Cherokee

Black Cherokee Surnames recorded on the Dawes roll

This list of surnames represent the names of the Black freedmen who were adopted through the Dawes Commission, between 1898 and 1916. Note that many of these names appear in other Indian nation lists, and their inclusion here does not provide absolute proof of Black Indian Ancestry. 

In addition to these items, it is recommended that the researcher obtain as much oral history as possible on the family, and then locate the Dawes records on the family, including the names of ancestors on the Enrollment Cards and other pertinent records.

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Traditional stories inspire art exhibit

AUTHOR: Katherine Rushworth Myths often live as oral histories passed from generation to generation, linking the old with the new and the real to the imagined. The many stories of the Haudenosaunee people – the people who comprise the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy – are robust historical narratives, more imaginative than real, which resonate with timeless messages of humility, survival and the struggle between good and evil.

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Native American Roots, Once Hidden, Now Embraced

Nearly every day, some determined person with pale skin and blue eyes comes to Lela Ummerteskee from far away, ready to fulfill a dream and register as an American Indian.

Not everyone has a rock-solid pedigree. The tribal enrollment officer for the Cherokee Nation has been presented with everything from an X-ray of a head purporting to show Indian cheekbones to scraped-off patches of skin -- all offered as proof that a distant ancestor was Native American.

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Cherokee Country – An original story

For a long time she heard her parents and Grandparents arguing. It was not so much personal, as it had to do with what was happening to the Cherokee people and how there were rumors and such. Talk of the whiteman forcing us from our land, talk of deceit, which Grandpa always said was the way with most white men, with few exceptions. White politicians? Grandpa would get so angry at even the word politicians and told us to never trust anything they said and did. All they wanted was Indian land and to kill every Indian they could.

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