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Cherokee court holds Freedmen citizenship case hearing
The Cherokee Nation District Court held a July 17 hearing for the case of Raymond Nash v. CN Registrar as attorneys for both parties presented arguments for their motions for summary judgment.  Freedman Issue6/14/2013
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Cherokee hopeful seeks court order / Candidate for Tribal Council wants tribe to process freedmen applications
(Oklahoma) -- A candidate competing for a Cherokee Nation Tribal Council post is seeking a court order requiring the tribe to process all pending citizenship...
6/4/2013
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Cherokee candidate wants in freedmen's lawsuit
(Oklahoma) -- A candidate for a seat on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council is seeking permission to intervene in a federal lawsuit expected to determine the citizenship...
5/21/2013
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Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation
(Oklahoma) -- On an oppressively hot evening last May, David Cornsilk addressed a room of so-called “black Indians” at Gilcrease Hills Baptist Church in...
3/13/2013
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Freedmen lawsuit rolling again
(Oklahoma) -- A lawsuit seeking re-establishment of citizenship rights possessed by descendants of former slaves held by members of the Cherokee Nation gained momentum...
3/12/2013
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Court denies Cherokee appeal on Freedmen ruling
(Washington D.C.) -- The District of Columbia circuit of the United States Court of Appeals denied a request Tuesday from the Cherokee Nation to rehear a decision to...
2/17/2013
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The Cherokees Free Their Slaves
(USA) -- Following on the heels of the Emancipation Proclamation, in February 1863 the Cherokee Nation declared that all slaves within its limits were “forever...
12/21/2012
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Appeals Court: Freedmen can sue principal chief
(Oklahoma) -- A federal court on Dec. 14 ruled that descendants of slaves who were owned by Cherokee Nation citizens can sue the tribe’s current chief in an...
12/20/2012
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D.C. Circuit Revives Cherokee Slaves' Case
(Washington D.C.) -- The D.C. Circuit reversed dismissal of a case against the Cherokee Nation, by descendents of its freed slaves who claimed the tribe disenfranchised...
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Slaves’ descendants can sue Cherokees over citizenship
(Oklahoma) -- Descendants of slaves owned by members of the Cherokee Nation can sue the current chief in an attempt to restore their tribal memberships, a federal...
12/16/2012
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Cherokee Freedmen: Federal Ruling Approves Lawsuit Against Cherokee Nation Chief
(Washington D.C.) -- A ruling handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeal in the District of Columbia will allow the descendants of slaves once owned by the Cherokee Nation...
12/15/2012
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Cherokee freedmen ruling in D.C. case is overturned
(Washington D.C.) -- A federal appeals court on Friday brought back to life a lawsuit by Cherokee freedmen against the Cherokee Nation, reversing a lower court's...
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Freedmen have clear path for lawsuit
(Oklahoma) -- Descendants of slaves owned by members of the Cherokee Nation can sue the current chief in an attempt to restore their tribal memberships, a federal...
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Washington, D.C., appeals court rules for Cherokee freedmen
(Washington D.C.) -- A federal lawsuit filed here against the Cherokee Nation by the descendants of freedmen can continue even without the tribe's consent, a U.S....
12/14/2012
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DC Circuit allows suit against Cherokee chief in Freedmen case
(Washington D.C.) -- The chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma can be sued by Freedmen descendants, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today.
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Freedmen have clear path for lawsuit
(Oklahoma) -- Descendants of slaves owned by members of the Cherokee Nation can sue the current chief in an attempt to restore their tribal memberships, a federal...
10/16/2012
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Cherokee Freedmen Case Returns to Capitol Hill; US Circuit Court of Appeals Will Re-Hear Vann v. Salazar
(Washington D.C.) -- This week, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will be the latest venue to hear arguments in the Cherokee...
10/8/2012
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Hembree updates council on Freedmen, UKB cases
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Nation Attorney General Todd Hembree on Sept. 27 provided the Tribal Council’s Rules Committee details about where cases involving the...
7/30/2012
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AG provides updates on Freedmen courts cases
(Oklahoma) -- Attorney General Todd Hembree told the Tribal Council’s Rules Committee on July 26 that there has been increased activity regarding two cases...
7/20/2012
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Freedmen anticipate winning citizenship rights
(Oklahoma) -- Area Cherokee Freedmen descendants gathered July 14 at the First Missionary Baptist Church to discuss the latest development in their fight for Cherokee...
7/19/2012
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OP/ED: In Cherokee freedmen case, two like-minded groups clash over tribal sovereignty
(Oklahoma) -- WHEN worlds collide. One politically connected, Democratic Party-leaning group is pitted against another in a landmark battle over race, heritage, tribal...
7/16/2012
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Tribe Fights With Slaves' Kin
(Oklahoma) -- An old dispute about whether the descendants of slaves freed by the Cherokee Nation more than a century ago qualify as members of the tribe is heating up...
