Manataka American Indian Council
History of the Kituwah People
(from our beginning to today, the United Keetoowah
Band)
By Takatoka
"We
shall never give up Keetoowah until all of us join hands and fall to the ground.
And if anything arises to destroy Keetoowah, we shall all flock together to head
it off with all our power." ~Keetoowah
Constitution and Bylaws, 1914
"Back in Georgia from whence the Cherokees originally migrated to the
Indian Territory in 1838 and 1839, the old Keetoowah group was dying out as
early as 1835," (Tulsa Tribune, Dec. 28, 1928) stated John L. Springston.
Springston had served as a clerk and court reporter in the Saline District
before Oklahoma statehood and was a Keetoowah.
This narrative will help the reader understand the Keetoowahs before 1835, as
well as after, explaining why the disappearance from Georgia leading to today's
location in northeastern Oklahoma. The spellings "Keetoowah" and
"Kituwah" will be used interchangeably.
In the early 1900's, anthropologists noted that on ceremonial occasions,
Cherokees frequently speak of themselves as 'Kituhwagi," (James Mooney,
Myths of the Cherokees, 19th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,
Washington Government Printing Office, 1900, pg. 15) but the origin goes back to
the beginning of time. The fact that the name Kituwah has always had a special
significance to the Cherokee full-bloods has been ignored by many, and it is
often looked at as a recent name given to a particular society, and later
adopted by a tribe. This is not true; the name Kituwah being the true name of
the Cherokee people, a name given directly from the Creator.
Legends of the Kituwah people say that the name was
given after seven of the wisest men of the ancient Cherokees went to the highest
peak and fasted for seven days and nights, asking the Creator for guidance. This
peak is known today as "Clingman's Dome." On the seventh night of
their fast, the Creator told them, "You shall be Kituwah." (Benny
Smith, The Keetoowah Society of Cherokee Indians, Masters Dissertation,
Northwestern State College, Alva, OK, 1967)
Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Dugan confirms this, "One
name for the tribe is 'people of Kituwah'." ("Where Myth Meets
Reality," Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2004)
Kituwah Mound, located near what is present-day Bryson City, North Carolina, is
understood as the "mother town" and the place where the Creator gave
the laws and first fire to the people. The Eastern Band cultural office reports
that "This place wasn't just a town, this was the mother town, the place
where the Cherokee began."
The 1859 Constitution of the Keetoowahs stated very eloquently, "...we
began to study and investigate the way our nation was going on, so much
different from the long past history of our Keetoowah forefathers who loved and
lived as free people and had never surrendered to anybody; they just loved one
another for they were just like one family, just as if they had been raised from
one family."
Additionally, the Keetoowahs have always been known to be the most traditional
and conservative of the Cherokee, holding on to the old ways of the full-blood
Cherokee. Legends say that if these ways ever discontinue, the Cherokee will be
no more. This has been spoken about by contemporary Kituwah spiritual leaders,
who say that the people themselves will not die physically, but it will mean
that they will be the same as the non-Indian. "The Sacred Fire of the
Keetoowah is said to have burned since the morning of creation. Keetoowahs are
the keepers of Cherokee tradition," said Cherokee Senator George Waters
from Vian (Keetoowah-The Eternal Fire, Maggie Culver Fry, Oklahoma Today
Magazine, Vol. 14, 1964)
The Kituwah People originally lived in the southeastern part of the present-day
United States, on lands forming present-day Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North
Carolina and South Carolina.
Archeologists say that Keetoowah/Cherokee families began migrating to a new home
in Arkansas by the late 1790's. (ATU Research Station, University of Arkansas).
[Kituwah Cherokees were seen by the Dunbar-Hunter Expedition commissioned by
President Thomas Jefferson in Arkansas in 1803.]
[Kituwah's
began leaving from the Mother Town and began a western migration into Eastern
Tennessee and Arkansas as early as the mid-1500's after coming in contact with
the first Spanish invaders in 1541.]
