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Hamilton Spectator
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
In Oklahoma, Juneteenth highlights tribal slavery descendants' fight for recognition and citizenship
Juneteenth may mark the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they had been freed, but thousands of people in Oklahoma are still fighting for full citizenship in the tribal nations that once held their ancestors in bondage. Several tribes practiced slavery, and five in Oklahoma — The Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee nations — signed reconstruction treaties with the U.S. in 1866 abolishing it three years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. They granted the formerly enslaved, known commonly as Freedmen, citizenship within their respective tribes. Only one of those tribes, the Cherokee Nation, continues to fully grant the rights of citizenship . For descendants of people who were enslaved by tribal nations , Juneteenth is both a celebration of freedom for people of African descent and a reminder of their struggle to be fully embraced by the Indigenous communities with whom they share history and in many cases ancestry. Muscogee Nation Traditionally, Freedmen in the Muscogee Nation celebrate emancipation day on August 4, marking when the tribe's council drew up a law to declare them free, said Rhonda Grayson, the founder and director of the Oklahoma Indian Territory Museum of Black Creek Freedmen History. She traces her lineage to formerly enslaved people listed on a 1906 U.S. census of Native Americans who had been forcibly removed to Oklahoma. Known as the Dawes Rolls, the census created two lists - those who appeared Native and those who appeared Black. Those with African ancestry were put on the Freedmen rolls, although many also had Native ancestry. Last week, the Muscogee Nation Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by Grayson and Jeff Kennedy, who are fighting for their citizenship rights and recognition within the Muscogee Nation. 'Our ancestors were Muscogee people of African descent,' said Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney representing Grayson and Kennedy whose ancestor was also a Freedmen in the tribe. 'We were transformed into 'Freedmen' by the Dawes Commission.' Their ancestors were also forced on the Trail of Tears, and after the Civil War they were granted citizenship and served in the tribe's legislative bodies, Kennedy said. 'We believe that the (Muscogee) Nation would not be what it is today without the bloodshed and tears of those African people,' he said. But, in 1979, the tribe adopted a new constitution restricting citizenship to Muscogee people 'by-blood.' Grayson and Kennedy's lawsuit countered that citizenship requirement is a violation of the 1866 treaty, and in 2023 a Muscogee Nation district court agreed. The Muscogee Nation's citizenship board appealed and is asking the Supreme Court to overturn that decision. 'That provision has guided our Nation for decades and reflects the will of the people through a democratic process,' Jason Salsman, a spokesperson for the Muscogee Nation said in a statement. 'We believe that any change to our citizenship laws must come from our own citizens—not from outside interpretations.' The court's ruling is expected later this year, and it could open the door for thousands of new members to the tribe. For Grayson, the legal battle is about more than their birthright to citizenship she said, it's also about setting straight the historical record. 'We weren't just slaves,' Grayson said. 'Our people need to know that. Our young people need to know that.' Seminole Nation In 2021, following pressure from Congress and the administration of President Joe Biden, the Indian Health Services began allowing Freedmen citizens in the Seminole Nation to access healthcare at IHS facilities after several reported that they had been denied COVID-19 vaccinations. While the descendants of formerly enslaved Seminole Nation tribal members had previously been granted citizenship, in 2000 the tribe voted to restrict citizenship to those who had one-eighth Seminole ancestry according to the Dawes Rolls, thereby disenrolling more than 1,000 citizens of African ancestry. In 2002, a U.S. district court ordered the tribe to reinstate their membership, however, today the descendants of those on the Seminole Nation's Freedmen rolls are only allowed to vote and sit on tribal council and are thereby not full citizens. 