My gggg grandmother was Cherokee according to some record that I forget. Her name was Rachel. My great uncle’s wife was Indian down in Oklahoma but people didn’t talk about it. It was kept secret. People weren’t too forthcoming about what their racial heritage was back then but since she’s getting points for claiming it, she needs to prove it.
My Oklahoma ancestors were there when it was the Indian Territory. They're listed on the 1900 Indian Census as Cherokee - they're not on the 1900 U.S. (white) Census. Eight of ten children (including my g-grandmother) graduated from the famous Chiloqua Indian School; her brother became the school's athletic coach and served there for decades.
In photos (in keeping with the census), her black hairs in dual braids, and she's in beaded buckskin. She's quite clearly Indian.
She married into my family when an ancestor was sent into the Creek Nation as a Methodist Circuit Rider (I have the records sending him there).
Following the family back, they were removed from Dahlonega, Georgia and shortly after gold was found there (the first U.S. gold rush).
My g-grandmother would have passed for full Cherokee, from the photos. Very, very dark skin, Native American features, jet black hair.
Unlike Warren, I can prove two lines of Cherokees. Unlike Warren, I haven't used Native American status (except that, after being accepted at her top two choices for college, my oldest daughter experimented and applied to a choosy state school on a form that said 'check all that apply' as white AND Native American. Heh, heh. Even after she wrote them to say she had accepted admission to another college, they were doing everything except paying our mortgage and mowing our lawn to get her to attend.)