In 1808, a delegation of Cherokees from the upper and lower towns of the
Cherokee nation went to Washington D.C. to inform the President of the United
States that not all Cherokee people wanted to pursue what was deemed a
'civilized' life. The delegation requested the President divide the upper towns,
whose people wanted to establish a regular government, from the lower towns who
wanted to continue living traditionally. On January 9, 1809, the President of
the United States allowed the lower towns to send an exploring party to find
suitable lands on the Arkansas and White Rivers. Seven of the most trusted men
explored locations both in what is now Western Arkansas and also Northeastern
Oklahoma. The people of the lower towns desired to remove across the Mississippi
to this area, onto vacant lands within the United States so that they might
continue the traditional Cherokee life.
In
1817, the United States ceded such lands to the Kituwah people (also known as
Old Settlers, or Western Cherokee) in exchange for a portion of the Cherokee
lands they had occupied and were entitled to in the East. As many as 4,000
Kituwah Old Settlers came. (ATU Research Station, University of Arkansas) The
Treaty of 1817 with the United States exchanged lands back East for lands in
Arkansas. This gained the Keetoowahs a definite title to a territory -- what is
called today a 'Land Base.'
In 1819, the naturalist Thomas Nutall ascended the Arkansas River and gave the
following description of the settlements:
"...both banks of the river, as we proceeded, were lined with the houses
and farms of the Cherokee, and though their dress was a mixture of indigenous
and European taste, yet in their houses, which are decently furnished, and in
their farms, which were well fenced and stocked with cattle, we perceive a happy
approach toward civilization. Their numerous families, also, well fed and
clothed, argue a popitious progress in their population. Their superior industry
either as hunters or farmers proces the value of property among them, and they
are no longer strangers to avarice and the distinctions created by wealth. Some
of them are possessed of property to the amount of many thousands of dollars,
have houses handsomely and conveniently furnished, and their tables spread with
our dainties and luxuries."
The Arkansas Cherokee requested that the US recognize the Eastern and Western
Cherokee and two separate and distinct Nations. The Treaty of 1817 did provide
for a separate census of the Cherokee in the east and west as a basis for
annuity payments. The U.S. Government left
the western boundary of the Arkansas Cherokee undefined partly due to efforts to
get more Cherokee to emigrate and partly due to opposition from the Osage. As a
result, the US witheld annuity payments to the Arkansas Cherokee, citing the
undefined boundary and uncertainty of
the population as the reason. Further, the Treaty of 1817 stipulated that
"the treaties heretofore between the Cherokee nation and the Unites States
are to continue in full force with both parties of the nation, and both parts
thereof entitled to all the immunities and privileges which the old nation
enjoyed under the aforesaid treaties..."
Many Keetoowahs claim that many of them came to the west before the removal, and
some close relatives were left behind to come with the main body of the Cherokee
factionalists, but the Kituwah acknowledge that a few were never meant to come
west. This is verified by the existence of Cherokees who consider themselves
Kituwah today, and the rebirth of Kituwah Mound, which was repurchased in 1997
by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and many Kituwah people make pilgrimages
there for prayer.
Those Kituwah people who removed as Old Settlers between 1817-1835 received from the U.S. government to each head of the family a good rifle, a blanket, a kettle, 5 pounds of tobacco, and all members of the family received a blanket, as well.
In
1818, Tahlonteskee, Chief of the Western Cherokee, requested the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions establish a mission in the west.
Subsequently, Dwight Mission, near present Russellville, Arkansas, was
established in the spring of 1820. Tahlonteskee, having died in the meantime,
was succeeded as Chief by his brother, John Jolly.
Unlike the Old Cherokee Nation, the Western Cherokee Keetoowahs readily accepted
Sequoyah's Cherokee syllabary in 1822. The then-Chief, Takatoka, was opposed to
the introduction of the mission schools and greatly influenced the acceptance of
a way to write the
Kituwah people's own language.