7/5/2012
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DOI counter sues CN regarding Freedmen case
(Oklahoma) -- The Department of Interior filed a counterclaim against the Cherokee Nation on July 2 for a judgment stating that the 1866 Treaty “provided and...
7/4/2012
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Interior Department Moves To Stop Cherokees From Kicking Out Slave Descendants
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Department of the Interior has asked a federal judge for an injunction against the Cherokee Nation to prevent the tribe from denying tribal...
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Obama administration lawsuit could finally decide freedmen issue, Cherokee Nation says
(Washington D.C.) -- The Obama administration's move to force a judicial decision about Cherokee freedmen means a resolution may finally be reached in the long-...
7/3/2012
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US Countersues Cherokee Nation
(Oklahoma) -- The United States has filed a countersuit against the Cherokee Nation in an ongoing federal case to determine Freedmen descendants' eligibility for...
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US Department of Interior files counterclaim against Cherokee Nation
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Department of the Interior filed a counterclaim against the Cherokee Nation in a federal lawsuit that seeks a declaratory judgment regarding the...
7/2/2012
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Department of Interior makes counterclaim in lawsuit over Cherokee Nation freedmen descendants
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Department of the Interior asked a federal judge for declaratory judgment and an injunction against the Cherokee Nation on Monday in an attempt to...
3/15/2012
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Freedmen attorney claims he is fighting for individual Indian rights
(Oklahoma) -- Attorneys litigating the ongoing Cherokee Freedmen case spoke during a law symposium held March 1 at the University of Oklahoma College of Law in Norman,...
3/11/2012
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Tribes struggle with how to handle the Freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- There has been an ongoing controversy carried in various of the media outlets - it seems most particularly in the daily newspaper - about the quest of the...
1/31/2012
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JENNINGS: Cherokee Freedmen: One Year Later
(Arizona) -- It has been one year since the descendants of the Cherokee Freedmen won their long dispute against a constitutional amendment that terminated them as...
12/18/2011
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Cherokees and Freedmen Descendants: A Shared Past
(USA) -- There has been a lot of discussion about the Cherokee Freedmen and their descendants, but most of the talk centers upon Cherokee Nation sovereignty and the...
12/8/2011
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BLOG: Cherokee Nation v. Ketchum Cert Petition — ICWA Membership Issue
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation and Britney Jane Little Dove Nielson (child’s mother) have filed a petition for cert in the Supreme Court of the Tenth Circuit...
11/25/2011
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Cherokees to continue with freedmen lawsuit
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation will continue to pursue a federal lawsuit against the Cherokee freedmen descendants as a matter of settling a multigenerational issue,...
11/6/2011
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Forum set in Little Rock on lawsuit by Cherokee freedmen seeking membership in tribe
(Arkansas) -- A forum is set in Little Rock on the effort by descendants of slaves owned by Cherokees who want to be included in the tribe. The Nov. 14 forum will be at...
11/5/2011
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Cherokee protest planned
(Oklahoma) -- A group of Cherokee citizens plan to protest the attendance of a federal official during the ceremonial inauguration of the tribe’s new principal...
10/31/2011
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HUD releases CN housing funds
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday notified the Cherokee Nation the suspension on approximately $39 million in housing funds...
10/29/2011
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Cherokees to receive housing funds
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation will receive $39 million in federal housing funds that were frozen in September after about 2,800 freedmen descendants were removed...
10/28/2011
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$33 million in housing funding released to Cherokees
(Washington D.C.) -- U.S. Rep. Dan Boren said Friday $33 million in housing funding, frozen by a federal agency ...
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HUD releases $39 million to Cherokee Nation
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released $39 million in housing funds frozen after about 2,800 Cherokee freedmen were removed from...
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HUD releases nearly $40M to Cherokees
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is releasing nearly $40 million to the Cherokee Nation after Oklahoma's largest American Indian...
10/25/2011
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COMMENTARY: Will Cherokee Freedmen Gain Tribal Rights?
(Oklahoma) -- Like other descendants of Cherokee Freedmen, ancestors who were once the tribe's slaves, I am cheered that longtime Chief Chad Smith lost the recent...
10/24/2011
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Elmhurst College President to address tribal membership conflicts in Evanston
(Illinois) -- Elmhurst College President S. Alan Ray, a Cherokee Nation citizen, will touch on race, tribal independence, and citizenship issues when he delivers the...
10/20/2011
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AUDIO: The Fight to Be Called Cherokee
(Oklahoma) -- White Americans were not the only ones who kept black slaves in the pre-Civil War era. Until an 1886 treaty that freed their slaves, black slavery was also...
