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Articles & FAQs Who are the Freedmen, and why is Cherokee citizenship open to them?
Published April 1, 2006. On March 7, 2006 the Cherokee Tribunal made a landmark decision to readmit Cherokee Freedmen to the Cherokee Nation. This was, and continues to be, a controversial decision, but several descendants of Freedmen have successfully applied for and been granted citizenship in recent weeks. This has prompted the question, "Who are the Cherokee Freedmen?" To answer this question, it must first be understood that members of the Cherokee Nation had owned slaves since prior to the American Revolution. Some slaves even traveled from the eastern lands to Indian Territory with their masters during the time of removal. When the Civil War reached Indian Territory the Cherokee Nation, much like the United States, found itself divided. Despite Cherokee Principle Chief John Ross' urgings to remain neutral, the Cherokee Nation followed the lead of Stand Watie and supported the south. At war's end, the slaves of Cherokees were freed. Many Freedmen chose to settle in the Cherokee Nation, and with the Treaty of 1866 they were to be treated with the rights of others living in the Cherokee Nation. In 1898, the Dawes Commission began taking applications for the Dawes Roll. This was to be the final census of the Cherokee Nation and was an application to receive an allotment of land. The Dawes Commission divided the roll into sections for Cherokee by Blood, which included a blood quantum calculation, and Freedmen, which included no blood quantum data. In some case when an individual was mixed-blood Cherokee and Freedman, he/she was included on the Freedmen roll, unlike mixed-blood whites who were counted as Cherokee. The Dawes Commission allotted a smaller portion of land to Freedmen. The Cherokee National government was suspended in the early part of the 20th century, not to be reinstated until 1975. In 1975, the Cherokee wrote a new constitution and rebuilt the Nation, with membership based on enrollment on the Dawes Roll. Freedmen were included in tribal membership until 1983 when the tribal enrollment office added a requirement that members must have a Bureau of Indian Affairs issued Certificate Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) to become a tribal member. The CDIB was based on the blood quantum field of the Dawes Roll -- a field not included on the Freedmen roll -- effectively removing Freedmen from the tribe. The March 7, 2006 Cherokee tribunal ruling states, "When they included a direct reference to the Dawes Commission Rolls in the 1975 Constitution, they knew the Cherokee Freedmen were included in that document. These individuals were also familiar with Cherokee history under the 1839 Constitution, the Cherokee Nation's treaties and agreements, and the allotment process. The authors could not have been unaware of the citizenship status of Cherokee Freedmen. At that point in time, the Cherokee Freedmen had been legal citizens of the Cherokee Nation for 110 years." With the recent court decision, Cherokee Freedmen citizenship has been reestablished. But the issue remains controversial. The debate stems from two concepts of Cherokee culture and government. The central question being, is the Cherokee Nation a "nation" or a "race"? This is a question that's been asked for decades, but this recent decision will only make the question more pertinent.
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