Editing Cherokee (section)

===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>