Indeed. See post #28
"Her story makes a nice little history lesson, actually: Politically, she was on the Left and was hailed as a hero by many on the Left. Interestingly, as per Wikipedia, there was a controversy when she was holding office: Some Cherokee were slaveowners. Once slavery was abolished, the former slaves (Cherokee freedmen) were enrolled into the Cherokee nation. Mankiller passed legislation to have the Freedmen descendants dismissed from the Cherokee Nation based on not having “Indian blood”. It’s interesting how the Left works."
Much of the book I wrote is about those Cherokee Slaves, including many testimonies by them taken in 1937. The group of Cherokee who fought to give their slaves land allotments in Cherokee Nation also allowed the freed slaves to attend their schoolsl, which were the finest in the nation. They also helped the newly 'free' slaves begin lives as free people.
[snip] The Treaty of 1866 negotiated by the Cherokee Nation also remembered those others who had been a significant part of the struggle. It stated:
"All native born Cherokees, all Indians, and whites legally members of the Nation by adoption, and all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as free colored persons who were in the country at the commencement of the rebellion, and are now residents therein, or who may return within six months from the 19th day of July, 1866, and their descendants, who reside within the limits of the Cherokee Nation, shall be taken and deemed to be, citizens of the Cherokee Nation."
[snip]2007 March Cherokee Tribe voted to no longer recognize descendants of Cherokee freedmen slaves as part of tribal membership, proving the more things change, the more they stay the same.
One freed slave, by then an old woman speaks of this:
[snip]" Later on when that treaty was made they all traveled to Tahlequah to hear it read. Accordin' to dat treaty, Cherokees and their slaves was to have equal rights. Brother Lewis and me both got our allotments. We will always be part of the Cherokee Nation."
http://jesusweptanamericanstory.blogspot.com/
These are the men, all Cherokee who negotiated that treaty. Stand Watie was also there, but not in the photograph.
Southern Cherokee delegation to Washington D. C. Fall 1866 L -R , John Rollin Ridge, Saladin Ridge Watie, Richard Fields, Elias Cornelius Boudinot, William Penn Adair
