Editing Cherokee (section)

==Membership controversies==

===Tribal recognition and citizenship===
{{Seealso|Cherokee descent|Cherokee heritage groups}}
The three Cherokee tribes have differing requirements for enrollment. The Cherokee Nation determines enrollment by lineal descent from Cherokees listed on the [[Dawes Rolls]] and has no minimum [[blood quantum]] requirement.<ref>[http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=services&service=Registration&ID=8sRG9ZCF7PE= Cherokee Nation Registration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718074313/http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=services&service=Registration&ID=8sRG9ZCF7PE= |date=July 18, 2007 }}.</ref> Currently, descendants of the Dawes Cherokee Freedman rolls are citizens of the tribe, pending court decisions. The Cherokee Nation includes numerous citizens who have mixed ancestry, including African-American, Latino American, Asian American, European-American, and others. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians requires a minimum of one-sixteenth Cherokee blood quantum (genealogical descent, equivalent to one great-great-grandparent) and an ancestor on the [[Baker Roll]]. The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians requires a minimum of one-quarter Keetoowah Cherokee blood quantum (equivalent to one grandparent). The UKB does not allow citizens who have relinquished their citizenship to re-enroll in the UKB.<ref>[http://www.keetoowahcherokee.org/enrollment.html Enrollment.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609034110/http://www.keetoowahcherokee.org/enrollment.html |date=June 9, 2010 }} ''United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees.'' (retrieved October 5, 2009)</ref>

The 2000 [[United States census]] reported 729,533 Americans self-identified as Cherokee. The 2010 census reported an increased number of 819,105 with almost 70% being mixed-race Cherokees. In 2015, the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Eastern Band of Cherokees had a combined enrolled population of roughly 344,700.<ref name="slate.com"/>

Over 200 groups claim to be Cherokee nations, tribes, or bands.<ref>Glenn, Eddie. [http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/cnhi/tahlequahdailypress/features/local_story_006134311.html?keyword=secondarystory "A League of Nations?"] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20090620174702/http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/cnhi/tahlequahdailypress/features/local_story_006134311.html?keyword=secondarystory |date=June 20, 2009 }} ''Tahlequah Daily Press.'' January 6, 2006 (retrieved October 5, 2009)</ref> Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller has suggested that some groups, which he calls [[Cherokee Heritage Groups]], are encouraged.<ref>Glenn 2006.</ref> Others, however, are controversial for their attempts to gain economically through their claims to be Cherokee. The three federally recognized groups note that they are the only groups having the legal right to present themselves as Cherokee Indian Tribes and only their enrolled citizens are legally Cherokee.<ref>Official Statement Cherokee Nation 2000, Pierpoint 2000.</ref>

One exception to this may be the [[Texas Cherokee]]. Before 1975, they were considered part of the Cherokee Nation, as reflected in briefs filed before the [[Indian Claims Commission]]. At one time W.W. Keeler served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation and, at the same time, held the position as Chairman of the Texas Cherokee and Associated Bands (TCAB) Executive Committee.
Following the adoption of the Cherokee constitution in 1976, TCAB descendants whose ancestors had remained a part of the physical Mount Tabor Community in [[Rusk County, Texas]], were excluded from CN citizenship. Because they had already migrated from Indian Territory at the time of the [[Dawes Commission]], their ancestors were not recorded on the Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes, which serve as the basis for tracing descent for many individuals. But, most if not all TCAB descendants did have an ancestor listed on either the Guion-Miller or Old settler rolls.

While most Mount Tabor residents returned to the Cherokee Nation after the Civil War and following the death of [[John Ross (Cherokee chief)|John Ross]] in 1866, in the 21st century, there is a sizable group that is well documented but outside that body. It is not actively seeking a status clarification. They have treaty rights going back to the [[Treaty of Bird's Fort]]. From the end of the Civil War until 1975, they were associated with the Cherokee Nation.

Other remnant populations continue to exist throughout the Southeast United States and individually in the states surrounding Oklahoma. Many of these people trace descent from persons enumerated on official rolls such as the Guion-Miller, Drennan, Mullay, and Henderson Rolls, among others. Other descendants trace their heritage through the treaties of 1817 and 1819 with the federal government that gave individual land allotments to Cherokee households. State-recognized tribes may have different membership requirements and genealogical documentation than to the federally recognized ones.