By
1828, dissatisfied with their lands on the Arkansas and White Rivers, partly due
to encroachment by white settlers, the Kituwah people entered into a treaty with
the United States to move onto lands further west. This treaty granted the
"Western Cherokee" seven million acres of land running along the
Arkansas, Canadian and Grand Rivers. They were also given a perpetual outlet
West, as far as the sovereignty of the United States extended. By the Treaty of
1828 the Keetoowahs moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma ten years prior to the
forced removal of the Cherokee Nation. During that same year, the Keetoowahs
went on to adopt a written constitution. It was also the same year that John
Ross became Chief of the Old Cherokee Nation, eleven years after the Keetoowahs,
or Western Cherokee, left the Old nation for lands in Arkansas. Ross did
everything he could to not move his people west, which eventually led up to the
Trail of Tears.
Those Cherokees who declined to leave and stayed in the Cherokee Nation were
called, at that time, Eastern Cherokees. The southeastern states were unhappy
that these Eastern Cherokees remained, and violent incidents were frequent
between them and the Americans, especially in Georgia. The southeastern states
placed pressure on the federal government to remove these remaining Indians and
extinguish Indian title to the lands within those states. This led to the
signing of the Treaty of New Echota, and later, the Trail of Tears.
Many
of the Kituwah people who had stayed behind were forced to travel with the other
Cherokees on this trail of devastation. Two of the most famous Keetoowahs who
did not come west with the Western Cherokee were Chiefs Going Snake and White
Path. These Eastern Cherokees were removed to the land then held by the Western
Cherokees.
Between 1828 and 1839, when the Eastern Cherokee from the Old Cherokee Nation
arrived on the Trail of Tears, a capital was established east of Chief Jolly's
home, about 2 miles up the Illinois from it's mouth on the Arkansas. The council
house, grounds and home of the first chief made up the national capital called
Tahlonteeskee to honor the Chief's brother, the former Chief. The general
council met here for eleven years.
The Western Cherokee general council elected chiefs who served for 4 years. The
first and second chief received $100 annually, and the third chief $60. The
general council consisted of two houses, national committee and council. These
two bodies were made up of two representatives from the districts of the nation,
thus, there were eight members in each house. The general council convened in
October and was divided into four districts; Sallisaw, Lee's Creek, Illinois and
Neosho.
The district officials were judges and two Lighthorse, elected by citizens for
two years. District judges received an annual salary of $25, the Lighthorse
received $40. In 1832, schools were provided in each district and Sequoyah was
employed to supervise the teaching of his syllabary at $400 annually. You will
note the value the Keetoowahs placed on educating their children in their own
language; Sequoyah's salary was four times that of the Chief.
In 1833, Old Settler, or Western Cherokee Keetoowahs, met with the Muscogee
Creek Nation at Cantonment Gibson to settle boundary disputes and precisely
establish the boundaries of the new territory.
Creeks
who had been removed from the east in 1826-27 had found themselves living within
the newly established Cherokee lands and were required to move again. The treaty
fixed the boundaries for what would become known as the Cherokee Nation of
Indian Territory after the Trail of Tears in 1839. The Old Settlers enjoyed only
a few years of peace before being joined by the Treaty Party and ultimately by
the Eastern Cherokee, marking the beginning of the Cherokee Civil War.
After the influx of the Eastern Cherokees from the Trail of Tears, the
Easterners greatly outnumbered the Western full-bloods and tensions began to
mount. The Eastern newcomers wanted their form of government to replace the
government already put in place by the Western
Cherokees, who of course, objected to such displacement of their own powers, and
was also against the provisions of the Treaty of New Echota.
Both the "Western Cherokees" and the "Eastern Cherokees"
objected to the Treaty of New Echota, stating that the signers had not been
authorized. However, the Western Cherokees sent two delegates, James Rogers and
John Smith to make sure the provisions in the treaty were clear about the
position the Cherokee Nation would have when arriving in Western Cherokee
territory. The provision in the treaty, signed by the two Keetoowahs, assured
the Cherokee Nation of a friendly disposition of their people and their desire
that the nation should be united again as one people. That Uniting was meant to
be with the Cherokee Nation joining the Western Cherokee government. The
provision assured them “a hearty welcome and an equal participation with them
in all the benefits and privileges of the Cherokee country west.” The
provision concluded with, “But it is expressly understood that nothing in this
treaty shall affect any clams of the Western Cherokees on the United States.”