10/19/2011
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COMMENTARY: Black Cherokees exercise hard-won right to vote
(Georgia) -- The Cherokee Nation had difficulty electing its principal chief, so much so that members called in the Carter Center to observe the most recent vote and...
10/18/2011
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THE PEOPLE SPEAK: Freedmen gave up Cherokee rights
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee freedman issue is not simple and straight forward. The Treaty of 1866 states that what we call today the freedman were to receive all the...
10/17/2011
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TURTLE TALK: New Scholarship on the Cherokee SCT Decision re Freedmen
(Washington D.C.) -- Darryl Omar Freeman has posted “Neo-Colonial Adaptation or Neo-Sovereignty: Oklahoma Cherokee/African Ancestry Freedmen Conflict” on...
10/15/2011
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Court-ordered mailings to Freedmen exceed $105,000
(Oklahoma) -- An Aug. 22 ruling by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court set off a chain of events that cost the CN more than $105,000 in mailing costs.
10/13/2011
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Column: Tribal membership can be a difficult situation
(Oklahoma) -- During the summer weeks, we were given a barrage of radio, TV, newspaper and sign advertisements for various candidates for “Tribal” or “...
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Commentary: Cherokee Nation SCT Quashes Injunction Issued by Federal Court in Cherokee Freedmen Case
(Michigan) -- Here is a link to the Cherokee court order, via Indianz, and a news article from an informer reader on the issue. The real question becomes, then, will the...
10/12/2011
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Freedmen putting faith in new Cherokee chief
(Oklahoma) -- Descendants of black slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation said Wednesday that they hope to reopen a dialogue about their tribal citizenship...
10/11/2011
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Cherokee Freedmen encouraged by election of new chief
(Oklahoma) -- A longtime Cherokee tribal councilman has won the race for chief of the Oklahoma-based tribe, according to unofficial results released Tuesday — an...
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Cherokee Nation ignores ruling by its own Supreme Court-Freedmen votes to count
(Oklahoma) -- Just hours before unofficial results were expected in the Cherokee Principal Chief election, A ruling by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court could have...
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HUD funds for Cherokee Nation still frozen
(Oklahoma) -- Suspended housing funds meant for the Cherokee Nation following the Aug. 22 suspension of Cherokee Freedmen citizenship have not yet been allocated.
10/10/2011
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Who is a Cherokee? Tribal election could be decisive
(Oklahoma) -- More than 170 years ago the proud Cherokee people in the South were brutally driven into exile in Oklahoma along what became known as the Trail of Tears.
10/9/2011
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Cherokee Nation freedmen to meet in Bartlesville
(Oklahoma) -- Discussion of recent events affecting tribal citizen rights for the Freedmen Band of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is expected to occur during a meeting...
10/8/2011
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Freedmen rally outside Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Freedmen protested outside the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Muskogee on Friday, saying hundreds of Freedmen are still waiting on citizenship cards.
10/7/2011
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AG investigation clears Smith of accusations
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Nation Attorney General Diane Hammons has cleared former Principal Chief Chad Smith of any wrongdoing regarding an alleged “backroom deal...
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Slave descendants fight to stay in Cherokee tribe
(Oklahoma) -- Nearly 3,000 people whose ancestors were enslaved by Cherokee Indians in the 1800s are fighting to keep their status as members of the tribe.
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Slave descendants fight to stay in Cherokee tribe
(Oklahoma) -- Charlene White didn't learn the whole story about her grandfather's secret number until she was 12. Prior to that time, she knew only that he had...
10/3/2011
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Judge tosses 1 of 2 suits over Cherokee freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- A federal judge on Friday dismissed one of two lawsuits over whether black slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation have the right to tribal...
10/2/2011
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Freedmen vow to fight on despite dismissal of case
(Oklahoma) -- Despite having one of their federal court cases dismissed Friday, the Cherokee freedmen descendants are not giving up their fight.
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Black Cherokee lose lawsuit but tribal citizen issue unsettled
(Oklahoma) -- An attorney for African-Americans in the Cherokee Indian tribe said on Saturday the legal campaign to stop the tribe from purging its citizenship rolls of...
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Freedmen to hold emergency meeting
(Oklahoma) -- An emergency meeting will be held today by Cherokee freedmen and their supporters. A federal judge in Washington has dismissed one lawsuit by the freedmen...
9/30/2011
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Judge tosses 1 of 2 suits over Cherokee freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- A judge has dismissed one of two lawsuits over whether black slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation have the right to tribal citizenship.
9/27/2011
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Federal judge: Cherokees in contempt of court
(Oklahoma) -- A federal judge on Monday held the Cherokee Nation in contempt of court for missing a court-ordered deadline. The tribe was ordered to notify more than 1,...
9/24/2011
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Column: Transmissions from a Lone Star: Cherokees versus African Americans in the 21st century
(Russia) -- Recently I saw a fascinating story in the news: the Cherokee Nation had just voted to expel the descendants of freed slaves from their tribe.
