Harry James Watson "Jimmy" Belvin (1900–1986) was a Choctaw educator and politician who served as an Oklahoma State Representative and Senator.

He was a polarizing leader, seen by some as a semi-dictator who held onto the office of principal chief and used his power to advocate for complete assimilation into the dominant society, suppressing Choctaw traditions, language and ceremonial practices as undesirable remnants of an unrefined history.

[1] To others, he was a well-liked, populist leader, who went door-to-door talking with tribe members, informing them on issues, and trying to develop the means the alleviate the poverty and unemployment they faced.

[5] He attended school in Boswell and graduated from Southeastern Teachers College with a Bachelor of Science degree,[6] going on to earn a Master's of Education at the University of Oklahoma which he completed in 1941.

[10] Belvin was also highly critical of the fact that Chief Durant had not attended the negotiations, leaving the decision of "the most momentous meeting affecting the tribe's welfare since the Atoka Agreement of 1897" up to Maytubby and the Choctaw Tribal attorney.

[14] After the sale had been negotiated, Belvin wrote letters as president of the Confederation to tribal members and urged them to attend informational meetings and decide whether or not they wanted to accept the offer.

Belvin contacted Congressman Carl Albert, also a proponent of tribal democracy, who worked behind the scenes to keep the Choctaw Principal Chief as a full-time position.

[21] Because of their similar histories and situations in Oklahoma, with removal, allotment, and government oversight, there was a recognition that tribal goals for development, education, services for tribe members, health initiatives and poverty alleviation were virtually the same and working together would be of benefit.

In March, 1949, Belvin had gone to Washington, DC not only to prod lawmakers regarding the coal and asphalt settlement, but to present a proposal drawn up by representatives of the five tribes as a far-reaching "relief" plan.

They proposed more effective administration of Indian affairs, a new land policy, rehabilitation, education, health, conservation, and road building and maintenance as the means to alleviate distress in their nations and had obtained the endorsement from the local agency office.

They pledged to work together to attain for themselves and their descendants the rights and benefits which they were entitled to under law, state or federal, and to seek equity for tribal affairs and tribe members by promoting the common welfare of American Indians.

Its purpose was to settle for all time any outstanding grievances or claims the tribes might have against the U.S. for treaty breaches, unauthorized taking of land, dishonorable or unfair dealings, or inadequate compensation.

He created a democratically elected tribal council and a constitution to re-establish a government, but his efforts were opposed by the Area Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

[18] But he also stated in an interview that same year with the Lubbock Avalanche, that he thought proposing termination was another way for the government to "shirk its responsibility to a people who owned the entire continent of North America when the white man first invaded, not discovered, this country".

[25] What Belvin proposed was relief from the paternalistic watch of the BIA, which allowed the tribe to choose their own chiefs and handle tribal business and assets without federal supervision.

[28] On 23 April 1959, the BIA confirmed that H.R.2722 had been submitted to Congress at the request of the tribe, and would sell all remaining tribal assets, but would not affect any individual Choctaw earnings.

[2] What Belvin envisioned was that the high unemployment and poverty which existed in the nation would be offset by the per capita payment that tribe members would receive from liquidation of the tribal assets.

As time wore on, Belvin realized that the bill severed the tribe members' access to government loans and other services, including the tribal tax exemption.

[32] In addition, both Oklahomans, House Majority Leader Carl Albert and Senator Fred R. Harris, as well as Louis R. Bruce, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, were in support of the Choctaw request to kill the bill.

The Choctaw Youth Movement fought politically against the termination law and helped create a new sense of tribal pride, especially among younger generations.

[2] In 1969, one year before the termination bill was scheduled to go into effect (officially 25 August 1970) Jim Wade, son of Talihina's police chief, told Charles E. Brown, that the government was dissolving the Choctaw tribe.

He brought the issue of racism to the fore and urged his missionary network to petition Congress for creation of a Choctaw high school.

Appeals to the BIA resulted in responses that students could attend out of state boarding schools, thus squarely putting pressure on the eastern Choctaw to relocate or face lack of educational opportunity.

The program targeted four elementary schools in the heart of Choctaw country, Battiest, Broken Bow, Smithville and Wright City in McCurtain County, Oklahoma.

[49] Belvin worked with Floyd Gale Anderson, the first full-blood Indian to hold the position of Service Unit Director, to expand the Choctaw health system.

In 1966,[55] he then resubmitted the application under the requirements for a state agency,[53] rather than a tribal authority, and designated himself, as chief, with the powers vested in a mayor for the purposes of the Act.

The committee decided "to permit all lineal descendants of Choctaw by blood Dawes enrollees to vote," which resulted in about 25% of the ballots being from absentee voters.

His efforts at rebuilding the tribal structure were seen as insignificant and not aggressive enough, his failure to define membership procedures to admit unenrolled descendants of enrolled members, and his lack of planning to develop the tribe led to his defeat in 1975.