Cherokee Freedmen: An unmarked history

During my research, I developed a more nuanced understanding of the tenuous relationship between Cherokee Freedmen and the Cherokee Nation. I used the four major constitutions of the Cherokee Nation and the Tribal Treaty of 1866 to examine how Cherokee Freedmen interacted with the large zeitgeist of each time period, which illuminates a multitude of intersections in identity – both social and economic– often overlooked in Indigenous history, a divisive issue that continues to fragment the tribe today. The goal of this paper was to highlight a gap in the historiography which was a perspective that balanced indigenous and black history within the larger environment of American history. While the scope of this thesis was quite extensive it still allowed for an in-depth exploration of the patterns and continuities in Cherokee Freedmen history.