Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama

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Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama
Formation1995 [1]
Founded at Flag of the United States.svg United States
( Flag of Alabama.svg Alabama)
TypeP84: Ethnic, Immigrant Centers and Service Providers [1]
Registration no.EIN: 63-1142216 [1]
Headquarters Falkville, Alabama [1]
Official language
English
Chief
Dennis Wooten
Vice Chief
Rita Majors
Revenue (2020)
$35,925 [1]
Expenses (2020)$45,089 [1]
Staff
0 full-time [1]
Website echotacherokee.org

The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama is a state-recognized tribe in Alabama and Cherokee heritage group. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] It is based in northern Alabama and gained state-recognition under the Davis-Strong Act in 1984. [2]

Contents

Recognition by an American state government is not the same as recognition on the federal level or recognition by continually existing Indian tribes. [7]

Both the federally recognized Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians oppose federal recognition of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama, listing them among "fraudulent groups." [3] [4] [6]

Nonprofit organization

The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama has a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Falkville, Alabama, and founded in 1995. [1] Its missions is the "Education of general public with regard to Cherokee nation history, culture and background." [1]

Heritage groups

Numerous organizations in the United States identify as having Cherokee heritage but lack documented ancestry or connection to the federally recognized Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, or United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. Some of these groups have applied for federal recognition but been denied.

The Supreme Court made plain the exclusion of states from tribal matters in the earliest and most important cases that make up the foundation of Indian Law. In Worcester v. Georgia , 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832) the Court stated: 'The treaties and laws of the United States contemplate ... that all intercourse with [Indians] shall be carried on exclusively by the government of the union.' Real tribes are governments similar to States and Nations. [7]

History

After the passage of the Indian Removal Act in the 1830, the majority of the Cherokee people were forcibly removed from the Southeastern United States. The approximately 1,000 Cherokee people who remained in the Southeast formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and their tribe continues to live in the community known as the Qualla Boundary.

The Echota Cherokee claim that their ancestors were Cherokee people who fled or "simply walked away" from the Trail of Tears. They have also claimed that their ancestors were so white-passing and assimilated that they could escape detection simply by wearing hats and long-sleeved shirts to avoid getting a tan and by speaking English rather than Cherokee. [8]

In 1980 a group of people ineligible to enroll in any federally recognized Native American tribe set up a nonprofit heritage club known as "The Echota Cherokee." In 1984, when the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission was established to represent Native American interests in the state, the group attained state recognition. [2] The group is headquartered in Falkville, Alabama. [9]

In 1997 the Echota Cherokee organization reported that they had 22,000 members. Only 21 members participated in the cited survey. [10] They do not state what criteria they use for membership. [10] Their stated accomplishments and goals at this time were that they had elected a council, and hoped to offer "instruction in the Cherokee language through the Alabama public school system." [10]

The Echota Cherokee have a representative on the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission [2] and the Inter-Tribal Council of Alabama's WIA Program, to assist workforce improvement. [11]

Petition for federal recognition

The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama is not federally recognized as a Native American tribe, [12] nor are they recognized by any of the federally recognized Cherokee communities. [3] [4] [6]

The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama sent a letter of intent to petition for federal recognition in 2009; [13] however, the organization did not follow through with submitting a completed petition for federal recognition. [14]

Notable members

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee</span> Indigenous American people of the southeastern United States

The Cherokee people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, edges of western South Carolina, northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama consisting of around 40,000 square miles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trail of Tears</span> Forced relocation and ethnic cleansing of the southeastern Native American tribes

The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans within that were ethnically cleansed by the United States government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five Civilized Tribes</span> Native American grouping

The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by the United States government in the early federal period of the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminoles. White Americans classified them as "civilized" because they had adopted attributes of the Anglo-American culture.

Conventionally, the descriptor 'civilized' is seldom utilized nowadays due to its derogatory nature, and the historical usage of the term as an obscuration for cultural imperialism. Therewith, the grouping of these aforementioned nations is referred to as The Five Tribes or simply Five Tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribal sovereignty in the United States</span> Type of political status of Native Americans

Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of Indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), is a federally recognized Indian tribe based in western North Carolina in the United States. They are descended from the small group of 800–1,000 Cherokees who remained in the Eastern United States after the U.S. military, under the Indian Removal Act, moved the other 15,000 Cherokees to west of the Mississippi River in the late 1830s, to Indian Territory. Those Cherokees remaining in the east were to give up tribal Cherokee citizenship and to assimilate. They became U.S. citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians</span> Federally recognized tribe based in Oklahoma

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe of Cherokee Native Americans headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. According to the UKB website, its members are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers" or "Western Cherokees," those Cherokees who migrated from the Southeast to present-day Arkansas and Oklahoma around 1817. Some reports estimate that Old Settlers began migrating west by 1800, before the forced relocation of Cherokees by the United States in the late 1830s under the Indian Removal Act.