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Freedmen descendant says issue is still a struggle
(Oklahoma) -- Willadine Johnson, a Freedmen descendant from Kansas, City, Mo., has experienced a wide range of emotions since August. She was one of the 2,800 Freedmen...
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THE PEOPLE SPEAK: It’s sovereignty issue not politics or race
(Oklahoma) -- Bill John Baker says Chief Chad Smith caused this problem over the freedmen descendants. A Baker supporter, Councilwoman Fishinghawk, started the petition...
9/23/2011
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Fed order supercedes CN decision
(Oklahoma) -- Approximately 2,800 descendants of Cherokee Freedmen had tribal citizenship, including voting rights and other benefits, restored Wednesday, according to a...
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Freedmen to remain Cherokee Nation citizens until federal lawsuit is resolved
(Washington D.C.) -- A federal court order signed here Wednesday will guarantee about 2,800 freedmen are Cherokee Nation citizens until a long-running lawsuit is...
9/22/2011
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Cherokee Councilmen Alleges 'Backroom Deal' In Freedmen Case
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Tribal Councilman Chuck Hoskin Jr. accused the tribe's former chief of cloakroom double-dealings Wednesday. The allegations: Chad Smith...
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Tribal lawmaker seeks probe
(Oklahoma) -- A Cherokee Nation lawmaker requested an investigation of an alleged “secret deal” that allowed “freedmen to remain tribal citizens in...
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Perspective on Mixed-Blood Natives: The Silence of Indian Country
(California) -- Cherokee culture was steeped deeply into the great Meso-American pyramid temple cities as early as 800 AD. When the Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans and Aztecs...
9/21/2011
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Cherokee Nation negotiates deal with Freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee citizens expecting to learn the unofficial results in the special election for principal chief this Saturday will now have to wait until Oct. 8.
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Deal allowing freedmen to vote called milestone
(Washington D.C.) -- A last-minute agreement allowing nearly 3,000 descendants of slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation to vote for the tribe's...
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Freedmen citizenship restored and voting extended to Oct. 8
(Oklahoma) -- The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the Cherokee Nation and an attorney for the Cherokee Freedmen made a preliminary agreement...
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Freedmen voting agreement reached
(Oklahoma) -- Freedmen will get the chance to vote in the Cherokee Nation's special election this Saturday after an agreement filed Wednesday.
9/20/2011
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Cherokee tribe reaches agreement to reinstate 2,800 "Freedmen"
(Washington D.C.) -- The country's second-largest Indian tribe came to an agreement on Tuesday that could reinstate some 2,800 African Americans to the Cherokee...
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Federal judge to hear arguments in Cherokee Freedmen lawsuit
(Washington D.C.) -- A federal judge in Washington, D.C., will hear arguments this afternoon in a Cherokee Freedmen lawsuit. The Freedmen are the descendants of former...
9/19/2011
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Black Cherokees stripped of citizenship by tribe
(Oklahoma) -- Willadine Johnson has long been proud of being a black member of the Cherokee tribe. An ancestor was one of the slaves owned by Cherokee Indians, freed...
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Cherokee Nation Faces Scrutiny For Expelling Blacks
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma is risking millions in federal funding after its decision to expel about 2,800 African-American members. Known as Freedmen...
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Federal court order on ballots of slaves’ descendants could sway election for Cherokee chief
(Oklahoma) -- In a rare move by the government, a federal judge will delve in to the interworking of an American Indian tribe this week by deciding whether to allow the...
9/17/2011
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New York Times Debates Tribal Rights v. Racial Justice
(New York) -- The Cherokee Freedmen issue has been a topic of discussion over the past couple of weeks and with it Indian Country Today Media Network presents the latest...
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The Cherokee nation must be free to expel black freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- The idea that a 21st-century sovereign nation would expel a racial minority that had been part of it for a century and a half seems outrageous. Yet this is...
9/16/2011
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Tribe to expedite ballots to Freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- During an emergency meeting Thursday morning, the Cherokee Nation Election Commission voted to expedite mailing absentee ballots to about 300 Freedmen...
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Black Cherokees fight for identity
(Missouri) -- Willadine Johnson has long been proud of being a black member of the Cherokee tribe. An ancestor was one of the slaves owned by Cherokee Indians, freed...
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Cherokee Nation Pressured to Accept Descendants of Slaves
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has ordered the Cherokee Nation to restore voting rights and benefits that were revoked from about 2,800 descendants of...
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Raging legal battle between Cherokees and Feds ignores historical facts
(Oklahoma) -- The six year old effort by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to expel 2,800 Black Cherokee members entered a new round this week, when the Department of the...
