United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

Flag of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
Total population
12,000+
Regions with significant populations
Enrolled members: United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Oklahoma:    12,000[1] Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma:    280,000+ Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina:    13,000+
Languages
English, Cherokee
Religion
Christianity (Southern Baptist), Kituwah, Four Mother's Society
Related ethnic groups
Iroquois (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora), Nottoway, Meherrin, Coree, Wyandot, Mingo[citation needed]

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (ᎠᏂᎩᏚᏩᎩ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ or Anigiduwagi Anitsalagi) is a federally recognized tribe of Cherokee Indians headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The United Keetoowah are also referred to as the UKB.

Origins

The word Keetoowah (Kituwa) is the name of an ancient Cherokee town and mother mound in the Eastern homeland of the Cherokee. Kituwah also is considered to be the original name of the Cherokee people.^[2]

Background

The United Keetowah Band is composed primarily of descendants of the "Old Settlers," Cherokees who settled in present day Arkansas and Oklahoma around 1817, before the bulk of Cherokees were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory in the 1838 Trail of Tears.^[2]

By the 1880s Cherokee people faced increased assimilation efforts. Cherokee children were prohibited from speaking their own language in communal schools set up by the federal government during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The US federal government unilaterally closed and seized Cherokee governmental and public institutions through the 1898 Curtis Act, the Dawes Act and the 1906 Five Civilized Tribes Act.

The Dawes Commission was tasked to force assimilation and break up tribal governments by instilling the concept of land ownership with individual members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The commission divided large sections of land into tribal allotments in an effort to eliminate the traditional governments of the Cherokee, which at that time were based on a communal form of government with the lands being controlled by the tribal government. The US government appointed Cherokee "chiefs" to administer tribal lands and holdings.

Federal recognition

The United Keetoowah Band was created from the traditionalist organization, the Keetoowah Society, Inc.^[3] When the full bloods heard that allotment was imminent, they formed an organization and got a federally approved corporate Charter from what was then Indian Territory in Tahlequah, in 1905. Under this organization, the full bloods maintained a continuous line of government and representation for the Keetoowah Cherokee people.

When the Indian Reorganization Act and Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act were passed to help tribes reorganize their tribal governments, all of the Five Civilized Tribes but the Cherokees were deemed in good order to do so.^{[citation needed]}

The other four tribes, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole, had certain exceptions that they had worked out with the Federal Government. Many still met regularly and tried to continue their tribal government under the restrictions of the Curtis Act of 1898. The Cherokee Nation bore the full brunt of the Curtis Act, and was stripped of their judicial and legislative branches of government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agents held the view that the Cherokee Nation was abandoned, and the only remnant left was the office of the Principal Chief. He was selected by the President of the United States to sign off on property sales.

D'Arcy McNickle, a BIA agent, wanted the UKB to become the vehicle by which the Cherokee Nation could be reorganized. The UKB was approved in 1950 under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act.

Early elected leaders of the UKB were Levi Gritts, followed by John Hitcher and the Reverend Jim Pickup, who served in the post-World War II era.^[4]

Conflict with the Cherokee Nation

Between 1906-1977, the Cherokee Nation (CN) was not recognized as a federally recognized Indian tribe by the federal government; they were classified as a "service area." The UKB was the instrument through which the Cherokee people received federal assistance. The UKB was able to secure federal funds for the Cherokee Nation Complex which today houses the Cherokee Nation government. The UKB also started the Cherokee National Holiday, in conjunction with the Principal Chief's office. The Cherokee Nation Housing Authority was also begun using UKB's federal status.

After the CN received approval of their constitution in 1976, their relationship with the UKB soured. They evicted them from their offices at the tribal complex in Tahlequah. In its current incarnation, the Cherokee Nation received federal recognition in 1977. The CN has since fought to terminate the UKB from the list of federally recognized tribes. The Wilma Mankiller and Chad Smith administrations have had many conflicts with UKB leadership. Smith was previously a member of the UKB, but his enrollement in the UKB was revoked in 2005.

