These peoples are descended from members of the historic Muscogee or Creek Confederacy of numerous tribes in the Southeastern U.S., particularly Georgia and Alabama.

The Seminole Indian Nation in Florida also includes many descendants of the Creek Confederacy who relocated there and merged with another tribe.

Under pressure from European American settlement, the ancestors of this tribe were Alabama and Coushatta peoples who migrated from Alabama and the Southeast into Louisiana and finally East Texas when it was under Spanish rule in the late 18th century.

They settled in an area known as Big Thicket and adapted their culture to the environment of forests and waters.

[6] When the area began to be settled by European Americans from the United States, the tribes established friendly relations and traded with the new settlers.

Sam Houston helped protect them during years of conflicts with other Native Americans in the area.

[6] As part of the Indian termination policy followed by the US government between the 1940s and 1960s, the Alabama Coushatta Tribe was targeted.

On 23 August 1954, the United States Congress passed laws to terminate the federal relationship with the tribe.

768 provided that the Secretary of the Interior was to transfer to the State of Texas the tribal lands for the benefit of the tribe.

He stated that as the federal government's withdrawal of its recognition, the tribe was "merely an unincorporated association under Texas law, with the same legal status as other private associations ... the 3,071-acre tract is entirely free from any legally meaningful designation as an 'Indian Reservation.

They acquired more land, so the reservation is 4,593.7 acres (1,859.0 ha), located 17 miles (27 km) east of Livingston, Texas, in the Big Thicket area.

This is particularly important for the longleaf pine trees that have been used by the tribe and their ancestors for basketry and homebuilding for centuries.

The Nature Conservancy funded the tribe to buy equipment and participate in training for wildland management.

[16][17][2] The Alabama and Coushatta people of Polk County struggled after the Civil War, as few spoke English and they had difficulty finding jobs.

[18] In December 2021, the tribe joined Ysleta del Sur Pueblo to file an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court to ensure their rights to operate bingo halls on their reservations.