Current enrollment guidelines of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma have been approved by the US [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]]. The CN noted such facts during the Constitutional Convention held <!-- when? -->to ratify a new governing document. The document was eventually ratified by a small portion of the electorate. Any changes to the tribe's enrollment procedures must be approved by the Department of Interior. Under 25 CFR 83, the Office of Federal Acknowledgment is required to first apply its own anthropological, genealogical, and historical research methods to any request for change by the tribe. It forwards its recommendations to the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs for consideration.<ref>* [http://www.tngennet.org/cherokee_by_blood/aoc.htm Act of Congress Roll, 1854]
* [http://www.cherokee.org/Government/254/Page/default.aspx (Pre-convention – 1999) Oral and Written Testimonies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104091145/http://www.cherokee.org/Government/254/Page/Default.aspx |date=January 4, 2011 }}
* [http://www.tngennet.org/cherokee_by_blood/census.htm Cherokee Census Rolls, a follow-up]
* [http://www.tngennet.org/cherokee_by_blood/chapman.htm Chapman Roll Eastern Cherokees, 1851]
* [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/che0140.htm#mn11 Treaty with the Cherokee, 1817] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103150436/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/che0140.htm#mn11 |date=November 3, 2012 }}</ref>

===Cherokee Freedmen===
{{Main|Cherokee Freedmen}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:CNSeal.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The seal of the Cherokee Nation.]] -->

The Cherokee Freedmen, descendants of African American slaves owned by citizens of the Cherokee Nation during the [[Antebellum Period]], were first guaranteed Cherokee citizenship under a treaty with the United States in 1866. This was in the wake of the [[American Civil War]], when the U.S. emancipated slaves and passed US constitutional amendments granting freedmen citizenship in the United States.

In 1988, the federal court in the Freedmen case of ''Nero v. Cherokee Nation''<ref>{{Cite court|url=https://casetext.com/case/nero-v-cherokee-nation-of-oklahoma|litigants=Nero v. Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma|vol= 892 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=1457 |court=United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit |date=22 December 1989 }}</ref> held that Cherokees could decide citizenship requirements and exclude Freedmen. On March 7, 2006, the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeal Tribunal ruled that the Cherokee Freedmen were eligible for Cherokee citizenship. This ruling proved controversial; while the Cherokee Freedman had historically been recorded as "citizens" of the Cherokee Nation at least since 1866 and the later [[Dawes Commission]] Land Rolls, the ruling "did not limit membership to people possessing Cherokee blood".<ref name="Freedman-Decision">{{cite web |title=Freedman Decision |url=http://www.cherokee.org/docs/news/Freedman-Decision.pdf |access-date=March 10, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213034721/http://www.cherokee.org/docs/news/Freedman-Decision.pdf |archive-date=February 13, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> This ruling was consistent with the 1975 Constitution of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, in its acceptance of the Cherokee Freedmen on the basis of historical citizenship, rather than documented blood relation.

On March 3, 2007, a constitutional amendment was passed by a Cherokee vote limiting citizenship to Cherokees on the Dawes Rolls for those listed as Cherokee by blood on the Dawes roll, which did not include partial Cherokee descendants of slaves, Shawnee and Delaware.<ref>[http://www.cherokeecourts.com/Portals/5/44%20-%20Motion%20for%20Summary%20Judgment%20and%20Brief%20in%20Support.pdf Cherokee Constitutional Amendment March 3, 2007] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304002421/http://www.cherokeecourts.com/Portals/5/44%20-%20Motion%20for%20Summary%20Judgment%20and%20Brief%20in%20Support.pdf |date=March 4, 2009 }}.</ref> The Cherokee Freedmen had 90 days to appeal this amendment vote which disenfranchised them from Cherokee citizenship and file appeal within the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council, which is currently pending in ''Nash, et al. v. Cherokee Nation Registrar''. On May 14, 2007, the Cherokee Freedmen were reinstated as citizens of the Cherokee Nation by the Cherokee Nation Tribal Courts through a temporary order and temporary injunction until the court reached its final decision.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.cherokeecourts.com/Portal/5/44%20-%20Motion%20for%20Summary%20Judgment%20and%20Brief%20in%20Support.pdf | title= Nash, et al v. Cherokee Nation Registrar }}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>  On January 14, 2011, the tribal district court ruled that the 2007 constitutional amendment was invalid because it conflicted with the 1866 treaty guaranteeing the Freedmen's rights.<ref>Gavin Off, [http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20110114_14_0_AChero292984 "Judge grants Cherokee citizenship to non-Indian freedmen"], ''[[Tulsa World]]'', January 14, 2011.</ref>