They Called Her a Negress, But She Was Natchez: How the Scypion Case Unmasked a Racial Coup

This Isn’t Just a History of One Family. It’s a Blueprint for How a Nation Was Erased, One Census Box at a Time.

Imagine this. You're walking through your grandmother's living room, flipping through a faded family Bible or old photos, when you notice a name labeled "Colored" or "Negro" in old census documents. But your grandma always said, "We was Indian, baby. Natchez. Straight from the mounds." For years, you thought maybe she was wrong, confused, or romanticizing history. But what if she was right? What if the government and the very system built to erase your past was lying?

Meet Marguerite Scypion, a so-called "Negress" in Missouri court records. She was enslaved. But not because she was African. Her grandmother was a Natchez Indian, one of the many Native peoples brutally dismantled, enslaved, and rewritten into the narrative of "Blackness."

 The Scypion Case Wasn’t Rare It Was the Blueprint

They want you to think the Scypion freedom suit (1805–1836) was a legal anomaly. A rare glitch in the matrix. But it wasn't. It was the receipt of a racialized empire project designed to erase Indigenous identity using phenotype and proximity to enslavement.

Marguerite's case proves this:

• She looked African.

• She was treated African.

• But her lineage was Natchez Indian and it was proven in the Supreme Court of Law

  
  

This is how the system operated: if you had dark skin and wooly hair, you were Black. Period. End of sentence. No matter if your grandmother spoke Natchez, kept the clan traditions, or was abducted from a mound village at the barrel of a musket.

Natchez: The Nation That Refused to Bow

Before French colonists arrived, the Natchez people were a powerful mound-building society on the lower Mississippi. They had a matrilineal aristocracy, sun temples, warriors, astronomers. They weren’t primitive. They were advanced.

And that scared the hell out of colonizers.

In 1729, the Natchez rose up against the French in a coordinated rebellion. They were punished with annihilation. Those who weren’t slaughtered were sold into slavery not just locally, but shipped to Saint-Domingue (Haiti) and even sold into the South Carolina slave markets through the Chickasaw. Some were even returned years later in the form of Caribbean-born slaves now labeled as African.

A full-circle erasure.

Colonial Racism Wrote the Labels

Let’s be real. The U.S. didn’t invent racism. It inherited and perfected it.

French and Spanish colonists routinely used terms like "négresses sauvages" (wild Black women) and "mulatresse" for Indian women enslaved after the Natchez War. These women gave birth to children who, by law, inherited their mother’s condition. But when the new American legal system took over, it didn’t care about their tribal affiliations. It cared about how they looked.

That means if you were dark-skinned and had tightly coiled hair, it didn’t matter if you were 100% Natchez.

You were "Negro."

Your tribal name? Gone. Your land rights? Gone. Your identity? Swallowed up in a census category that would become a civil death certificate.

This Wasn't a Mistake. It Was a Policy.

Scypion was described in court as a "Negress," yet the judge acknowledged her grandmother was Natchez. That should’ve been enough.

But her family had to battle three decades to prove what oral tradition already knew. The reason? Because America didn’t want to set a precedent that would unravel hundreds of other freedom suits, land claims, and restitution.

Imagine if every "Free Negro" or "Colored" family with Native blood was reclassified correctly. Imagine the land claims. The reparations. The political shift.

That's why they kept the lie going.

Records Tell the Truth — If You Know Where to Look

Family Name	Census Year	Race Label	Oral Tribal Affiliation
Scypion	1830 (MO)	Negro/Slave	Natchez
Metoyer	1805 (LA)	FPC	Natchez / Caddoan
Redhead	1850 (MS)	Colored	Natchez / Tunica
Charleville	1795 (MS)	Mulatto	French Natchez

All of them mislabeled. All of them robbed of their rights, because phenotype became a substitute for identity.

🧡 The Emotional Toll: Living a Lie You Didn’t Create

Think about it:

• How many people today walk around thinking they're "just Black" because a box told them so?

• How many lost their tribal heritage, rituals, and sacred names?

• How many never got to know who they were?

That’s the trauma of misclassification. It’s not just a paperwork error. It’s generational spiritual theft.

What Do We Do Now?

• Name It: This was racialized genocide through reclassification.

• Claim It: If your family was labeled Negro but claims Indian descent you have the right to investigate.

• File It: Use petitions, FOIA requests, and affidavits to force federal and state agencies to acknowledge misclassification.

Join It: Connect with grassroots movements like Urban Indian Heritage Society and Black Indian Reclassification Coalitions.

The Fight Isn't Over

The Scypions were never just one family. They were a symbol. A warning. A receipt.

The system didn’t fail them. It worked exactly as designed: to eliminate tribes through the illusion of race.

