Tribal Recognition
Heritage groups have sometimes sought recognition as Cherokee tribes. The politically active "Keetowah Society" and the spiritual "Nighthawk Keetowah Society" later influenced the formation of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in 1946. The United Keetoowah Band is recognized by the U.S. government and is located north of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller said that some Heritage groups are encouraged (Glenn 2006). Former Eastern Band Chief Jones said "There are non-recognized Indian tribes in the United States that absolutely should have been previously recognized and through unfortunate historical twists of fate have not been."
| “ | "I am a full-blood Western Cherokee Indian, could not talk the English language until I was fifteen years old......Enrollment started at the instance of the Dawes Commission and we all experienced a great deal of difficulty in getting enrolling. Lots of the Indians were so hard headed that when the men or investigator came around to see them they would not give any information and consequently were not enrolled. There was a certain class of white man, half-breeds and negroes that would run them down and get enrolled. Some of them deserved it and some of them didn't." | ” |
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—- Bird Doublehead, University of Oklahoma, Western History Collections, Interview with Bird Doublehead |
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Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller has discussed that some groups, which he calls Cherokee Heritage Groups, are encouraged. Others, however, are controversial for their attempts to gain economically through their claims to be Cherokee, a claim which is disputed by two of the federally recognized Tribes, who assert themselves as the only groups having the legal right to present themselves as Cherokee Indian Tribes.
While heritage groups may base their membership on cultural and genealogical requirements, tribal recognition is more complex in its adherence to academic, legal, historic, sociological, anthropological and genealogical principles.
In the census for the year 2000, there were 729,533 people who self identified as Cherokee and only about 250,000 people who were enrolled at the time in one of the three Federally Recognized Cherokee Tribes. Many people with genuine Cherokee heritage will never meet the qualifications to become citizens in a federally recognized tribe. The Cherokee Nation does not question anyone's claim of heritage or ancestry.
Read more about this topic: Cherokee Heritage Groups
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