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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.
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.
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.
In the United States,impeachment is the process by which a legislature may bring charges against an officeholder for misconduct alleged to have been committed with a penalty of removal. Impeachment may also occur at the state level if the state or commonwealth has provisions for it under its constitution. Impeachment might also occur with tribal governments as well as at the local level of government.
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 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 2023,over 450,000 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 Keetoowah Nighthawk Society was a Cherokee organisation formed ca. 1900 that intended to preserve and practice traditional "old ways" of tribal life,based on religious nationalism. It was led by Redbird Smith,a Cherokee National Council and original Keetoowah Society member. It formed in the Indian Territory that was superseded by admission of Oklahoma as a state,during the late-nineteenth century period when the federal government was breaking up tribal governments and communal lands under the Dawes Act and Curtis Act. The Nighthawks arose in response to weakening resolve on the part of Cherokee leaders—including the original Keetoowah Society,a political organization created by Cherokee Native American full bloods,in or about 1859—to continue their resistance on behalf of the Cherokee after the Dawes Commission began forcing the transfer of Oklahoma tribal lands in the Indian Territory to individual ownership in the 1890s.
The Original Keetoowah Society is a 21st-century Keetoowah religious organization dedicated to preserving the culture and teachings of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society in Oklahoma. It has been described as the surviving core of the Cherokee movement of religious nationalism originally led by Redbird Smith in the mid-nineteenth century. After the Cherokee were forced to move to Indian Territory,various groups associated with the Keetoowah Society worked to preserve traditional culture and its teachings.
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.
William Charles Rogers was born in the Cherokee Nation near present-day Skiatook,Oklahoma,USA,on December 13,1847. A Confederate veteran and successful farmer,he entered tribal politics in 1881.
Redbird Smith (1850–1918) was a traditionalist and political activist in the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory. He helped found the Nighthawk Keetoowah Society,whose members revitalized traditional spirituality among the Cherokee from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.
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.
Bill John Baker is a Native American politician who served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. First elected in October 2011,Baker defeated three-term incumbent Chief Chad "Corntassel" Smith. Prior to his election as Chief,Baker served 12 years on the Cherokee Tribal Council. In 1999,Baker unsuccessfully ran for Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Clifford Gerard Parker,known as Gerard Parker was the 23rd Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for 16 days in 1995. Prior to this,he had served as Vice Chief for six years under Jonathan L. Taylor,who was impeached after two terms. He continued to serve as Vice Chief under Joyce Dugan,who was elected in 1995.
Patrick Henry Lambert is a Native American tribal leader who served as the 27th Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians from 2015 to 2017. He also served as the Executive Director of the Cherokee Tribal Gaming Commission for over twenty years. Lambert was impeached on January 18,2017,and removed from office on May 25,2017.
Richard G. Sneed was the 28th Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Sneed succeeded former Principal Chief Patrick Lambert following Lambert's impeachment,only the second such impeachment since the 19th century.
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.
References
- 1 2 Conley, Robert J. (2007). A Cherokee Encyclopedia. University of New Mexico Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-8263-3951-5.
- ↑ "Oklahoma tribal chief impeached over financial improprieties". Associated Press. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
- 1 2 "Former UKB Chief Wickliffe dies". Cherokee Phoenix. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 2024-01-08.