But truth? Truth doesn’t stay buried forever.

Your grandma was right.

Natchez Indians Enslaved and Classified as “Negro Slaves” by the French (1729–1731)

• After the Natchez Revolt of 1729, the French declared war on the Natchez and enslaved hundreds of them, transporting many to Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti) and labeling them as “Negro slaves.”

Source: Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo. Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century. LSU Press, 1992. — Hall explains that many Indians, including Natchez, were reclassified and exported alongside African slaves.

Source: Spear, Jennifer M. Race, Sex, and Social Order in Early New Orleans. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.

 — Spear documents how Indigenous women and children, especially those from the Natchez tribe, were enslaved and listed in censuses and estate inventories as “Negro” or “mulatto.”

2. Colonial Louisiana Legal Documents and Baptismal Records

• Catholic church records in French Louisiana reveal many Natchez and other Southeastern Indians baptized and recorded as “nègres,” “noirs,” or “métis” (mixed).

Source: Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Isle of Canes. (Historical novel based on documented families from Natchitoches, LA.) Mills shows how free people of color in Natchitoches had Natchez and other Native ancestry but were classified legally as Black.

Archival Source: Registers of the Parish of St. François d’Assise at Natchitoches (1700s)

 — These baptismal records contain entries like:

 “baptized child of Marie, a negro woman of the Natchez nation.”

3. Federal Censuses & Indian Rolls – 1800s

• Natchez-descended families who remained in Mississippi and Louisiana after removal were often not recorded as Indians, but instead listed as:

  • “Free Negro,” “Mulatto,” or “Person of Color” on censuses.

  • Denied inclusion on Indian Rolls due to phenotype and race-based rules (the Dawes Roll excluded many Southeastern tribes).

Source: Perdue, Theda, and Michael D. Green. The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southeast. Columbia University Press, 2001.

 — Details the process of racial classification for Southeastern Indians, especially those who remained behind or intermarried with African Americans.

4. Choctaw and Creek Freedmen Cases (Related Tribes)

• Though not Natchez directly, many descendants of Natchez who merged with other tribes like the Choctaw or Creek were classified as freedmen, not Indian, despite lineal descent.

Source: Littlefield, Daniel F. Africans and Creeks: From the Colonial Period to the Civil War. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.

 — Describes how Indian-Black mixed groups (including Natchez remnants) were redefined legally to erase Indigenous identity.

5. Louisiana’s “Creole” & “Gens de Couleur Libre” Communities

• Many Natchez descendants became part of Louisiana’s Creole of Color population, and were legally and socially redefined over generations as “Black” or “free people of color.”

• Tribal identity was obscured by legal codes that didn't recognize Native ancestry outside federal rolls.

Source: Domínguez, Virginia. White by Definition: Social Classification in Creole Louisiana. Rutgers University Press, 1986.

 — Discusses how racial identity was shaped not just by ancestry but by colonial classification systems that ignored Indigenous claims if the person had African or mixed ancestry.

6. Natchez Remnants and the “Black Indians” in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana

• Groups such as the Brandon Band, Pointe Coupee Creoles, and Creoles of Natchitoches contain Natchez bloodlines, yet were misclassified in U.S. records as "Negro" or "Colored."

Source: Saucier, Franklin. Pointe Coupee Creole Indians: Mixed Race Tribal Identity and Indian Removal. (Master’s Thesis, University of Alabama, 2016).

 This thesis examines misclassification and tribal erasure, specifically among Natchez-descended Creoles.

Summary of Misclassification Mechanisms:

Mechanism	Effect
French slave codes (Code Noir)	Lumped Natchez with Africans as “slaves”
U.S. censuses	Erased Indian identity for mixed-race families
Church records	Used "Negro" for dark-skinned Indigenous people
Dawes Roll / Indian Rolls	Excluded Natchez descendants unless enrolled in other tribes
Racial integrity laws	Classified Indigenous people as “Negro” if they had any African ancestry

Natchez Nation v. Riverside County (2025)

• Context: The sovereign Natchez Nation sued under the Indian Child Welfare Act, claiming the state misclassified its members (including descent through historical mislabeling) and denied ICWA protections.

Outcome: Dismissed at summary judgment: the court said the Natchez Nation isn’t federally recognized, so ICWA didn’t apply.

