Cherokee Nation To Vote on Expelling Slaves' Descendants

The Washington Post ^ | Saturday, March 3, 2007 | Ellen Knickmeyer

[rabidralph]

VINITA, Okla. -- J.D. Baldridge, 73, has official government documents showing him to be a descendant of a full-blood Cherokee. He has memories of a youth spent among Cherokee neighbors and kin, at tribal stomp dances and hog fries. He holds on to a fair amount of Cherokee vocabulary. " Salali," Baldridge says, his face creasing into a smile at the word. "Squirrel stew. Oh, that was good."

What Baldridge, a retired Oklahoma county sheriff, also has is at least one black ancestor, a former slave of a Cherokee family. That could get Baldridge cast out of the tribe, along with thousands of others.

The 250,000-member Cherokee Nation will vote in a special election today whether to override a 141-year-old treaty and change the tribal constitution to bar "freedmen," the descendants of former tribal slaves, from being members of the sovereign nation.

"It's a basic, inherent right to determine our own citizenry. We paid very dearly for those rights," Cherokee Principal Chief Chad Smith said in an interview last month in Oklahoma City.

But the Cherokee freedmen see the vote as less about self-determination than about discrimination and historical blinders. They see in the referendum hints of racism and a desire by some Cherokees to deny the tribe's slave-owning past.

[rabidralph]

No, I did not say that, but I do invite all people who whine about their "lack" of freedom in America to go back to their ancestral homelands.

[La Enchiladita]

Megwetch nican!!

I hope that is a good thing (grin), not being of the anciently indigenous people myself, but of the more recently indigenous....

[La Enchiladita]

I'd like to know the correct spelling, is it Pottawatomie, Pottawattomie or Potawatomie.

Please see post #65. By the way, I don't think non-Indians are supposed to get spellings and pronunciations correct. In fact, it's better we don't, otherwise we are designated members of the Wannabe Nation... or Clan. *Grin*

[daybreakcoming]

ARTICLE 9. The Cherokee Nation having, voluntarily, in February, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by an act of the national council, forever abolished slavery, hereby covenant and agree that never hereafter shall either slavery or involuntary servitude exist in their nation otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, in accordance with laws applicable to all the members of said tribe alike. They further agree that all freedmen who have been liberated by voluntary act of their former owners or by law, as well as all 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, and their descendants, shall have all the rights of native Cherokees: Provided, That owners of slaves so emancipated in the Cherokee Nation shall never receive any compensation or pay for the slaves so emancipated.

[toddlintown]

"You an old Lennon fan?"

In my old delusional days. I have to admit that I grew out of Lennon worship when someone told me the secret of what would bring the Beatles back together (before George died).

"What you that be?" I asked.

"3 more bullets." I laughed and knew that those days of Beatle worship were behind me.

[toddlintown]

Whoops! "What would that be," I asked.

[La Enchiladita]

Vewy intewesting.... it just occurred to me that some of the Africans who came to this country way back were NEVER slaves. I don't have the historical citations, but I believe SOME blacks were always "freedmen." I may be wrong...?

[varina davis]

Please tell me more about the Tsalagiyi. Thank you.

[Old Student]

"as a Tsalagiyi "mixed-blood", i completely AGREE.
i hope the day NEVER comes when i'm NOT considered "RED enough" to remain an enrolled member of the nation!!! (IF the "pins" decide to try that, they will have a FIGHT on their hands!!!)

My wife and children have a tiny percentage of Cherokee blood. AFAIK, not enough to be on the tribal roles, but enough that we thought it cool. My wife is no longer so proud of that blood. I don't think I have any such blood, but can't swear to it. Grandma used to name a dozen or so nationalities we shared, but I can only remember ten of them. She had long, dark, thick blue-black hair that gleamed in the sun when I was a little boy. I do remember that they made a point of stopping by the Cherokee reservation on a trip to Michigan, back in the late '60's or early '70's. I've always wondered why there, and none of the other places.

I also wonder how Sequoya would feel about this new development.

[AmishDude]

You don't hear much about this do you? You know, I have a single tear going down my cheek right now.

[Old Student]

"Vewy intewesting.... it just occurred to me that some of the Africans who came to this country way back were NEVER slaves. I don't have the historical citations, but I believe SOME blacks were always "freedmen." I may be wrong...?


You are not wrong. Initially, (like beginning in 1619, with the first shipload) blacks entered the same sort of involuntary servitude whites faced if they were broke; indentured servitude lasted for 7 years. Later it was extended to a lifetime of servitude, and then made hereditary. That was, IIRC, by the 1680's or so.

[La Enchiladita]

It would be interesting to trace the lineage of some of the Black Bourgeousie families ....

[Osage Orange]

Brouzho!! ( Hello..!! )

Oh yeah...LOL!!

The phrase "Megwetch Nican" means "good-bye, friend."

I know enough Potawatomi to be dangerous....

I'm not ancient...although my kids think I am. hehe

Three tribes or fractions of Bode'Wadmi.....The Forrest Band....the Prairie Band, and the Citizen Band. Originally from the Great Lakes regions....closely related to the Ojibwe and the Ottawa tribes.

FRegards,

[Osage Orange]

I also wonder how Sequoya would feel about this new development.

Prolly spinning in his grave....

[La Enchiladita]

Thanks so much. I heard something about the Ojibway ... they both fought, and allied with at other times, the Lakota...? I think they mostly fought.

My mother grew up on a southeastern Nebraska farm, early 20th century. I asked if they ever saw Indians. She said not much, but when they did, "We were afraid of them!"

Megwetch Nican!

;^)

[RegulatorCountry]

Ironically enough, the first African slave for life in the colonies was owned by Anthony Johnson of Northampton County, Virginia, in 1654. Anthony Johnson was a free black man.

[MichiganMan]

Yup... gonna' be a lot of lib hand-wringing and brow-furrowing goin' on over this.

Nope, their inability to identify a satisfying bad guy to gang up on will keep this from generating the kind of buzz a story like this needs to maintain a national interest. They're not going to want to hear that Indigenous People owned slaves, much less that the still oppressed people of the Original Nation are casting slaves' descendants out in the cold.

They'll ignore this and pretend they didn't hear it.

[johnny7]

They'll ignore this...

You're probably right.

[SuzyQue]

Yeah, but they're only talking about Cherokee.

[stand watie]

the TSALAGIYI is, traditionally, what we call ourselves.

"CHEROKEE" is (depending on which "expert" you ask, either a CREEK or CHOCTAW words for our people/nation/tribe. it SUPPOSEDLY means "those who abide in caves".)

free dixie,sw