper Johnston (October 16, 1856 – June 28, 1939, Chickasaw), also known as "Douglas Henry Johnston", was a tribal leader who served as the last elected governor of the Chickasaw Nation from 1898 to 1902. He was re-elected in 1904 and, after the Dawes Act changed how tribal lands were allocated and regulated in Indian Territory to allow statehood in 1907, he was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 as governor of the tribe under federal authority. He served until his death in office in 1939.

In office, he was notable for ratifying the Atoka Agreement, which allotted communal tribal lands to individual households. In the 1920s he successfully sued the federal government in the US Court of Claims, to recover monies illegally obtained from tribal resources. Prior to his election as governor, he was the superintendent of Bloomfield Academy, a Chickasaw girls' boarding school. From 1902 to 1904, he served in the Chickasaw Senate. President Theodore Roosevelt reappointed him as Governor of the Chickasaw after the Dawes Act changed how tribal lands were allocated and regulated in Indian Territory in an effort to push assimilation and prepare for statehood.


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