Advertisements
Advertisements
I have recently followed a couple of blogs regarding this case. Per my reading, (which I checked out, poss. connection to Cherokee for my kids) the Cherokees had a large amount of intermingling with CC and Blacks, as well as combining with other small tribes.. for preservation. This was pre-trail of tears. I know why, but it still gets to me why DNA is not accepted by a few as evidence of NA descent. Even so, its also being raised in a particular culture. Seems the rules are used or changed to fit as the governing group deems, from the different rolls on.
This has been going on for a very long time. Most of the freedman have Cherokee blood but just don't have the documentation to back it up. Back when the Rolls were created your racial mixture determined where you wre placed in most cases. If you were CC and NA you were put on the NA rolls and if you were AA and NA you were placed on the freedman rolls. There have been a few freedman who have remained members of the tribe because one of their ancestors was placed on the NA Rolls but that's because it was a publicly acknowledged relationship and not the typical slave master relationship. I've been to some of the NA forums to read the discussions about this. This issue has gotten really nasty... There are people who believe that tribes should either be 100% NA or NA and CC only.
The tribes don't want to use DNA because many of the members would no longer qualify for membership...their DNA blood quantum would be too low while their paper blood quantum is able to maintain their membership. You would think they would make a special exception for freedman to use DNA testing since they have documented ties to the tribes.
I'm still debating whether I should pursue tribal enrollment or not. If I had bio kids I would do it for them.
I hear ya, read some heated discourse too. The actual dna would not lie..and combined with family history, should be a no brainer. The rolls was and is flawed. The southeast area with the 'five civilized tribes' a lot of NAs were killed off due to various new diseases, and what not.. I highly doubt there were that many "pure blood" NAs to go on the trail of tears to begin with. The Black (and Black plus) slaves who walked on those trails were property and had no choice. Those who stayed behind, a lot were mixed. The Lumbees are an example of the genetic composition of the areas NA. They went through a lot to prove they were a tribe. Met quite a few in NC. I also read of those Indian agents who were enrolling the NA used 'trickery' to enable CC family members to get land, changing the names was a good way to cover this. so these particular folks were not authentic NA to begin with. I was perusing through old pictures of NA way back when, and they look nothing like some today.[URL="http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/F/FR016.html"]FREEDMEN[/URL]
My father's mother was half Cherokee. She was a member of the Eatern Band of Cherokee and so is my father. The tribe would not allow my dad to enroll myself or my brother because our Cherokee blood did not come from our mother's side. Still, I grew up very proud of my Cherokee heritage. Then I went to Tahlequah Oklahoma which is where the Cherokee established their nation after the Trail of Tears. It was at the Cherokee Heritage Center that I learned that they owned slaves, took their slaves with them on the Trail and set up new plantations when they got to Oklahoma. I had always known that the Cherokee had fought on the side of the South during the Civil War but I thought they were just fighting against the north becaue of the Trail of Tears episode. I had no idea they were fighting to keep their slaves. There are monuments all over Tahlequah to a man named Stand Waite. He was a Confederate General. I was very disappointed. Then when I found out that they had expelled the descendants of their slaves from the Nation. I was disgusted. I think it's terrible.
Advertisements
Nick
I think you remember one of our former forum members is eligible for enrollment in a tribe. They won't let her in even though she meets the blood quantum and her mom is enrolled. I've been meaning to ask her if she has done anything with that lately.
Apparently this whole Cherokee Nation and freedmen issue is not over. The US Government has written the Cherokee Nation and informed them that they would not recognize any election they hold that does not include the freedman. They have to abide by the Treaty of 1866. Hey... they can't pick and choose what parts of the treaty they want to follow. They are going to shoot themselves in the foot over this...
[url]http://www.cornsilks.com/achiefjoebialetter.pdf[/url]
Check this out... HUD is refusing to release funding to the tribe over the freedman issue.
[url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/09/hud-denies-cherokee-funding-over-freedmen-issue/]HUD Denies Cherokee Funding Over Freedmen Issue - Indian Country Today Media Network.com[/url]
Something interesting here. Things are starting to make sense...
''Be it enacted and declared, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That the child of an Indian and the child, grandchild, or great grandchild, of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a mulatto.''
Source: Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large, vol. 3, pp. 250-251, 252.
Lately I have wanted to ask this former member. It seemed to be a sore subject back then. If dh specific na lineage to the Cherokee is true.. I hesitate to tell him this info, because he is of the mid set to not try to beg anyone for acceptance. lol I am going to try to find the specific tribe out.. if anything for the boys. Let me read the links....Oh yes that treaty, I remember. One pro freedman's citizenship rights poster made a great analogy, said it's akin to the United States refusing to grant their freed slaves or their descendants full citizen rights.Those freedman descendants, a few are educated professionals behind the appeal etc; can't fool with them.
Advertisements