'They're using something that the United States used to separate us, and now they're using it to keep us in a very bad position by putting a lot of our people at a disadvantage,' said LeEtta Osborne-Sampson, a Freedmen member of the Seminole Nation and one of four who sit on its tribal council. She said members like her are not given access to others services provided by the tribal nation, such as education and housing assistance. There are about 2,500 Freedmen citizens of the tribe today, she said. Seminole Nation Chief Lewis Johnson did not respond to requests for comment. Choctaw Nation Starting in 1885, the Choctaw Nation had given citizenship to Freedmen descendants, but in 1983 the tribal nation adopted a constitution that restricted membership to those with Choctaw ancestors 'by blood' according to the Dawes Rolls. In 2001, the House Financial Services Committee threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in housing funds from the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole nations if they did not honor their 1866 treaty obligations and fully recognize the descendants of Freedmen as citizens. In response, Chief Gary Batton issued an open letter promising to confront the issue. 'The story of Choctaw Freedmen deserves our attention and thoughtful consideration within the framework of tribal self-governance,' Batton wrote. 'Today our tribal membership is based on the Dawes Rolls — a poisonous legacy from 125 years ago that took root and caused a myriad of membership issues for tribal nations, including Freedmen.' Batton, who remains in office, called for an open dialogue between Choctaw Freedmen, tribal citizens, elected officials, and the federal government. But since then, Freedmen descendants say that dialogue hasn't taken place. 'It became obvious, unfortunately, that it was an empty gesture,' said author and genealogist Angela Walton-Raji. Like many Freedmen descendants, Walton-Raji said her ancestors were both Black and Choctaw but were forced to enroll on the Dawes Rolls as a Freedmen only. 'It's very clear that there was an anti-Black sentiment then, as there is now,' she said. Randy Sachs, a spokesperson for the Choctaw Nation, said in a statement to The Associated Press that the tribe set up an internal committee and asked tribal members for comment on the issue, but over that two year period they only received about 20 calls - more than half of which were from a single family. 'Determining our membership is an essential part of defending our sovereignty, and we will continue to listen to a variety of voices,' he said. There has never been a legal challenge to the tribe's 1983 constitution, and Walton-Raji said many Freedmen descendants either don't know that part of their history, because it is not taught in schools or fully acknowledged by the tribe, or do not have the funds to mount a court case that could last decades. Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation jointly signed its 1866 reconstruction treaty with the Choctaw Nation. However, unlike the Choctaw, the Chickasaw Nation never recognized the people it held in slavery as citizens of the tribe. 'They broke the treaty, they never gave citizenship to their Freedmen. So up until statehood, Chickasaw Freedmen had no country, they were never citizens of any nation,,' said Walton-Raji, who is also a co-founder of the Choctaw & Chickasaw Freedmen Association. Oklahoma became a state in 1907. The Chickasaw Nation did not respond to requests for comment. Since they were never granted citizenship, their descendants are at the greatest disadvantage when it comes to any legal claim to citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation, Walton-Raji said. In 2021, following the Cherokee Nation's amendment to its constitution that granted full citizenship to Freedmen descendants, Dept. of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland encouraged other tribes 'to take similar steps to meet their moral and legal obligations to the Freedmen.' Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby responded by saying that the tribe's citizenship is a matter of tribal sovereignty. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. 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Winnipeg Free Press
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
In Oklahoma, Juneteenth highlights tribal slavery descendants' fight for recognition and citizenship
Juneteenth may mark the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they had been freed, but thousands of people in Oklahoma are still fighting for full citizenship in the tribal nations that once held their ancestors in bondage. Several tribes practiced slavery, and five in Oklahoma — The Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee nations — signed reconstruction treaties with the U.S. in 1866 abolishing it three years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. They granted the formerly enslaved, known commonly as Freedmen, citizenship within their respective tribes. Only one of those tribes, the Cherokee Nation, continues to fully grant the rights of citizenship. For descendants of people who were enslaved by tribal nations, Juneteenth is both a celebration of freedom for people of African descent and a reminder of their struggle to be fully embraced by the Indigenous communities with whom they share history and in many cases ancestry. Muscogee Nation Traditionally, Freedmen in the Muscogee Nation celebrate