Black, indigenous, and reclaiming history

Michelle Chen

Black, indigenous, and reclaiming history

Blacks and American Indians have been bonded by hardship and social upheaval since the dawn of the country, and now the government that has historically oppressed both communities is mediating the crossroads between them.

Lawmakers and activists are pressing for federal action to establish the rights of the freedmen: Black Americans with ties to five major tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole) through enslavement prior to the Civil War. Controversy over the citizenship rights of the freedmen’s descendants—who may number more than 100,000, according to a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder from several members of Congress—has sparked federal litigation and bitter debate around cultural identity, racial authenticity and social justice.

A Cherokee Nation ballot referendum in 2007 effectively purged from the tribal rolls about 2,800 freedmen and others claiming citizenship. The Seminole Nation, whose history of Black-Indian cultural and political intermingling dates back to the Revolutionary War, waged a legal battle for years over the rights of Black tribal members.

At the Root, Kenneth Cooper reflects on the disenfranchisement, both literal and cultural, that he has experienced as a descendant of Cherokee slaves. Though he empathizes with the massive displacement and ethnic cleansing suffered by the Cherokees, he wrote:

...in recent years, I have found myself as angry with the Cherokees themselves as I am with the white settlers who wronged them in the past.

From the end of the war until Oklahoma statehood in 1907, black Freedmen were accorded rights as citizens of Cherokee Nation, if not exactly equal rights. A century later, Freedmen descendants find themselves battling the Cherokee Nation in the courts to restore their tribal citizenship.

By rejecting a people whose history is so bound up with their own, the Cherokees are engaging in a massive case of denial. The history of every family descended from Freedmen reflects close relations with Cherokees, down to some last names still in use today.

The politics of recompense, especially between two oppressed groups seeking self-determination, will inevitably bring anxiety and conflict.

Part of the problem relates to material wealth: freedmen have been denied access to federal benefits and funding, and in some cases, revenues from tribal casino enterprises. As a kind of nativism carried out by actual natives, the debate seems to faintly echo anti-immigration arguments about the "stealing" of American jobs and entitlements. Does affirming indigenous identity and sovereignty necessitate drawing boundaries? In excluding Blacks from nationhood, are the Cherokee replicating historical injustices they themselves suffered? Should a shared legacy of dispossession encourage unity, even if it means grappling with a historical blight?

Cooper tells of a tense encounter with a descendant of a Cherokee chief, John Ross, whom Cooper once described as a slaveholder. Gayle Ross insisted that her ancestor was “much more than that.”

To some, that's all the more reason for an honest reckoning of Cherokee history in its totality. The question of the freedmen resonates with every community that has rooted itself in America, and especially its first inhabitants: we're all more than our past, but nothing without it.

Image: 1836 wood engraving printed for Blanchard's narrative of the war. Caption reads: "The above is intended to represent the horrid Massacre of the Whites in Florida, in December 1835, and January, February, March and April 1836, when near Four Hundred (including women and children) fell victim to the barbarity of the Negroes and Indians." (Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, via Rebellion: John Horse and the Black Seminoles, the First Black Rebels to Beat American Slavery.)

Posted at 9:11 PM, May 13, 2009 in Permalink | View Comments

Comments

Wall Street Journal Bureau Chief Douglas Blackmon recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Slavery by Another Name." You can read excerpts from Blackmon's book and watch the video of him discussing the truth behind American slavery at http://www.DiversityInc.com.

Thanks so much for your timely article. My Grandmother was a Cherokee Indian, so this entry touches me in a special way. However, there's one "secret" about those that are trying to get rid of the freedmen: Many of these so-called "Indians" aren't really Native Americans. Yes, white folks who WANT to be Native Americans have infiltrated Cherokee tribes in North Carolina and Oklahoma. They've successfully used the divide and conquer strategy so common to the one they used to gain dominance all across our planet. The major casinos are run by savvy white "Indians" who have business expertise that REAL Native Americans never received on the plantations...I meant "reservations."

No all of the Cherokee have become sell-outs. The last photograph of taken of my Father is one in which he's dressed in Cherokee clothing. However, the tension you've written about is real. Thanks for addressing it.

George

There is a discussion going on at http://www.tinyurl.com/Op2LearnFB regarding Brown vs. Board of Education’s 55th Anniversary. How far have we really come in providing access and quality in education for every child?

This is a complex and controversial issue and it is important for writers to get all their facts correct before publishing articles such as this one. To accuse the Cherokee Nation of ethnic cleansing is simply wrong and extremely inflammatory.

The vote that took place in 2007 did not remove people from the tribal roles based on their ethnicity. The vote amended the Cherokee Constitution to INCLUDE people of ALL ETHNICITIES as long as they also had a Cherokee ancestor. Those who cannot prove Cherokee ancestry are not eligible for tribal benefits regardless of whether they are black, white, or, in some cases, Cherokee.

You are indeed correct in stating that part of the controversy relates to money. There are some tribes who make casino revenue payments to tribal members. However, the five tribes at the heart of the letter you refer to above DO NOT make payments to tribal members from their casino income. Instead, it is piped back into the tribes for health and educational programs.

There thousands of African-Americans who are tribal members of the "Five Tribes" and continue to receive tribal benefits based on their Indian ancestry. It is only the non-Indian Freedmen seeking Indian benefits who are currently at the center of two on-going federal court cases. The courts will decide this issue based on past treaties and federal law and it will happen none too soon for all involved.

A note to the poster above named George. White people have not "infiltrated" the Cherokee Nation. If they are a tribal citizen, then they have proven that they have a Cherokee ancestor. Perhaps it is the Black folks who do not have Cherokee ancestors who attempting to infiltrate?

Thanks for the thoughtful comments. Certainly, there is much more to this debate than could be captured in the blog post. Just to clarify, nothing in the post, nor in the subsequent comments, accuses the Cherokee Nation of ethnic cleansing. (The only reference to ethnic cleansing relates to the violence *perpetrated against* indigenous people. Also, whatever the mechanism of distribution, it seems that tribal casino revenue is still a resource that factors prominently into these tensions.)

For further reading, here is some of the legal documentation on the Seminole and Cherokee tribal citizenship issues:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=10th&navby=docket&no=986161

http://www.cornsilks.com/allendecision.html

http://www.freedmen5tribes.com/Lawsuit.htm