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Who gets Cherokee citizenship in the United States? | GLOBALCIT Blog

Aaron Kushner (Arizona State University) discusses the impact of the Cherokee Nation’s Supreme Court decision to strike down a law that freedmen – descendants of people enslaved by Cherokees in the 18th and 19th centuries – cannot hold elective tribal office.

12 April 2021 | Blog

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A recent decision by the Cherokee Nation’s Supreme Court struck down a law that freedmen – descendants of people enslaved by Cherokees in the 18th and 19th centuries – cannot hold elective tribal office. The ruling is the latest development in a long-standing dispute about the tribal rights available to Black people once held in bondage by Native Americans. National media reported this news as a victory against racism in the tribe. “Cherokee Nation Addresses Bias Against Descendants of Enslaved People,” reads a representative headline from The New York Times.

However, Aaron Kushner, Postdoctoral Scholar at Arizona State University and expert on Cherokee law and history, argues that this development can be seen as only the latest chapter in a long struggle between the Cherokee Nation and the federal government over which has the power to determine who should be considered a tribal citizen, and which culture’s values should be most important in that determination.

Read Aaron Kushner's full analysis now on the GLOBALCIT blog, as well as its original publication on the Conversation

Last update: 26 January 2022

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