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Rush Limbaugh Celebrates Native Americans For Refusing To Obey US Government
(Florida) -- Sometimes it seems like every Rush Limbaugh clip we post here runs the gamut from “Angry Rush” to “Really Angry Rush.”. Therefore,...
9/15/2011
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Cherokee freedmen to vote in election, but with challenge ballots
(Oklahoma) -- Previously registered Cherokee freedmen descendants will be able to cast challenge ballots in the upcoming principal chief's election under the provisions...
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Cherokee Nation battles U.S. government over right to nix votes by descendants of freed slaves
(Oklahoma) -- The descendants of slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation can vote for its next principal chief - but it's unclear if those votes will...
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Cherokee Nation runs into constitutional hot water over voting ban
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation was struggling to find its way out of a controversy yesterday sparked by a decision earlier this month to eject the nearly 3,000 black...
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CNEC to allow Freedmen to vote challenge ballots
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation Election Commission met on Sept. 15 to discuss the cost to the CNEC required to expedite mailing and return ballots to Freedmen voters.
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Agency warns Cherokee Nation over freedmen issue
(Oklahoma) -- The U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs, warned the Cherokee Nation last week that an election procedure not approved by the Secretary of the...
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Cherokee tribe retreats from effort to oust some members
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Indian tribe on Wednesday retreated from a plan to banish 2,800 African Americans from its citizenship ranks after the federal government...
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DEBATE: Tribal Rights vs. Racial Justice
(USA) -- Was the Cherokee Nation's expulsion of black Freedmen an act of tribal sovereignty or of racial discrimination?
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OP/ED: Cherokees, feds at odds over freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- It should come as no surprise that the federal government is trying to influence the Cherokee Nation into accepting the freedmen as full tribal citizens.
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Tribe reconsiders Freedmen issue
(Oklahoma) -- A group of Cherokee Freedmen fear the Cherokee Nation may be circumventing their efforts to get a federal court to hear their case after being stripped of...
9/14/2011
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Cherokee Nation Attorney General Wants Court To Reconsider Freedmen Case
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation Attorney General Diane Hammons filed a motion Wednesday asking the nation's supreme court to reconsider a recent ruling that...
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Freedmen angry over move in tribal court
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Freedmen expressed anger Wednesday with the lawyer appointed to represent them in tribal court.
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Cherokee Commission: Principal Chief Election Will Go On Despite Litigation
(Oklahoma) -- The Election Commission for the Cherokee Nation decided to move forward with a special election September 24th for principal chief.
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Cherokee Nation Refuses U.S. Demand to Reinstate Black “Freedmen”
(Oklahoma) -- The Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a letter to the Cherokee Nation on Monday demanding that the tribe reinstate the black “Cherokee Freedmen”...
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Cherokees told to take back descendants of black slaves that were kicked out of the tribe
(Oklahoma) -- A federal order for one of the nation’s largest American Indian tribes to restore voting rights and benefits to about 2,800 descendants of members...
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Feds issue warning to Cherokees
(Oklahoma) -- The assistant secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior has issued a strong warning to the Cherokee Nation about excluding...
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Freedmen to cast provisional ballots
(Oklahoma) -- Prayers for unity offered up by a group of about 30 Cherokee Freedmen came close to fruition Wednesday. Cherokee Nation election officials extended an...
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Okla. tribe’s commission allows freedmen to vote with provisional ballots in upcoming election
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation’s election commission voted Wednesday to allow descendants of slaves once owned by tribal members to cast ballots for principal chief,...
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OP/ED: Tsunami Warning From the Cherokee Nation
(Oklahoma) -- When does a tribal supreme court decision affect all of Indian County? Not often enough, in the sense that the mechanisms of tribal law application beside...
9/13/2011
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Acting Cherokee chief hopes to resolve freedmen issue so election for new chief can be held
(Oklahoma) -- The acting chief of the Cherokee Nation said Tuesday that the tribe was blindsided by the Obama administration's warning that its Sept. 24 tribal...
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Cherokee Indians say they will not be dictated to by U.S.
(Oklahoma) -- The nation's second-largest Indian tribe said on Tuesday that it would not be dictated to by the U.S. government over its move to banish 2,800 African...
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Cherokees told to take back slaves' descendants
(Oklahoma) -- A federal order for one of the nation's largest American Indian tribes to restore voting rights and benefits to about 2,800 descendants of members...
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Federal agency sides with Cherokee freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- A key federal agency announced Monday it will not recognize any action by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that does not accord full citizenship rights to...
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Federal agency warns Cherokees on excluding freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- Read the letter from Assistant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk to S. Joe Crittenden, the tribe's acting principal chief, stating...
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Federal Government Asks Cherokee Nation to Readmit Slave Descendants
(Oklahoma) -- Last month, the Supreme Court of the Cherokee nation approved decision to oust thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma some...