emancipation day on August 4, marking when the tribe's council drew up a law to declare them free, said Rhonda Grayson, the founder and director of the Oklahoma Indian Territory Museum of Black Creek Freedmen History. She traces her lineage to formerly enslaved people listed on a 1906 U.S. census of Native Americans who had been forcibly removed to Oklahoma. Known as the Dawes Rolls, the census created two lists – those who appeared Native and those who appeared Black. Those with African ancestry were put on the Freedmen rolls, although many also had Native ancestry. Last week, the Muscogee Nation Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by Grayson and Jeff Kennedy, who are fighting for their citizenship rights and recognition within the Muscogee Nation. 'Our ancestors were Muscogee people of African descent,' said Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney representing Grayson and Kennedy whose ancestor was also a Freedmen in the tribe. 'We were transformed into 'Freedmen' by the Dawes Commission.' Their ancestors were also forced on the Trail of Tears, and after the Civil War they were granted citizenship and served in the tribe's legislative bodies, Kennedy said. 'We believe that the (Muscogee) Nation would not be what it is today without the bloodshed and tears of those African people,' he said. But, in 1979, the tribe adopted a new constitution restricting citizenship to Muscogee people 'by-blood.' Grayson and Kennedy's lawsuit countered that citizenship requirement is a violation of the 1866 treaty, and in 2023 a Muscogee Nation district court agreed. The Muscogee Nation's citizenship board appealed and is asking the Supreme Court to overturn that decision. 'That provision has guided our Nation for decades and reflects the will of the people through a democratic process,' Jason Salsman, a spokesperson for the Muscogee Nation said in a statement. 'We believe that any change to our citizenship laws must come from our own citizens—not from outside interpretations.' The court's ruling is expected later this year, and it could open the door for thousands of new members to the tribe. For Grayson, the legal battle is about more than their birthright to citizenship she said, it's also about setting straight the historical record. 'We weren't just slaves,' Grayson said. 'Our people need to know that. Our young people need to know that.' Seminole Nation In 2021, following pressure from Congress and the administration of President Joe Biden, the Indian Health Services began allowing Freedmen citizens in the Seminole Nation to access healthcare at IHS facilities after several reported that they had been denied COVID-19 vaccinations. While the descendants of formerly enslaved Seminole Nation tribal members had previously been granted citizenship, in 2000 the tribe voted to restrict citizenship to those who had one-eighth Seminole ancestry according to the Dawes Rolls, thereby disenrolling more than 1,000 citizens of African ancestry. In 2002, a U.S. district court ordered the tribe to reinstate their membership, however, today the descendants of those on the Seminole Nation's Freedmen rolls are only allowed to vote and sit on tribal council and are thereby not full citizens. 'They're using something that the United States used to separate us, and now they're using it to keep us in a very bad position by putting a lot of our people at a disadvantage,' said LeEtta Osborne-Sampson, a Freedmen member of the Seminole Nation and one of four who sit on its tribal council. She said members like her are not given access to others services provided by the tribal nation, such as education and housing assistance. There are about 2,500 Freedmen citizens of the tribe today, she said. Seminole Nation Chief Lewis Johnson did not respond to requests for comment. Choctaw Nation Starting in 1885, the Choctaw Nation had given citizenship to Freedmen descendants, but in 1983 the tribal nation adopted a constitution that restricted membership to those with Choctaw ancestors 'by blood' according to the Dawes Rolls. In 2001, the House Financial Services Committee threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in housing funds from the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole nations if they did not honor their 1866 treaty obligations and fully recognize the descendants of Freedmen as citizens. In response, Chief Gary Batton issued an open letter promising to confront the issue. 'The story of Choctaw Freedmen deserves our attention and thoughtful consideration within the framework of tribal self-governance,' Batton wrote. 'Today our tribal membership is based on the Dawes Rolls — a poisonous legacy from 125 years ago that took root and caused a myriad of membership issues for tribal nations, including Freedmen.' Batton, who remains in office, called for an open dialogue between Choctaw Freedmen, tribal citizens, elected officials, and the federal government. But since then, Freedmen descendants say that dialogue hasn't taken place. 