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.
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.
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was a Native American activist,social worker,community developer and the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Born in Tahlequah,Oklahoma,she lived on her family's allotment in Adair County,Oklahoma,until the age of 11,when her family relocated to San Francisco as part of a federal government program to urbanize Indigenous Americans. After high school,she married a well-to-do Ecuadorian and raised two daughters. Inspired by the social and political movements of the 1960s,Mankiller became involved in the Occupation of Alcatraz and later participated in the land and compensation struggles with the Pit River Tribe. For five years in the early 1970s,she was employed as a social worker,focusing mainly on children's issues.
Chadwick "Corntassel" Smith is a Cherokee Nation politician and attorney who served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. He was first elected in 1999. Smith was re-elected to a second term as Chief in 2003 and a third term in June 2007 with 59% of the vote. He was defeated in his attempt to get elected to a fourth term in office by Bill John Baker 54% to 46% in the 2011 election and he lost again to Baker in 2015,receiving 28% of the vote. Prior to being elected Principal Chief,he worked as a lawyer for the tribe and in private practice.
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.
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly 6,952,960 acres,it is the second-largest reservation in area after the Navajo,exceeding that of eight U.S. states. The seat of government is located in Durant,Oklahoma.
Jesse Bartley Milam (1884–1949) was best known as the first Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation appointed by a U.S. president since tribal government had been dissolved before Oklahoma Statehood in 1907. He was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941,who reappointed him in 1942 and 1943;he was reappointed by President Harry S. Truman in 1948. He died while in office in 1949.
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 and Natchez Nation. As of 2024,over 466,000 people were enrolled in the Cherokee Nation.
Joe Byrd was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1995 to 1999. Byrd is bilingual,with an ability to communicate in both Cherokee and English. He ran for re-election in 1999,but lost to Chad "Corntassel" Smith. He ran again in 2003,but again lost to the incumbent Smith.
The Cherokee Freedmen controversy was a political and tribal dispute between the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and descendants of the Cherokee Freedmen regarding the issue of tribal membership. The controversy had resulted in several legal proceedings between the two parties from the late 20th century to August 2017.
David Cornsilk is a professional genealogist and served as the managing editor of the Cherokee Observer,an online news website founded in 1992. He founded of the grassroots Cherokee National Party in the 1990s,seeking to create a movement to promote the Nation as a political entity. While working as a full-time store clerk at Petsmart,he "took on America’s second-largest Indian tribe,the Cherokee Nation,in what led to a landmark tribal decision. Cornsilk served as a lay advocate,which permits non-lawyers to try cases before the Cherokee Nation’s highest court." Cornsilk had worked for the nation as a tribal enrollment research analyst and for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a genealogical researcher. He also has his own genealogical firm. He ran in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election. He lost the election to incumbent principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
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.
Chuck Hoskin Sr. is a Cherokee and American politician and former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 6th district,which includes parts of Craig,Mayes,and Rogers counties. He served as a whip for the Democratic caucus. After leaving the House he served for four years as the Mayor of Vinita,Oklahoma. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation,and he served from 1995 to 2007 as a member of the Tribal Council,and in 2011 became Chief of Staff for the Principal Chief,Baker. In 2019 his son,Chuck Hoskin Jr.,was elected Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation.
The 2019 Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma principal chief election was held on Saturday,June 1,2019. Former Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. defeated Tribal Councilman Dick Lay in the election.
Chuck Hoskin Jr. is a Cherokee Nation politician and attorney currently serving as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation since 2019. He was re-elected to a second term in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.
The 2021 Cherokee Nation tribal council elections took place on July 5,2021,and July 24,2021. The Cherokee Nation's Tribal Council is made up of seventeen tribal councilors elected from the fifteen districts within the reservation boundaries and two at-large seats.
John Wesley "Wes" Nofire is a Cherokee Nation and American politician and a former heavyweight professional boxer who has served as the Oklahoma Native American Affairs Liaison since 2023. During his boxing career Nofire fought under the name "The Cherokee Warrior". Nofire served on the Cherokee Nation tribal council between 2019 and 2023. He was a Republican candidate in the 2022 primary election for Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district and candidate in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.
Cara Cowan Watts is a Cherokee Nation politician. She served on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council from 2003 to 2015 and was a candidate for Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.
Shawna S. Baker,a Native American lawyer,citizen of the Cherokee Nation,is the third woman and the first out,two-spirit,lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,queer person (LGBTQ+) to be appointed a justice on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court. Baker is also on the Chuck Hoskin Jr.,Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation,Domestic Violence Task Force which was launched in 2021,and on the Cherokee Nation Health Services’Ending the HIV Epidemic Committee. She is an advisor to Indian Health Services and on the Ending the HIV Epidemic Committee in Northwest Portland,Oregon,USA. Other roles include being a distinguished alumna in residence at the University of Tulsa College of Law,managing attorney of Family Legacy and Wealth Counsel,PLLC,and a trustee of Oklahomans for Equality in Tulsa,Oklahoma.
The Cherokee Nation tribal council is the legislative branch of the Cherokee Nation. One councilor is elected to represent each of the 15 districts of the Cherokee Nation in the 14 county tribal jurisdictional area. Two tribal council members represent the at-large citizenry –those who live outside the tribe's 14-county jurisdictional area in northeastern Oklahoma. The 17 councilors total are elected to staggered four-year terms.
