Cherokee Want Federal Court to Decide on Freedmen

In a complaint filed Tuesday in Federal District Court in Tulsa, the Cherokee Nation asked a federal judge to declare that the descendents of freedmen – freed slaves that lived with the Cherokee Nation – have no federal rights to citizenship in the tribe. 

The Nation argues that the descendents of Freedmen lost their right to citizenship when Congress modified its treaty with the U.S. government in 1866 when it passed the Five Tribes Act. Read about it here.