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.
John Ross was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 to 1866; he served longer in that position than any other person. Ross led the nation through such tumultuous events as forced removal to Indian Territory and the American Civil War.
Elias Boudinot was a writer, newspaper editor, and leader of the Cherokee Nation. He was a member of a prominent family, and was born and grew up in Cherokee territory, now part of present-day Georgia. Born to parents of mixed Cherokee and European ancestry and educated at the Foreign Mission School in Connecticut, he became one of several leaders who believed that acculturation was critical to Cherokee survival. He was influential in the period of removal to Indian Territory.
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.
Nimrod Jarrett Smith (1832–1893), also called Tsaladihi, was the fifth Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. He is credited with gaining approval by the North Carolina legislature for the band's incorporation as a legal entity, and for gaining federal recognition as an Indian tribe.
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.
Joyce Dugan is an American educator, school administrator, and politician; she served as the 24th Principal Chief of the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (1995-1999), based in Western North Carolina. She was the first woman to be elected to this office, and as of 2024 the only one.
William Holland Thomas was an American merchant, lawyer, politician and soldier.
Charles Renatus Hicks (Cherokee) was one of the three most important leaders of his people in the early 19th century, together with James Vann and Major Ridge. The three men all had some European ancestry, as did numerous other Cherokee, but they identified as Cherokee. The people had a matrilineal kinship system, so children were considered born into their mother's family and clan.
William Abraham Hicks was a wealthy farmer and leader of the Cherokee Nation. In a time of crisis, the National Cherokee Council named Hicks the interim Principal Chief in October 1827. He served in that capacity until October 1828. Hicks succeeded his older brother Charles Hicks, who died in office in January 1827, two weeks after coming to the position.
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.
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.
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.
Referendum Question #2, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Marijuana Legalization Measure, was a ballot measure in the US that was sent to voters on September 7, 2023, by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council. The proposal sought to legalize the recreational use of cannabis on tribal lands for those over the age of 21, and to require the EBCI Tribal Council to adopt legislation to regulate legal cannabis.