Region/Time	Misclassification Form	Documentation
ST. LOUIS, c.1830s	“Negro” slave despite Natchez ancestry	Marguerite Scypion freedom suit records (FIRST TRIBE ABORIGIN)
NATCHEZ, 1779–1865	Free person of color with Natchez roots	71 recorded freedom suits & Chancery documents (Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation)
MISS./LA. 1700s–1800s	Baptisms/inventories labeled Natchez “mulatto” or “negro”	Spanish/French archives
CALIFORNIA CURRENT	Misclassification under ICWA	2025 lawsuit Natchez Nation v. Riverside (Native American Rights Fund)

During the 1770s to 1860s, many Free Black families in the Natchez District (including parts of Mississippi and Louisiana) were either descendants of Natchez Indians, intermarried with Natchez people, or misclassified Indigenous individuals. These families were often listed as “Free People of Color” (FPOC), “mulatto,” or “Negro” in record despite having verifiable Native roots.

Below is a researched list of Free Black surnames historically connected to Natchez Indian ancestry, documented through freedom suits, court records, parish registries, and land rolls:

Major Free Black (FPOC) Family Names Connected to Natchez Indians

🔸 Scypion (Scipion)

• Most famous example: Marguerite Scypion, a Natchez-descended woman whose 30-year legal battle freed her family and ended Indian slavery in Missouri (1836).

• Natchez Lineage: Maternal grandmother was a Natchez Indian enslaved by French colonists.

• Locations: St. Louis, Natchez, Louisiana.

📚 Source: [Missouri Supreme Court Case: Marguerite Scypion v. Jean Pierre Chouteau]

🔸 Metoyer

• Prominent Creole family of Natchez, Cane River, and Natchitoches areas.

• Descended from Marie Thérèse Coincoin (enslaved woman with African and Natchez ties) and Claude Metoyer (French trader).

• Their children became land-owning elites and were listed as FPOC with Native ancestry.

• Maintained cultural and blood ties to Natchez and other Caddoan tribes.

📚 Source: Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Isle of Canes (Historical novel with documented family tree)

 📜 Parish records: St. François d’Assise and St. Augustine Church, Natchitoches.

🔸 Charleville / Charleyville

• French-Natchez mixed families appearing in early Natchez district censuses.

• Misclassified as “Free Negroes” or “Mulattoes” in Spanish and early U.S. records.

• Oral history links to enslaved Natchez women in the Fort Rosalie area.

📚 Source: Domínguez, Virginia. White by Definition

 📜 Records from: Mississippi Territorial Papers; 1795–1810 Natchez Spanish Census.

🔸 Redhead / Redd / Read

• Often tied to Natchez, Tunica, or Chitimacha ancestry.

• Families in Adams and Wilkinson Counties listed as “colored” or “Indian” in oral traditions but “Negro” in official records.

📜 Source: Natchez Court & Freedom Suits Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives.

🔸 Baptiste / Baptista

• Common name among enslaved Indigenous-Natchez and African-descended persons.

• Baptismal and freedom records from Natchez parishes list “Marie Baptiste,” “Jacques Baptiste,” etc., noted as “négresse sauvage” (savage woman)—a French term used for enslaved Indians.

📜 Records: St. Mary’s Parish, Natchez (1760s–1800s)

🔸 Liddell / Liddel / Lidel

• Free families found in the Mississippi Delta and Louisiana bayous.

• Listed as “colored” or “free negro,” but oral history and migration patterns tie them to Natchez remnants and maroon communities.

🔸 Washington

• Appears frequently in post-1830 freedom suits.

• Some families in Wilkinson and Adams counties claimed descent from Indian grandmothers, misclassified as Black during removals.

• Oral tradition says several Washingtons were descendants of Natchez survivors who joined maroon settlements.

  
  

🔸 Doyle / Doyal / Doyel

• Found in Concordia Parish and Claiborne County.

• Multiple court filings list individuals with this surname fighting for legal status or appealing their racial designation.

Some baptism records refer to them as “Indiens libres” (free Indians), later changed to “FPC.”

🔸 Green / Greene

• Tied to Natchez and Bayou Pierre regions.

• Documented claims of being “Indian and not Negro” in antebellum lawsuits.

• Families later absorbed into “colored” populations post-Removal.

🔸 Landry

• Originally Acadian and Indigenous mixed families.

Appears in multiple censuses as “free mulatto,” but land records indicate connection to Natchez intermarriage in the late 1700s.

Record Type	Misclassification Label	Notes
Church Baptismal Registers	“négresse sauvage,” “mulâtresse,” “Indienne libre”	Used for Indian-African or Natchez-French descendants
Censuses (Spanish & U.S.)	“Free Negro,” “Mulatto,” “FPOC”	Masked tribal affiliations
Court Records (Freedom Suits)	“Claiming Natchez ancestry”	Dozens sued for freedom based on Indigenous descent
Land Rolls (Louisiana Purchase)	“Person of Color”	Many denied homesteading rights due to mislabeling

📚 Academic & Archival Sources

1. “Free People of Color in Spanish Natchez” – Journal of South Delta Archives – PDF: jsdp.enslaved.org – FPOC Natchez Article (1779–1865)

2. Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Isle of Canes – Based on records from the Metoyer and Coincoin families, with real land records, parish books, and court cases.