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Feds tell Cherokees they must restore benefits, voting rights of slaves’ descendants
(Oklahoma) -- The federal government is warning the Cherokee Nation that its expulsion of about 2,800 descendants of slaves once owned by its members violates an 1866...
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US government warns Cherokee nation not to exclude black freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- The US government has stepped into a bitter ethnic dispute between a powerful Native American tribe and the descendants of black slaves the tribe used to...
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US official cautions Cherokees / Indian Affairs Secretary: Ruling on freedmen based on misunderstanding
(Oklahoma) -- A Cherokee Nation official resisted an apparent attempt by a federal agency to derail the upcoming election for principal chief. In a letter to Acting...
9/12/2011
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Cherokees, HUD at odds over Freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are wrangling over a recent decision by the Cherokee Nation Supreme...
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LETTER: Letter from Echo Hawk regarding Cherokee Freedmen, upcoming election
(Washington D.C.) -- Dear Chief Crittenden: We have followed the news of the upcoming election for Principal Chief with interest and growing concern. I write to advise...
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US Government warns Special Election for Cherokee Nation Principal Chief may not be valid.
(Oklahoma) -- In a letter sent to Acting Principal Chief Joe Crittenden, the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Indian Affairs warns that the Special Election for...
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TRIMBLE: Injustice in removal of Cherokee Freedmen
(South Dakota) -- We read and absorb as truth the accounts of historical observers like Thomas More, Amerigo Vespucci, Las Casas, Rousseau to bolster our view of our...
9/11/2011
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Boren: Law blocks HUD block of $33M for Cherokees
(Oklahoma) -- U.S. Rep. Dan Boren believes a current law he helped write bars a federal agency from freezing $33 million in Cherokee Nation housing funds following a...
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Federal housing funds for Cherokee Nation are ‘suspended’ over Freedmen issue
(Oklahoma) -- Housing funds meant for the Cherokee Nation from the U.S. Department of Urban Development are currently “suspended” while HUD studies recent...
9/10/2011
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Descendants of Cherokee slaves booted from tribe
(Oklahoma) -- Descendants of former black slaves owned by the Cherokee Nation say they have received letters this week booting them from the tribe.
9/9/2011
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Cherokees expel descendants of slaves from tribe
(Oklahoma) -- One of the nation's largest American Indian tribes has sent letters to about 2,800 descendants of slaves once owned by its members, revoking their...
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HUD denies tribe $33M in funding
(Oklahoma) -- A recent Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruling denying certain Freedmen descendants citizenship may affect the tribe’s federal housing funding....
9/8/2011
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Cherokees HUD funds frozen over freedmen decision
(Oklahoma) -- Federal housing officials have frozen funding to the Cherokee Nation in apparent response to a tribal court decision terminating citizenship for about 2,...
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Citizenship Denied: The Latest in the Cherokee Freedmen Saga
(Oklahoma) -- The late Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller wrote in her autobiography the following words: “The truth is that the practice of slavery...
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HUD denies tribe $33M in funding
(Oklahoma) -- A recent Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruling denying certain Freedmen descendants citizenship may affect the tribe’s federal housing funding.
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HUD officials suspending funds to Cherokee Nation until freedmen ruling reviewed
(Oklahoma) -- Federal housing authorities are suspending payments to the Cherokee Nation until a funding law can be reviewed in the wake of a court decision that...
9/7/2011
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Frank: HUD shouldn’t give funds to Cherokees
(Washington D.C.) -- U.S. Rep. Barney Frank has asked the federal government to cut off housing funds to the Cherokee Nation and restore tribal citizenship to black...
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Freedman Hearing is Set
(Washington D.C.) -- A hearing is set for September 20th after descendants of former black slaves once owned by Cherokee Nation members asked a federal judge in...
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HUD Denies Cherokee Funding Over Freedmen Issue
(Washington D.C.) -- The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has released a letter indicating that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is withholding funds from...
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HUD Freezes Federal Funding To Cherokee Nation Over Freedmen Issue
(Washington D.C.) -- Federal Housing and Urban Development officials say they have frozen HUD funding to the Cherokee Nation over the Freedmen issue.
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HUD withholds $33M from tribe
(Washington D.C.) -- The Cherokee Nation is feeling the pinch of a tribal court’s opinion that upheld a constitutional amendment that excludes citizenship to...
9/6/2011
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Cherokee Freedmen Ask Court To Reinstate Voting Rights
(Oklahoma) -- A group of freedmen is asking U.S. courts to restore their voting rights - in time for the Chief's election in two weeks. The freedman voted in the...
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Cherokee freedmen want to stop tribal election
(Oklahoma) -- Descendants of former black slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation are asking a federal judge to block a tribal election for principal chief...