Today

Today the UKB has over 12,000 members, with 11,000 living within the state of Oklahoma. Their elected Chief is George G. Wickliffe, serving a four-year term.^[1] Charles Locust is the Assistant Chief.^[5] Tim Goodvoice is their executive director of tribal operations.^[6]

The tribe has an arts and crafts gallery, showcasing members' work. They run the Keetoowah Cherokee Casino, with over 500 gaming machines, in Tahlequah.^[7] The UKB issue their own tribal license plates. Their estimated annual economic impact is $96 million.^[1] They host an annual homecoming festival over the first weekend of October.^[6]

UKB associate membership controversies

The United Keetoowah Band maintains a one-quarter-blood requirement. The United Keetoowah Band requires all members to have verifiable Cherokee blood from either the Dawes rolls or the UKB Base Roll of 1949. The Cherokee Nation, on the other hand, requires an individual have an ancestor on the Dawes Commission Land Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes verifying descent, regardless of how far removed from Dawes Roll ancestry they may be. Despite the UKB membership restrictions, the UKB has given out associate memberships to individuals with no identifiable Cherokee Ancestry. Some of these associate memberships created significant public controversy.

Associate memberships were given in honorary appreciation to several people but were ended in 1994. While some such recipients were given an enrollment card with a number, federal law did not allow these recipients to receive tribal benefits, and they do not appear on official tribal rolls today. Former President Bill Clinton is a famous noted associate member.

Ward Churchill, a Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, was one grantee of honorary "associate" membership in the UKB; Churchill's public statements that he was a member of the UKB created some controversy, in part because Churchill often failed to distinguish qualified enrollment from honorary membership. Ward Churchill does not possess an issued CDIB during his honorary membership in the UKB and hence was not eligible for any federal benefits reserved for Native Americans. The UKB stated in 2005 that he is not eligible for membership.^[8]

Legal issues

Some UKB leaders have been accused of diversion of funds by its own members. The State of Oklahoma, at the provocation of the Cherokee Nation, sued the UKB in federal court for operating illegal gaming facilities off Bureau of Indian Affairs approved tribal lands, since they do not own tribal lands in accordance with briefs submitted to the court by the Cherokee Nation. The lawsuit is currently pending in the federal courts in Oklahoma and has been recently remanded to the National Indian Gaming Commission for review.^[9]

The UKB has sued the United States for a share of the proceeds under HR-3534, a bill that required the United States to compensate the Cherokee Nation and two other Oklahoma tribes with claims to the disclaimed drybed lands of the Arkansas River. The legislation set aside ten percent of each tribes' share of their settlement for other claimant tribes and afforded other claimant tribes an opportunity to file claims within 180 days of the legislation. The UKB filed suit against the United States. The Cherokee Nation moved to intervene and moved to dismiss on the grounds that the Cherokee Nation is an indispensable party that cannot be joined in the litigation because of its sovereign immunity. The Court of Claims granted both of the Cherokee Nation's motions. On April 14, 2006, on appeal, the United States sided with the UKB, against the Cherokee Nation's request for dismissal. The Court of Federal Claims heard the appeal on November 8, 2006.^[10]

During the State of Oklahoma lawsuit pertaining to the UKB's alleged illegal casino operations, an Indian casino that has been in operation for approximately 19 years,[2] the UKB again was accused of attempting to sue the Cherokee Nation (although specific citation of the suit indicating that the UKB directly sued the Cherokee Nation under these circumstances does not exist) demanding cession of tribal land allotments to the UKB to build casinos. These lawsuits were also dismissed.

Spiritual leadership

The UKB administration is supportive of the tribal members, as many follow the traditional ways, many of the UKB members are spiritual leaders of the Cherokee People and are highly respected. Many highly respected and revered Cherokee traditionalists within Oklahoma are members of both the UKB and the Cherokee Nation.

Notable UKB members

• David Cornsilk (United Keetoowah Band-Cherokee Nation), legal activist and genealogist
• Virginia Stroud (United Keetoowah Band-Muscogee Creek), artist and former Miss Indian America, b. 1951

See also

• Cherokee
• Original Keetoowah Society

Notes

References

• Leeds, Georgia Rae. "The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma." American University Studies. Series IX, Vol. 184, 199.
• Meredith, Howard L. Bartley Milam: Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Muskogee, OK: Indian University Press, 1985. ISBN 978-0940392175

External links

• United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, official website
• United Keetoowah Band, article on the Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
• Burning Phoenix by Allogan Slagle
• Corporate Charter of the United Keetoowah Band