How did Martin help make his tribe one the major economic players in the state of Mississippi?
After his recent death, February 4, at age 83, it is appropriate to look back at his remarkable life. He did, however, lead his people out of devastating poverty on their hardscrabble reservation near Philadelphia, Mississippi. Phillip Martin, former chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, was not a perfect man. Mary Annette Pember Choctaw athletic facilities improved and high school athletes (like these basketball players) thrived thanks to the leadership of the late Phillip Martin, Choctaw Chief from 1959 to 2007.