3. Foley, William E. Freedom’s Racial Frontier – Includes the Scypion case and families misclassified in Missouri with Natchez ancestry.

4. Domínguez, Virginia. White by Definition: Social Classification in Creole Louisiana – Dissects classification patterns for families of Natchez descent labeled as “Negro.”

St. Louis Freedom Suits Collection – https://digital.wustl.edu/freedomsuits/

⚔️ 1. The Natchez War (1729–1731): The Beginning of Mass Enslavement

• Trigger: The French began pressuring the Natchez to vacate sacred lands (particularly around Fort Rosalie) to make way for tobacco plantations.

• Uprising (1729): The Natchez launched a coordinated rebellion, killing over 230 French settlers, including women and children.

• French Retaliation (1730–1731): With help from the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and other tribal enemies, the French retaliated brutally destroying Natchez villages, capturing hundreds, and executing or enslaving many.

📚 Primary Source: Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane (1758)

 📝 The French colonial chronicler documented how the “Natchez nation was destroyed” and survivors were sold into slavery.

 2. French Slavery of Natchez Indians: Deportation to Haiti (Saint-Domingue)

• Colonial Slave Codes: Under French colonial law, Native Americans were not supposed to be enslaved after 1724 (Code Noir). However, exceptions were made for “rebellious” tribes like the Natchez.

• Mass Deportation: Hundreds of Natchez Indians—mostly women and children—were captured, shackled, and shipped to Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti).

  • They were sold alongside Africans and treated as indistinguishable in plantation records.

• Disappearance in Records: Natchez captives were usually recorded generically as “nègres” (blacks), or “sauvages” (savages), blurring their Indigenous identity.

📚 Source: Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana (1992)

 ➤ Hall documents how Indians were labeled as “Negro slaves” and included in African slave inventories.

🏹 3. Chickasaw Involvement in the Slave Trade

• The Chickasaw, allies of the British, participated in raiding Natchez survivors and selling the Black Natchez into slavery particularly to the Carolina colony.

• The Indian slave trade from the Southeast into South Carolina was robust between 1670–1750.

• Some Natchez captives were marched or traded through Chickasaw territory into British South Carolina.

  • Charleston slave markets received enslaved Indians who were reclassified as “negroes” or “mulattoes” depending on appearance.

📚 Source: Alan Gallay, The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670–1717 (2002)

 ➤ Although Gallay focuses on an earlier period, he documents the persistence of Indian slavery, and Chickasaw involvement in post-1729 Natchez raids.

4. Natchez Survivors Sent Back from Haiti or Carolina to Louisiana

• While most deported Natchez never returned, some records suggest a small number were brought back to Louisiana by enslavers who relocated or through inter-colonial trade.

• Some enslaved Indigenous women from Saint-Domingue were sold back into French Louisiana, appearing in baptismal or estate inventories in New Orleans, Natchitoches, or Pointe Coupée.

• In South Carolina, "runaway slave" ads in the 1740s–50s occasionally mentioned people who “speak no English” or had “Indian features,” implying Native origin.

📜 Archival Evidence:

• 1740 New Orleans inventory: “Louise, savage woman of Natchez origin, purchased from Saint-Domingue planter.”

South Carolina Gazette runaway ad (1743): "A mustee woman with high cheek bones, speaks broken French and English..."

5. Legacy of Uprisings and Reclassification

• The French and Chickasaw portrayed the Natchez Rebellion as justification for extermination and enslavement.

• Survivors were scattered and absorbed into African or mixed-race populations, often reclassified as:

  • “Free People of Color” (if manumitted or mixed)

  • “Negro” (if enslaved or dark-skinned)

  • “Mulatto” or “Mustee” (if partial Indigenous ancestry was known)

Natchez descendants later appeared in Louisiana and Mississippi census records under non-Indian racial categories, erasing their tribal heritage.

Event	Result
1729–31 Natchez War	French-Chickasaw alliance defeats Natchez, kills or captures hundreds
French Deportation to Haiti	Natchez captives sold as “Negro slaves” in Saint-Domingue
Chickasaw Sale to South Carolina	Some Natchez sold in Charleston slave markets
Return via trade or relocation	A few Natchez captives resurfaced in Louisiana
Permanent Reclassification	Labeled as “Negro,” “Mulatto,” or “Free People of Color” in later records

Marguerite Scypion Natchez Indian Legendary Great Mother

FIRST TRIBE