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United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
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The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma are a federally recognized tribe of Indians headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The United Keetoowah are also referred to as the UKB.
word Keetoowah is the name of an ancient Cherokee town in the (Eastern) Homeland of the Cherokee.
A group of Cherokee traditionalists calling themselves the Keetoowah Society (also called the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society) took advantage of the 1936 Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act to organize a federally recognized Indian Band called the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
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The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma are a federally recognized tribe of Indians headquartered in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The United Keetoowah are also referred to as the UKB.
Origins
The word Keetoowah is the name of an ancient Cherokee town in the (Eastern) Homeland of the Cherokee.
A group of Cherokee traditionalists calling themselves the Keetoowah Society (also called the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society) took advantage of the 1936 Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act to organize a federally recognized Indian Band called the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. This, for the most part, is composed of "Old Settlers"—descendants of people who went west a little before the absolute necessity of the Trail of Tears.
Many Cherokee groups still refer to themselves as Keetoowah people: the ancient name used to describe all of the Cherokee People.
History
By the 1880s most of the ancient culture of the Cherokees was being lost. 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. This resulted in even more of the Cherokee culture becoming lost. The remaining Cherokees continued to adopt and integrate cultural practices of other tribes who were being forcibly removed into Oklahoma Territory.
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 socialist form of government with the lands being controlled by the tribal government. As a consequence of the Dawes Commission programs and policies, the Cherokee culture and society was destabilized and strictly controlled. Presidentially appointed "Chiefs" of the tribe were reduced to tribal administrators. They imposed the will of the United States on individual Cherokees in support of the Federal Government's attempts to force assimilation of the Cherokee.
Some Cherokee traditional people formed a secret society, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, to practice ceremonies and sacred gatherings of the people. They wanted to avoid censure or reprisal by the United States. This group preserved, re-invented, or revived some of the pre-Removal culture, ceremonies, and beliefs of the Cherokee. These people and their movement later influenced the formation of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in 1946.
Today the society and the UKB no longer comprise a single organization. Over time, many UKB members have joined the Cherokee Nation. The membership of the society has grown to include those who are affiliated with both the Cherokee Nation and the UKB.
The Cherokee Nation became the non-governmental remnant of the Cherokee Government that ended in 1906. There was still the substantial population base and various legal matters (financial and otherwise).
The UKB only claimed a small percentage of the total Cherokee Society as members since over time, the Cherokee intermarried with non-Indians in Oklahoma and were gradually assimilated. Having organized under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act and Indian Reorganization Acts (IRA), the United Keetoowah Band was recognized by a 1950 act of the US Congress.
The United Keetoowah Band was created out of the Keetoowah Society, Inc. When word got to the full bloods that allotment was coming, 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. 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.
When the Oklahoma Indian Welfare and Indian Reorganization Acts were passed to help tribes reorganize their tribal governments, all of the Five Civilized Tribes but the Cherokee Nation were deemed in good order to do so.
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.
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 Housing Authority was also begun with the help of the UKB.
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 Mankiller and Chad Smith administrations have had many conflicts with UKB leadership. Smith was previously a member of the UKB. He has resented the UKB since his adopted father Nelson Smith was denied the right to run in an election and subsequently died during the legal fight. Chad Smith's enrolled 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. Charles Locust is the Assistant Chief. They operate a casino and an arts and crafts gallery, showcasing members' work. They issue their own tribal license plates. Their estimated annual economic impact is $96 million.
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 did not possess an issued CDIB during his 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.
Legal
UKB leaders have been accused of diversion of funds by its own members. The State of Oklahoma sued the UKB in federal court for operating illegal gaming facilities off of 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.
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.
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, 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 (See Anikutani).
See also
Bibliography
- Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
- Cherokee, ISBN 1-55868-603-7, Graphic Arts Center Publishing
- 13 Moons On the Turtles Back. A Native American Year of Moons, ISBN 0-698-11584-8, Putnam and Grossnet Group, 1997
External links
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