9/5/2011
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Lawyers try to block Cherokee ruling
(Oklahoma) -- Freedmen descendants asked a federal judge to block their removal from the Cherokee Nation’s rolls and stop the principal chief election until their...
9/2/2011
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Freedmen protests draw dozens to Muskogee
(Oklahoma) -- Dozens are protesting in Muskogee, all to oppose the Cherokee Nation's Supreme Court ruling to not include the Freedmen in their tribe.
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Protesters urge BIA to act
(Oklahoma) -- Civil rights supporters rallied Friday outside the Bureau of Indian Affairs, protesting the federal agency’s failure to enforce the Cherokee freedmen...
9/1/2011
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Freedmen determined to vote
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Freedmen descendants who expect notification about voting in the upcoming special election for principal chief may have a long wait ahead of them.
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Freedmen to stage protest
(Oklahoma) -- Freedmen and other civil rights supporters plan to stage a protest Friday outside the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Muskogee. The demonstration is an...
8/30/2011
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Freedmen vow to continue fighting Cherokee Nation for their rights
(Oklahoma) -- The library of the Martin Luther King Center in Muskogee was filled to capacity Aug. 27 as Cherokee Freedmen met to discuss the Aug. 22 Cherokee Nation...
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Is the Cherokee Nation cutting off its black roots?
(Oklahoma) -- When most Americans are reminded of the "Trail of Tears," the forced migration of Native Americans from their ancient homelands to what is now...
8/29/2011
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Cherokee Nation Revokes Citizenship Rights of Black Slave Descendants
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Nation flagJust a week ago this Monday, the Cherokee Nation’s Supreme Court ruled that the tribe may revoke the citizenship rights of black...
8/28/2011
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Freedmen to seek stay on order
(Oklahoma) -- A request is expected to be filed this week asking a federal court judge to stay the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court’s ruling denying citizenship to...
8/27/2011
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Second-largest U.S. Indian tribe expels slave descendants
(Oklahoma) -- The nation's second-largest Indian tribe formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma more...
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‘Preparing for the worst’
(Oklahoma) -- The recent Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruling that stripped citizenship status from about 2,800 Freedmen descendants has tribal officials “...
8/26/2011
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Panel working to strike Freedmen from voter list
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Nation election officials scrambled Tuesday to determine the impact of a ruling removing an estimated 2,800 Cherokee Freedmen from tribal rolls.
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TURTLE TALK: Treaty Rights and the Cherokee Freedmen Decision
(Oklahoma) -- This isn’t a post on the merits of the Freedmen case, but instead a rumination about the import of U.S.–tribal treaty rights in tribal courts....
8/25/2011
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Cherokee Nation Expels Descendants Of Tribe's Black Slaves
(Oklahoma) -- After a long legal fight, the Cherokee nation ousted thousands of descendants of black slaves who had long been official members of the tribe.
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Freedmen booted from Cherokee Nation
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court on Monday upheld a constitutional amendment that requires all tribal citizens to have at least one Indian ancestor on the...
8/24/2011
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'This is 21st Century racism and apartheid': Cherokee Indian tribe expels all slave descendants
(Oklahoma) -- The nation's second-largest Indian tribe formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma more...
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Cherokee High Court: ‘Freedmen’ Not Part of the Tribe
(Oklahoma) -- It’s not often that we write about a decision out of a Native American nation; they just don’t pass onto our radar screen very often.
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Cherokee Nation Revokes African-Americans’ Tribal Citizenship
(Oklahoma) -- On Monday the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court decided to terminate the tribal citizenship of nearly 3,000 Black descendants of freedmen–former slaves...
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Freedmen descendants decry tribal court ruling
(Oklahoma) -- Despite a ruling Monday by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court that expelled them from the tribe, Cherokee freedmen descendants are not accepting their fate...
8/23/2011
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Attorney for Cherokee freedmen questions timing of tribal court ruling
(Washington D.C.) -- The attorney representing freedmen in their case against the Cherokee Nation said Tuesday that he was shocked the tribe's Supreme Court ruled...
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Cherokee court: Freedmen are out
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court on Monday reversed a lower tribal court decision that voided a voter-approved constitutional amendment denying...
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Cherokee election officials scramble to adjust voter rolls
(Oklahoma) -- Cherokee Nation election officials scrambled Tuesday to determine the impact of a ruling removing an estimated 2,800 Cherokee Freedmen from tribal rolls.
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CN court boots Freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court on Monday upheld a constitutional amendment that requires all tribal citizens to have at least one Indian ancestor on the...
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Second-largest U.S. Indian tribe expels slave descendants
(Oklahoma) -- The nation's second-largest Indian tribe formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma more...
8/22/2011
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Cherokee court ends freedmen descendants' tribal citizenship
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court reversed and vacated a district court decision in the freedmen case Monday, immediately terminating the tribal...