(Treaty of New Echota, December 31, 1835, 7 Stat, 487) .
The Western Cherokees gave welcome to their friends and family without
complaint; they said there was room enough for all. The Cherokee Nation council
marked off a public square in the new capital of Tahlequah, and surrounded it
with a rail fence and erected a log cabin for its headquarters, even though the
Western Cherokees had already organized their governmental system, and made
treaties in the west separate from the old Cherokee Nation. The stipulation in
the Treaty of New Echota was ignored, mainly because the old Cherokee Nation
considered the entire treaty invalid.
The administration of the Western Cherokee felt very strongly about the issue of
governance, and in early June, 1839, the Western Chiefs called some six thousand
Cherokees together for a three-week convention. They met in their new Keetoowah
council house at Takatoka, north of Tahlequah. The new Western Cherokee Chief,
John Brown, graciously welcomed the newcomers. The Cherokee newcomers were told
they were welcomed, could vote in future elections, and were even eligible for
political office. But at the same time, they would be subject to the laws of the
Western Cherokee. However, John Ross and his administration were ready. They
presented a list of written resolutions calling for the formation of a new
Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi. They suggested the council be made up
of an equal number of Old Settlers and old Cherokee Nation representatives.
Brown reminded them that a government already existed. (Brown, Looney and Rogers
letter, June 19, 1839, Letters Received, OIA, Cherokee Agency (M-234), NA; Starr
History 110-11) Due to majority and aggression, the old Cherokee Nation moved to
eventually coerce some Western Cherokees to sign an Act of Union at Tahlequah,
joining the two governments and putting Ross in charge. This was never ratified
by the Western Cherokees, or accepted by the U.S. Government. The Western
Cherokees treaties were not changed.
Tahlonteeskee
was discontinued as the capital, and for a while the capital was at Takatoka
Council house, north of Tahlequah. It was eventually moved to Tahlequah. For a
brief time in the 1860's, it was proposed that the capital move to the town of
Keetoowah, located at what is now Fort Gibson. Tahlonteeskee continued to be a
meeting place, and eventually became the 'seat' of the Cherokee Nation district,
"Illinois." The arrival of the Cherokee Nation to Indian Territory
brought a power struggle between the larger Cherokee Nation and Old Settler,
Western Cherokee Keetoowahs, who had prior claim to the territory. The Treaty of
1846 forced the two groups to combine until the Civil War.
Many of the Western Cherokees saw the approaching Civil War as inevitable, and
perceived it as a threat to traditional Kituwah culture. They also acknowledged
that the Cherokees were still divided into two main factions, with their faction
being the minority. The Keetoowahs, as did most full-bloods who did not own
slaves, sided with the Union (Wright, A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma,
p.70) Following the guidance of several non-Indian missionaries, the Keetoowah's
adopted a constitution in 1859, calling itself the "Keetoowah
Society." The original object of the Society was to maintain and assert the
rights of all the Cherokee people or the Cherokee Nation under the laws and
treaties with the government of the United States, and in fact today it is still
asserting those rights as the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in
Oklahoma.