State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under assorted state government laws for varying purposes or by governor's executive orders. State recognition does not dictate whether or not they are recognized as Native American tribes by continually existing tribal nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee Nation</span> Native American tribe in Oklahoma, United States

The Cherokee Nation, formerly known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Old Cherokee Nation who relocated, due to increasing pressure, from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who were forced to relocate on the Trail of Tears. The tribe also includes descendants of Cherokee Freedmen, Absentee Shawnee, and Natchez Nation. As of 2023, over 450,000 people were enrolled in the Cherokee Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaver Creek Indian Tribe</span> State-recognized tribe in South Carolina

The Beaver Creek Indian Tribe or Beaver Creek Indians is a state-recognized tribe and nonprofit organization headquartered in Salley, South Carolina. The organization was awarded the status of a state-recognized tribe by the South Carolina Commission of Minority Affairs on January 27, 2006. They are not a federally recognized Native American tribe and are one several recognized nonprofit organizations within South Carolina that allege to be descended from the historic Pee Dee. The organization is not to be confused with the Pee Dee Indian Nation of Beaver Creek, a "state-recognized group" recognized by the South Carolina Commission of Minority Affairs in 2007.

Cherokee heritage groups are associations, societies and other organizations located primarily in the United States. Such groups consist of persons who do not qualify for enrollment in any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes. As the Cherokee Nation enrolls all people who can prove descent from a Cherokee ancestor, many of these groups consist of those who claim Cherokee ancestry but have no documentation to prove this alleged heritage. Some have had their claims of ancestry checked and proven to be false. A total of 819,105 Americans claimed Cherokee heritage in the 2010 Census, more than any other named tribe in the Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native American recognition in the United States</span>

Native American recognition in the United States, for tribes, usually means being recognized by the United States federal government as a community of Indigenous people that has been in continual existence since prior to European contact, and which has a sovereign, government-to-government relationship with the Federal government of the United States. In the United States, the Native American tribe is a fundamental unit of sovereign tribal government. This recognition comes with various rights and responsibilities. The United States recognizes the right of these tribes to self-government and supports their tribal sovereignty and self-determination. These tribes possess the right to establish the legal requirements for membership. They may form their own government, enforce laws, tax, license and regulate activities, zone, and exclude people from tribal territories. Limitations on tribal powers of self-government include the same limitations applicable to states; for example, neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or coin money.

The MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians is a state-recognized tribe, located in southwest Alabama, with a population largely based in southern Washington County and some membership in northern Mobile County.

The Yowani were a historical group of Choctaw people who lived in Texas. Yowani was also the name of a preremoval Choctaw village.

The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of individuals who self-identify as Cherokee but are not state or federally recognized as a Native American tribe or government. The headquarters for the NCNOLT is in Columbia, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)</span> Historic, autonomous Native American government

The Cherokee Nation was a legal, autonomous, tribal government in North America recognized from 1794 to 1907. It was often referred to simply as "The Nation" by its inhabitants. The government was effectively disbanded in 1907, after its land rights had been extinguished, prior to the admission of Oklahoma as a state. During the late 20th century, the Cherokee people reorganized, instituting a government with sovereign jurisdiction known as the Cherokee Nation. On July 9, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation had never been disestablished in the years before allotment and Oklahoma Statehood.

Alabama Indian Affairs Commission (AIAC) was created by a legislative act in 1984 and represents more than 38,000 American Indian families who are residents of the U.S. state of Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama</span> State-recognized tribe in Alabama, United States

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Cherokee descent, "being of Cherokee descent", or "being a Cherokee descendant" are all terms for individuals with some degree of documented Cherokee ancestry but do not meet the criteria for tribal citizenship. The terms are also used by non-Native individuals who self-identify as Cherokee despite lacking documentation or community recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois, and United Tribes of South Carolina</span>

The Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of South Carolina, Inc. or ECSIUT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and "state-recognized group" not to be confused with a state-recognized tribe. The state of South Carolina gave them the state-recognized group and special interest organization designation under the SC Code Section 1-31-40 (A) (7)(10), Statutory Authority Chapter 139 (100-111) on February 17, 2005.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama". Cause IQ. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 'State-recognized Tribes' Archived December 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine , Alabama Indian Commission
  3. 1 2 3 Cherokee Nation Task Force (March 26, 2011) "Fraudulent Group List," What is a real Indian Nation? What is a fake tribe? Archived November 11, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Accessed Oct 20, 2014
  4. 1 2 3 McKie, Scott (Oct 14, 2011) "Tribe establishes Cherokee Identity Protection Committee" in The One Feather.
  5. Cherokee Nation Task Force. "Fraud List". Cherokee One Feather. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "Fraudulent Tribes List (cached)". Cherokee One Feather. October 2011. Retrieved September 13, 2015. $45.00 - Annual Membership
  7. 1 2 Government Relations, Cherokee Nation (2009). "Support the Federal Recognition Process to Protect all Tribal Citizens" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 7, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2015. "The Supreme Court made plain the exclusion of states from tribal matters in the earliest and most important cases that make up the foundation of Indian Law. In Worcester v. Georgia, Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832) the Court stated: 'The treaties and laws of the United States contemplate...that all intercourse with [Indians] shall be carried on exclusively by the government of the union.' Real tribes are governments similar to States and Nations."
  8. "The Echota Cherokee Tribe". Alabama Indian Affairs Commission. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  9. "The Echota Cherokee Tribe", hosted by Alabama Indian Affairs Commission, accessed October 20, 2014
  10. 1 2 3 Stacye Hathorn, 'The Echota Cherokee Language: Current Use and Opinions about Revival', in Teaching Indigenous Language, 1997
  11. 'Intertribal Council of Alabama' Archived October 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs". Indian Affairs Bureau. Federal Register. January 28, 2022. pp. 7554–58. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  13. "List of Petitoners By State" (PDF). www.bia.gov. November 12, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  14. "Office of Federal Acknowledgment". U.S. Department of Indian Affairs. Retrieved January 28, 2022.