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Okla tribal court reinstates amendment that bars some freed slaves' descendants as members
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court has reversed a lower tribal court decision that voided a voter-approved constitutional amendment denying citizenship to...
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BLOG: Education for Creek Freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- An August 14 blog by Angela Y. Walton-Raji discusses the establishment of schools for freedmen in Indian territory. She mentions the Evangel Mission in the...
7/1/2011
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LETTER: 1866 Treaty doesn’t mean citizenship
(Oklahoma) -- The 150th anniversary of the Civil War between the United States has come and gone. Yet the attorney for Cherokee Freedmen, John Velie, continues to hammer...
6/6/2011
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Cherokee candidates agree to abide by court's decision on freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- The two candidates hoping to lead the state's largest tribe took to the debate stage Monday night in a last push to win voters.
6/3/2011
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Symposium looks at issue of freedmen
(Oklahoma) -- During the second Reconciliation in America Symposium, Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, and Jon Velie, a Norman attorney who represents...
4/12/2011
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Bacone postpones Freedmen session at Native symposium
(Oklahoma) -- Bacone College officials postponed a March 31 seminar regarding the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes at the school’s annual spring symposium,...
4/1/2011
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Canceled Forum Renews Cherokee Freedmen Controversy
(Oklahoma) -- There are new developments in an ongoing legal war between the Cherokee Nation and descendants of a group called the Freedmen.
2/26/2011
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Cherokee Freedmen attorney believes clients should win case
(Oklahoma) -- The attorney representing Cherokee Freedmen descendents in their citizenship case against the Cherokee Nation believes his clients have three good reasons...
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Ruling prevents more Cherokee Freedmen from enrolling
(Oklahoma) -- District Court Judge John Cripps ruled in favor of the Cherokee Nation at a Feb. 18 hearing by granting a stay that prevents the processing of additional...
1/30/2011
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Cherokee freedmen in limbo as legal cases move slowly in tribal and federal courts
(Washington D.C.) -- Nearly four years after Cherokee Nation citizens voted to bar freedmen without tribal blood, the status of potentially thousands of descendants of...
1/27/2011
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Freedmen respond to Cherokee Nation appeal
(Oklahoma) -- The Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes Association believe a recent ruling by Cherokee District Tribal Court Judge John Cripps should...
1/26/2011
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Cherokee Nation appeals freedmen decision to its tribal Supreme Court
(Washington D.C.) -- The Cherokee Nation filed an appeal in its tribal Supreme Court on Tuesday to defend a constitutional amendment that effectively barred freedmen who...
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Cherokee Nation appeals ruling on citizenship; freedmen president responds
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation filed an appeal Tuesday in the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, hoping to reverse a ruling by Cherokee Nation District Judge John Cripps...
1/25/2011
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Cherokees appeal freedmen decision
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation has appealed a recent district court’s ruling that reopened tribal citizenship to descendents of freedmen.
1/14/2011
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Cherokee Nation court says treaty declares freedmen members
(Oklahoma) -- A Cherokee Nation judge ruled Friday that the descendants of freed Cherokee slaves are protected citizens of the tribe under an 1866 treaty, throwing out a...
7/17/2010
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Oklahoma judge sends Cherokee freedmen case to federal court
(Oklahoma) -- On July 2, the Honorable Judge Terrance Kern of the Oklahoma Northern District Court transferred the Cherokee Nation v. Raymond Nash et al case that was...
9/11/2009
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Professor says Cherokee freedmen issue a moral one
(Oklahoma) -- A Harvard law professor says whether descendants of former slaves once owned by Cherokee Indians have citizenship rights in the tribe is a moral issue.
7/27/2009
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Cherokee court holds Freedmen citizenship case hearing
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation District Court held a July 17 hearing for the case of Raymond Nash v. CN Registrar as attorneys for both parties presented arguments...
6/15/2009
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Cherokee Freedmen bill introduced again
(Washington D.C.) -- Rep. Diane Watson (D-California) has once again introduced a bill to cut federal funds to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma until the Freedmen are...
5/5/2009
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Dems ask DOJ to probe treatment of Indian freedmen
(Washington D.C.) -- A few powerful House Democrats have asked the Justice Department to investigate whether American Indian tribes are engaging in modern-day racial...
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Federal probe requested of Five Tribes of Oklahoma over freedmen
(Washington D.C.) -- Six Democratic members of Congress are urging the Department of Justice to investigate the Five Tribes of Oklahoma, alleging that the Oklahoma...
2/13/2009
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Cherokees go to court to deny freedmen citizenship
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation wants a federal judge to decide whether descendants of the tribe’s former black slaves, known as freedmen, have a federal right...
2/3/2009
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Cherokees file federal suit in freedmen dispute
(Oklahoma) -- The Cherokee Nation has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to resolve the long-standing dispute of whether the descendants of freedmen have a federal...
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