Some
of these rights are religious, some are property, and some political. James
Duncan, English Secretary of the Society in 1926, stated, "As to property
rights, perhaps of more importance to the Cherokees than political, many do not
know and realize that the Society has, in a number of instances, 'saved the
day.' (Chronicles of Oklahoma, 1926)
On April 15, 1858, a small number of leading members of Keetoowahs got together
and discussed the affairs of the Cherokees, the purpose and objectives for which
they had always stood. They discussed what the final result probably would be
caused by the existing state of affairs in the United States. The people of the
United States were divided and it was clear they were about to fight. The
Cherokees were situated too far in the South and the men were becoming reckless
and seemed to be taking sides with the South, but the leading cause was those
who owned negro slaves. It was plain to be seen that Cherokee people without a
full understanding were taking sides with the South. It was plain the teachers
from the North were objected to and were being forced out of the Cherokee
Nation. They believed if the Missionaries were gone all the Cherokee people
would go to the side of the South, but they were mistaken. These matters were
already understood by the Keetoowahs, and the Keetoowahs felt sure what the
final result would be. They knew the relative members of the several states. It
seemed certain that the states of the South were entering into a conspiracy to
abandon the union of states to set up a separate government. (Keetoowah Laws -
April 29, 1859)
The old people say that the Kituwah people sided with the north, also because
they did not want the states and people who had stolen their land and homes to
be a power they would have to resume negotiating with. In 1859, the Keetoowahs
wrote that the South are the people who took our lands away from us which lands
the Creator had given to us, where our forefathers were raised.
A meeting of the Keetoowahs took place April 20, 1858. (ibid) Bud Gritts was
appointed to create a plan that would be best for the Cherokee people and place
the Keetoowah in charge of the Cherokee government at large. All Cherokee people
in all the districts were informed, and it was accepted all over by the
confidential Keetoowah lodges. (ibid) A formal convention was held the following
year, and it was adopted on April 29, 1859.
Today,
some people say this was the beginning of the Keetoowah Society, but it is clear
from the words stated in their documents that their forefathers had always been
Keetoowah. This was merely a reorganization, which constituted a written
document, instigated by white missionaries who presented this option to the
Keetoowahs for the first time. Rolls were taken of Keetoowahs in each district
(lodges).
The Civil War brought renewed conflict. The Keetoowah fullbloods were
non-slaveholders and fought for the Union. The Keetoowahs became known also as
"Pin Indians" or "Pins." After the war, the U.S. Government
refused to treat the Keetoowahs as allies, forcing them the same penalties as
were given to the Cherokee Nation. During 1865 and 1866, the combined
governments of the Cherokee Nation signed two treaties with the U.S. government.
This lasted until 1898 when the pressure for allotment became great.
Tensions continued through the years, between the Cherokee Nation proper and the
Keetoowahs. Schools set up by the Cherokee Nation newcomers actually intensified
differences between the two groups.
"Since
there were few qualified Cherokee-speaking teachers, many of the schools were
staffed by whites who spoke no Cherokee. Children of fullblood families found it
frustrating and humiliating to go to school when they couldn't understand their
teacher, and were ridiculed by class mates. Consequently, it was predominantly
the sons and daughters of mixed-bloods who attended schools, although over
two-thirds of the Cherokees were fullbloods." (Indian Territory on the Eve
of Civil War, Brad Agnew, p. 36) A far cry from when Sequoyah was supervising
the Keetoowah schools.
In 1900, the Keetoowahs watched Cherokee Chief Buffington and his delegates in
Washington very carefully. Buffington and the delegates were there negotiating
issues on the Dawes Commission issue. The Keetoowahs made a statement to the
Wagoner Record newspaper that was published on April 19, 1900, "The
fullblood Cherokee will never submit to such an agreement, which violates nearly
every right held near and dear to a fullblood Indians. We would rather submit to
the Curtis Bill than to the new agreement, in the first place, Chief Buffington
and his delegates had no authority to make such an agreement. The delegates were
not chosen by the Cherokee people, neither by the Cherokee council, but were
appointed by Chief Buffington on his own responsibility, without consulting the
fullbloods or real Indians. No, we will never submit to this kind of
agreement." The Keetoowahs had previously sent a statement to Chief
Buffington, respectfully asking for inclusion or representation in the
delegation. The statement concluded with, "We earnestly solicit your
consideration of the fact, well known to all of us, that the end of the Cherokee
Nation and final division of property close at hand strikes closer and deeper
into the hearts and lives of the Keetoowah or fullblood Cherokees than to any
other people, or class of people, on earth. With the fact in mind, we
confidently trust that this request may be submitted to the Honorable National
Council with your recommendation that it be granted by due and proper
legislative enactment."
