Marilyn Vann (Cherokee) - Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes

Marilyn Vann, President of DFSCTA and lead plaintiff in Vann et al versus Kempthorne to discuss the issues surrounding the Freedmen of the 5 Civilized Tribes
Early in the 1800s, some Cherokees acquired slaves, and in the 1830s, enslaved African Americans accompanied the Cherokees when the federal government forced them to move to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where the tribe struggled to rebuild its culture and institutions. By 1861, there were 4,000 black slaves living among the Cherokees. After the Civil War, the tribe signed a treaty that granted former slaves, or freedmen, “all the rights of Native Cherokees.” But in 2007, Cherokees amended their tribal constitution, making “Indian blood” a requirement for citizenship. As a result, some 2,800 descendants of Cherokee freedmen were excluded from membership. Marilyn Vann, a Cherokee Freedmen, says, "The stripping of my vote and identity as a Cherokee fills my heart with sorrow and rage. How can the United States recognize my Tribe’s government and fund millions of dollars of aid to it, when it denies me my most precious asset, the right to vote for my elected officials and decide major Constitutional reform. I not only feel less of a Cherokee today but less of an American." http://www.freedmen5tribes.com/index.html http://turtletalk.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/marilyn-vann-talk-materials/