'It became obvious, unfortunately, that it was an empty gesture,' said author and genealogist Angela Walton-Raji. Like many Freedmen descendants, Walton-Raji said her ancestors were both Black and Choctaw but were forced to enroll on the Dawes Rolls as a Freedmen only. 'It's very clear that there was an anti-Black sentiment then, as there is now,' she said. Randy Sachs, a spokesperson for the Choctaw Nation, said in a statement to The Associated Press that the tribe set up an internal committee and asked tribal members for comment on the issue, but over that two year period they only received about 20 calls – more than half of which were from a single family. 'Determining our membership is an essential part of defending our sovereignty, and we will continue to listen to a variety of voices,' he said. There has never been a legal challenge to the tribe's 1983 constitution, and Walton-Raji said many Freedmen descendants either don't know that part of their history, because it is not taught in schools or fully acknowledged by the tribe, or do not have the funds to mount a court case that could last decades. Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation jointly signed its 1866 reconstruction treaty with the Choctaw Nation. However, unlike the Choctaw, the Chickasaw Nation never recognized the people it held in slavery as citizens of the tribe. 'They broke the treaty, they never gave citizenship to their Freedmen. So up until statehood, Chickasaw Freedmen had no country, they were never citizens of any nation,,' said Walton-Raji, who is also a co-founder of the Choctaw & Chickasaw Freedmen Association. Oklahoma became a state in 1907. The Chickasaw Nation did not respond to requests for comment. Since they were never granted citizenship, their descendants are at the greatest disadvantage when it comes to any legal claim to citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation, Walton-Raji said. In 2021, following the Cherokee Nation's amendment to its constitution that granted full citizenship to Freedmen descendants, Dept. of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland encouraged other tribes 'to take similar steps to meet their moral and legal obligations to the Freedmen.' Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby responded by saying that the tribe's citizenship is a matter of tribal sovereignty.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Graves of two enslaved Trail of Tears survivors marked by Oklahoma TOTA
Will ChavezCherokee Phoenix HULBERT – For the first time, the Oklahoma Trail of Tears Association marked the graves of Cherokee Freedmen who survived the Trail of Tears that occurred in 1838 and 1839. The grave marking ceremony for Harry Buffington and Dorcas Bushyhead Buffington took place on April 12 at the Gadugi Cemetery near Hulbert and was attended by numerous family members, Cherokee Nation officials and community members. During the ceremony, Ashawna Miles read the biography of her grandmother, Dorcas. 'I'm so honored to have this opportunity to have the grave marking take place. This is my fifth great-grandmother, and just knowing the sacrifice and everything she did to get my family where we are at today she deserves the honor,' Miles said before the ceremony. 'Having her grave marked we are able to show that she was one of the individuals that came on the Trail of Tears. It's just an honor.' She added she hopes the marking of her grandparents' graves will be a catalyst for having more graves of Cherokee slaves and former slaves marked. 'I came to see my sixth great-grandparents be recognized for walking on the Trail of Tears, said Gary McGhee who read the biography for his grandfather Harry Buffington. 'We did our family tree, and after that we came out here and was looking around and was like, 'oh my god, this is Harry right here and Dorcas right here,' and we started figuring out all of these people we knew were on our family tree were buried here together. So, we thought let's do more research and figure out who is who, and this is how far it brought us now, them being recognized as walking on the Trail of Tears.' Harry Buffington was born into slavery circa 1813 in Cherokee Nation east. The names of his parents have not been preserved. Dawes Commission records indicate his slaveholder was Charles Buffington, a half-blood Cherokee, who resided in Brasstown, current-day Clay County, North Carolina, prior to the Trail of Tears. The 1835 Cherokee census indicates that Harry was the only slave held by this family. Traveling with the Buffington family, Harry would have been on the Cherokee forced removal west in the Choowalooky/Wofford Detachment which left the east on Oct. 27, 1838, and arrived in the west on March 1, 1839. The Buffingtons settled in the Beatties Prairie area, now Delaware County. About 1840, Harry married Dorcas Bushyhead at the Baptist Mission north of present-day Westville. They were married by Rev. Jesse Bushyhead. Dorcas and