In 1898-99 Attorney Frank J. Boudinot, Sr. served as General Council for the
Keetoowah Society. In February of 1900, the Emigrant Cherokees organized to
prosecute their claim for $5,000,000 against the United States government, and
in "opposition to the Government of the Cherokee nation which set up an
adverse claim of ownership to the fund if collected." (Indian Pioneer
Papers, Frank J. Boudinot interview, April 9, 1937) On September 20, 1905
Boudinot incorporated the Keetoowah Society under the laws of the United States
and secured an official charter. This was in answer to the US Government
terminating the Cherokee Nation government March 4, 1906, and the Keetoowahs
wanting to maintain a traditional base of tribal government. Interestingly
enough, the same year the incorporation was accomplished, Boudinot was elected
Principal Chief (Nov. 21, 1905) in accordance with the Cherokee laws which were
in full force for the purpose at that time. He took oath of office in the Senate
Chamber of the Cherokee National Council. "Because of my active opposition
to the Cherokee National authorities and to the Dawes Commission, I was persona
non grats, and was never recognized as Principal Chief by the United States
Government. I have been, and am now the representative of my people, the
Cherokees by blood, before the authorities of the United States government,
including the Court of Claims and the Supreme Court of the United States. I
expect to continue in that capacity until the Cherokees' affairs and claims
against the United States are finally and forever rightly closed, or until my
own affairs and activities on this earth end." (Indian Pioneer Papers,
Frank J. Boudinot interview, April 9, 1937)
From 1907 until 1933, there was no official Cherokee Nation Government, only the
chartered Keetoowah Society. Therefore, the Keetoowahs continued to hold
meetings, to elect chiefs and maintain community associations. During this
period, there were at least six different traditional groups and societies of
Keetoowahs.
In 1916, Boudinot was empowered by a duly-elected convention of the whole
Cherokee people, presided over Hon. W.C. Rogers, the then recognized Principal
Chief, to speak for all the Cherokees, in efforts to secure a general
jurisdictional act. "I am still acting at all times under the direction and
authority of the Keetoowah Society." (ibid)
With the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and the Oklahoma
Indian Welfare Act of 1936, the Keetoowahs began taking measures to organize
under the legislation. The federal government began buying up land, and placing
it in trust for the "Cherokee tribe." These tracts of land are located
primarily in three counties of NE Oklahoma. The deeds stipulate that the land is
to be held in trust by the U.S. Government until they are assigned to a group
organized under the Act of June 26, 1936. The Keetoowahs are the only group so
organized. Darcy McNickle, Chief of the Branch of Tribal Relations of the
Department of Interior, stated that the Keetoowahs historical had functioned as
a political body, exercising independent action as a nation. McNickle and Chief
Counsel Theodore Haas recommended that a bill be introduced to recognize the
Keetoowahs under the OIWA, section 3. President Harry Truman signed the bill
known as the Act on August 10, 1946 which recognized the Keetoowahs for the
purposes of organizing under the OIWA (60 Stat. 978). The Department of the
Interior's Office of Indian Affairs stated in 1949 that this provision permits
the Keetoowah Indians to organize apart from the Cherokee Nation as a separate
band. W. W. Keeler, the government-appointed 'chief' of the Cherokee Nation
appointed by President Harry Truman, stated in a letter to Levi Gritts of the
Keetoowah Society, "The more I think of it, the more I am convinced that
the Keetoowahs are the proper ones to help the Cherokees." Later, in the
same letter, Keeler strengthened these feelings, "I, for one, would be
willing to go a step farther and recommend that the present Executive Group be
dissolved and the Keetoowah organization be the sole representative with the
Government of the Cherokee of Oklahoma."
