Chief:
The Autobiography of Chief Phillip Martin, Longtime Tribal Leader, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

"If it were a public company,

the Mississippi Band of

Choctaw Indians would be

the envy of corporate America”

Award-winning business writer

Donald L. Bartlett said of the economic development activity that landed the reservation a spot in the “Who’s Who” of Fortune 500 companies.

• • •

Chief Phillip Martin passed away on February 4, 2010 at the age of 83.

All of us at Quail Ridge Press would like to express our deepest condolences to his family.

Retired Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin led an Indian tribe of sharecroppers from the poorest pocket of poverty in the most impoverished state in America to prosperity beyond their wildest dreams. In less than a half century, the Mississippi Choctaws evolved from an uneducated, low-wage, low-skill workforce that begged manufacturers to locate on the reservation to a self-reliant, high-tech, skilled and scholared workforce with whom companies are seeking to partner today.

Even though the groundwork was laid years earlier, the Mississippi Choctaws’ success story did not truly begin until Chief Martin, who nearly abandoned the tribe to make a home elsewhere, was first elected to the tribal council in 1957.

Prodded by his bride, former Indian Princess Bonnie Kate Bell, who was appointed by the tribal council, he embarked on a mission to forever change the lives of his people. He inherited a povertystricken group of Indians, poor agricultural conditions and little infrastructure in the racially polarized Deep South, and began the excruciatingly slow process of recruiting industry.

Now available!
• ISBN  978-1-934193-29-7

• Quail Ridge Press

• 2009
• 270 pages

• Retail $25.00

• Shipping: $4.00 for any number of books ordered within the U.S.

Over the years, Chief contacted nearly every CEO in corporate America who was considering locating a factory in the Southeast. After all of them turned down his request to look at the reservation, he borrowed $500,000 from the federal government to construct an 80-acre industrial park. It was a small but vital step.

Today, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians operates two Las Vegas-style casinos—Silver Star opened in 1994 and Golden Moon opened in 2002—and has created more than 15,000 jobs and a diverse industry base on the 10,000-member reservation. To propel their growth, the tribe financed college education for qualifying tribal members at any institution of higher learning in the nation. They could study whatever they liked and then the Choctaws created a job for them. Corporations from around the world began lining up to meet with the Choctaws.

CHIEF is a comprehensive look at how the Mississippi Choctaws became a model for economic success and regained control of their destiny despite many obstacles. Based on Chief Phillip Martin’s personal experiences, it is a story of how hard work, perseverance and faith in a culture once banished from mainstream society paid off for those who never stopped believing in themselves and took advantage of every opportunity to create their own destiny.

Includes:
• A brief overview of the Choctaw Nation in Mississippi along with the personal story of Chief Martin’s early years.
• A listing of tribal businesses and enterprises
created on the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Reservation during the tenure of Chief Phillip Martin.
• A color photo section as well as photos scattered throughout the book.
• Martin’s thoughts on the road ahead for the tribe.