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.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA),also known as Indian Affairs (IA),is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to Native Americans and Alaska Natives,and administering and managing over 55,700,000 acres (225,000 km2) of reservations held in trust by the U.S. federal government for indigenous tribes. It renders services to roughly 2 million indigenous Americans across 574 federally recognized tribes. The BIA is governed by a director and overseen by the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs,who answers to the Secretary of the Interior.
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 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.
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.
William Wayne Keeler was an American engineer,oilman,and tribal chief. He was the last appointed and first elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 20th century. Educated as a chemical engineer,he worked for Phillips Petroleum Company,where he became chief executive officer at the end of a long career with the company. Throughout his life he also worked in the federal government for the advancement of Indians. President Truman appointed him as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in 1949. He also served as chairman for the executive committee of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands from 1939 until 1972. In 1971,he became the Cherokees' first elected chief since 1903.
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.
William Potter Ross,also known as Will Ross,was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation 1866-1867 and 1872-1875. Born to a Scottish father and a mixed-blood Cherokee mother,he was raised in a bilingual home. Ross attended English-speaking schools. He attended Princeton University,where he graduated first in his class in 1844.
Lewis Downing,also known by his Cherokee name ᎷᏫᏌᏩᎾᏍᎩ("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.
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.
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.
Sequoyah High School is a Native American boarding school serving students in grades 7 through 12,who are members of a federally recognized Native American tribe. The school is located in Park Hill,Oklahoma,with a Tahlequah post office address,and is a Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) grant school operated by the Cherokee Nation.
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.
Joel Bryan Mayes was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
The Delaware Tribe of Indians,formerly known as the Cherokee Delaware or the Eastern Delaware,based in Bartlesville,Oklahoma,is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Lenape people in the United States. The others are the Delaware Nation based in Anadarko,Oklahoma,and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community of Wisconsin. More Lenape or Delaware people live in Canada.
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.