The Keetoowah people ratified the Constitution/By-Laws and the Federal Corporate
Charter on October 3, 1950. The Keetoowah's ownership of all unalloted lands was
expressly recognized in the Charter. By 1963, the BIA began using the UKB as a
conduit for federal funding to the Cherokees, as they were the only Oklahoma
Cherokee entity organized according to federal statute. For about five years,
the Keetoowahs were instrumental in negotiating with the federal government for
funding of such projects as the modernization of rural Indian homes, health
clinics, the new IHS hospital in Tahlequah, and the funding of the tribal
complex. The United Keetoowah Band had offices in the tribal complex from the
time it was built until 1968. Several years later, Cherokee Nation Deputy
Principal Chief B. Bob Stopp wrote to Keetoowah Chief William Glory, and
informed him that anytime the United Keetoowah Band wished to use the tribal
conference rooms, "you are perfectly welcome to do so." The letter
concluded with, "We want all Cherokees to feel welcome to use this
Conference Room for meetings of a constructive nature which will serve the
interest of the Cherokees."
The Keetoowahs were also responsible for the Cherokee flag, being in charge of
producing and selling them. Cherokee Nation's appointed Chief frequently
referred persons interested in obtaining the flag to the Keetoowahs,
"...the Cherokee flags, which are to be produced and sold by the United
Keetoowah Band of Cherokees. Since this is being handled entirely by the
Keetoowah Band, I am referring your letter. . . " (1969)
The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs confirmed
in 1993, via letter to the United Keetoowah Band, that No OIWA or IRA
constitution was adopted for or by the 'Cherokee Nation." The letter states
that they are not aware of any documentation showing the intent of the
Commissioner to approver CNO's 1975 draft constitution within the meaning of the
IRA (through the OIWA of 1936). Most importantly, the letter states that the BIA
is not aware of any documentation showing no justification for contracts and/or
grants with the Keetoowahs to provide the same services to those portion of the
Cherokee Nation that would be served under the Nation's contracts and/or grants.
the BIA's Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior Ron Eden even sent a letter
to the Keetoowahs on August 24, 1992, confirming the Band's autonomy, separate
recognition and independent eligibility for services and trust land acquisition.
In Conclusion
There are two successor governments to the 1906 Cherokee Nation rolls. The UKB
ancestors were part of the historic Cherokee Nation at the time of the Act of
April 26, 1906 that dismantled the Cherokee government, allotted portions of the
Cherokee lands and caused the creation of a final roll of the Cherokee Nation.
(Testimony of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, Dallas
Proctor, to Senate, 2002)
Throughout history, the traditional and fullblood Kituwah people have followed
what they believe to be the proper channels. A Treaty was signed, they moved.
They set up their government and flourished. The old Cherokee Nation forcibly
overthrew the government by a majority in numbers. When the Cherokee Nation
government was terminated by the Curtis Act, the Keetoowahs continued on,
organizing under a federal charter and serving their people. When the OIWA was
introduced, the Keetoowahs complied with all regulations and were approved for
federal recognition with all rights and benefits afforded any other federally
recognized tribes. Today, Cherokee Nation has revived it’s tactics to attempt
to overthrow the Keetoowah government and intervening each time the Keetoowahs
promote programs and services for the traditional and high blood quantum people.
Yet, the government continues to publish decisions confirming their backing of
the Kituwah people.
"Keetoowah is a phenomenon which has existed almost since the beginning of
time and will exist forever, and that the name refers to something more than a
mere collection of homogenous individuals." (Charles Wisdom, "The
Keetoowah Society of the Oklahoma Cherokee," submitted to the Department of
the Interior, 1953) "We must not surrender under any circumstances until we
shall 'fall to the ground united.' We must lead one another by the hand with all
our strength." (Laws of the Keetoowah April, 1859)
Our thanks to Takatoka, a prolific writer and commentator of Cherokee issues and history.
Further
Reading:
“The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee
Indians in Oklahoma,” Georgia Rae Leeds, American University Studies, Series
IX, Vol. 184, 1999.