Harry were the parents of 15 children, seven of whom lived to adulthood: Harry, Lucy Ann, Josephine, Margaret, Narcissa, Ambrose and Chancy. In addition, Harry was the father of another son, Henry Buffington, whose mother's name is not known. After the start of the Civil War, Harry enlisted as a private in the Union Army at Baxter Springs, Kansas, on July 11, 1862, and served with Company K of the Third Indian Home Guard. He served as a hospital orderly, likely in Fort Gibson. In February 1863, the month following President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the Cherokee Council emancipated slaves in the CN. Therefore, Harry would have been discharged from his military service in April 1865 as a freed man. After the war, the Harry and Dorcas' family farmed in the Tahlequah district northeast of Fort Gibson. He died suddenly of heat stroke at his home on June 24, 1884, and was buried in the Sol Harlan Cemetery. The graves in this cemetery were removed in 1951 due to the construction of Fort Gibson Lake and now rest in the Gadugi Cemetery. Dorcas Bushyhead Buffington was born an enslaved person in 1824 on Candy's Creek, Cherokee Nation east in present-day McMinn County, Tennessee. Her mother, Patsy, had been a slave of Edward Wilkerson. Patsy later became a slave of Edward's daughter, Eliza, who was married to Rev. Jesse Bushyhead. Dorcas' father was a three-eighths Cherokee, Charles Foreman, who was a first cousin of Rev. Bushyhead. The Bushyhead family is indicated as having four slaves on the 1835 Cherokee Nation census. Jesse Bushyhead was appointed by Chief John Ross as one of 13 detachment conductors during the forced removal of the CN over the Trail of Tears. The Bushyhead detachment left on Oct. 6, 1838, and arrived in the west on Feb. 27, 1839. Dorcas made the journey of over 800 miles as a 15-year-old girl. After Dorcas married Harry Buffington about 1840, it appears they continued to live near present-day Westville prior to the Civil War and probably all of their 15 children were born there. Dorcas claimed in her pension affidavit that she had bought her freedom from Mrs. Bushyhead about 1856 prior to the birth of her younger children, but no official records are available to verify this. If this is true, she was already a free woman when the Civil War began in April 1861 and when the Cherokee Nation abolished slavery in February 1863. In March 1863, she took up nursing duties for the Union Army. She indicated that she served mainly at the hospital in Fort Gibson and for a short time at a temporary Union hospital in Neosho, Missouri, and perhaps in encampments where injured soldiers were found. In 1894, she was granted a pension from the United States for her service as a nurse during the war and was receiving $12 month at her death. Dorcas died, likely at her home near Hulbert, on Nov. 22, 1913. She too was buried at the Sol Harlan Cemetery but due to the creation of Fort Gibson Lake was reinterred at present-day Gadugi Cemetery in 1951. During the marking ceremony, Cherokee songwriter and performer Becky Hobbs sang 'Tsa la gi, We Are Many,' and Cinda Rose Gilford read a poem titled, 'We Cried Your Tears.' National President of the Trail of Tears Association Jack Baker and Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. spoke during the ceremony. Hoskin said Harry and Dorcas were among the 1,500 to 2,000 'human beings' Cherokee people brought along the Trail of Tears as property. He added there was a promise in 1866 by Cherokee leaders that slaves and their descendants should have all the rights of native Cherokees. 'We should also talk about that every chance we get to talk about our history,' he said. 'It's the journey we continue to be on that's far more important because telling the truth as leaders of this nation or great organizations like the Trail of Tears Association, and the fine men and women of the Oklahoma chapter in particular who commemorate the survivors of the Trail of Tears, that sort of action helps us along this journey.' Baker said the day was 'especially significant' because the graves of two former slaves were marked for the first time. 'The Trail of Tears Association helps to mark the Trial of Tears from the east to Oklahoma. Once they (survivors) got to Indian Territory they went to supply depots that were immediately across the (Arkansas) line, so there were no road segments to mark in Oklahoma,' Baker said. 'So, the Oklahoma chapter decided back in the late 90s, for us, we would like to mark the graves of the people who actually came on the Trail of Tears, so that we could recognize them and let their families know about what they endured.' McGhee added it means a lot to him people will see and understand better who his grandparents were and they mean something to the Cherokee Nation. 'Them being recognized by the tribe means a lot because they were like left behind (in tribal history). It feels good that everyone is here to give them their honor that was due,' he said.
