 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2020) |
 | |
| Adopted | October 9, 1978, September 9, 1989 (modified) |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Stanley John |
The flag of the Cherokee Nation was adopted by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma on October 9, 1978.
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of the three federally-recognized tribes of Cherokee in the United States. First recognized under the Franklin Roosevelt administration in 1941, it drafted a constitution under the name "Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma." The constitution was not finally ratified by tribal members until 1976.
A flag for the new nation was designed by Stanley John, and approved by the Cherokee Tribal Council on October 9, 1978. The flag has an orange field with the "Great Seal of the Cherokee Nation" at its center. The seal is surrounded by seven yellow stars with seven points. Each of the stars points toward the star in the center of the seal.[ citation needed ] The seven-pointed stars represent the seven clans of the Cherokee. [1]
The current version comes the flag being modified in a resolution passed by the council on September 9, 1989. [1] Then, a black seven-pointed star was added to the upper right-hand corner of the flag to represent the light that went out with the deaths of those who perished on the Trail of Tears. [2] The official flag also has a green-and-black rope edging. [1]
The Cherokee script in the central seal reads: "Tsa la gi yi A ye hli" (translation: "Cherokee Nation"). [1]
Oral tradition states that the earliest Cherokee flag was the Cherokee Peace Flag, which had seven red stars with seven points, arranged in the form of the Big Dipper asterism on a white field. [3] Tradition also states the Cherokee War Flag was the same design as the Peace Flag but with the colors inverted. [1]
In the 1860s, Cherokee Confederate troops, part of the Indian cavalry, carried battle flags adapted from the first Confederate flag, most notably the Cherokee Braves Flag of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles. One was captured at the Battle of Locust Grove.[ citation needed ] It displayed the original Stars and Bars with the addition of five red stars in the center of the white stars. The red stars represented the Five Civilized Tribes, who were aligned with the Confederate States. The center red star represented the Cherokee Nation.[ citation needed ]
Cherokee Peace Flag
National Color of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles The flag used by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is not the same as that used Eastern Band of Cherokee, as their seals differ. [1]
The Cherokee 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.
The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and the "Blood-Stained Banner", used in 1865 shortly before the Confederacy's dissolution. A rejected national flag design was also used as a battle flag by the Confederate Army and featured in the "Stainless Banner" and "Blood-Stained Banner" designs. Although this design was never a national flag, it is the most commonly recognized symbol of the Confederacy.
John Ross was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 to 1866; he served longer in that position than any other person. Described as the Moses of his people, Ross influenced the nation through such tumultuous events as the relocation to Indian Territory and the American Civil War.
Brigadier-General Stand Watie, also known as Standhope Uwatie and Isaac S. Watie, was a Cherokee politician who served as the second principal chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1862 to 1866. The Cherokee Nation allied with the Confederate States during the American Civil War, and he was subsequently the only Native American Confederate general officer. Watie commanded Indian forces in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, made up mostly of Cherokee, Muskogee, and Seminole. He was the last Confederate States Army general to surrender.
Chadwick "Corntassel" Smith is a Native American 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.
Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws in the United States that define Native American status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establish legally defined racial population groups. By contrast, many tribes do not include blood quantum as part of their own enrollment criteria.
The Great Seal of Oklahoma was officially adopted in 1907 and is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the Government of Oklahoma. The phrase is used both for the physical seal itself, which is kept by the Secretary of State, and more generally for the design impressed upon it.
Cherokee society is the culture and societal structures shared by the Cherokee Peoples. It can also mean the extended family or village. The Cherokee are Indigenous to the mountain and inland regions of the southeastern United States in the areas of present-day North Carolina, and historically in South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Northern Mountainous areas, now called the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia and its lowlands. The majority of the tribe was forcibly removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma in the 1830s.
The Cherokee Nation, also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes 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 Cherokee 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.
Lewis Downing, also known by his Cherokee name ᎷᏫ ᏌᏩᎾᏍᎩ ("Lewie-za-wau-na-skie") served as Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1867 to 1872. After the death of John Ross, he was a compromise candidate who was elected to a full term as Principal Chief. Downing worked to heal divisions in the tribe following removal to the Indian Territory and the American Civil War. He was elected to a second term in 1871, but died in 1872, after a two-week battle with pneumonia. The Cherokee Council chose William P. Ross as his successor.
Star polygons and polygonal compounds are the basis for numerous figures of significance in arts and culture. The figure may be the border or interior of the polygon, or one or more closed polygonal paths that include all of the border and also have some legs crossing the interior. The name is derived from the polygon's similarity to the diffraction spikes of astronomical stars, but specific uses may exploit the connection or not. Stars often represent the unity of states within a country when they are used as a part of the flag.
The Yowani were a historical group of Choctaw people who lived in Texas. Yowani was also the name of a preremoval Choctaw village.
The Kialegee Tribal Town is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma, as well as a traditional township within the former Muscogee Creek Confederacy in the American Southeast. Tribal members pride themselves on retaining their traditions and many still speak the Muscogee language. The name "Kialegee" comes from the Muscogee word, eka-lache, meaning "head left."
The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma is one of three federally recognized Shawnee tribes. They are located in Oklahoma and Missouri.
Cherokee history is the written and oral lore, traditions, and historical record maintained by the living Cherokee people and their ancestors. In the 21st century, leaders of the Cherokee people define themselves as those persons enrolled in one of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes: The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, The Cherokee Nation, and The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
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.
The Mount Tabor Indian Community is a cultural heritage group located in Rusk County, Texas. There was a historical Mount Tabor Indian Community dating from the 19th century. The current organization established a nonprofit organization in Texas in 2015.
| National flags | |
|---|---|
| National coats of arms | |
