"..there were
some 10,000 or 12,000 negroes in the five nations,....Those negroes were held as slaves, and were the subjects of
barter and sale as were the same class in the States of the south."
Mr. T.
J. Mackey
Washington, May 19, 1866
The
Freedmen Removal, our trail of tears!
The Creek Freedmen were former African
slaves of the Creek Nation of Indians,
one
of the Five Civilized Tribes.
They were emancipated after the Civil War and
by a new treaty signed in 1866 between the United States and the Creek Nation,
they were adopted as tribal citizens with full rights of Indians.
In
1979, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation decitizenized the Creek Freedmen descendants by reorganizing the Creek tribal government. The
racist constitutional organizers found a way to disenfranchised it's black slave descendants by a vote of a select
group of people,
which the Freedmen descendants believed was grossly illegal.
No more will Creek Freedmen descendants wear the badges of slavery.
The
Creek Freedmen descendants have vowed to fight for their citizenship and equal rights
as members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
This web-site was created
to inform the American public about the truth of slavery among the Creek Indians.
The
promise made to African slaves and the treaty broken.
The
Freedmen of the Creek, Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations relationship was the same as the U.S.’s relationship
to the Tribes. That is, the Freedmen were, in essence, wards of the U.S. government in relation to the U.S. Congress’
plenary power to relate to the Tribes. [In effect, Freedmen were colonial subjects that were not legally sophisticated enough to advocate for their own best interest
so the US had a higher standard of duty to act for them.] More professionally stated, as “guardians” of the Freedmen’s best interests, the
U.S. breached its duty by not taking vigorous measures to see that the best interests of the Freedmen were served in requiring
the Tribes to keep the Freedmen as citizens rather than the course that was taken.
The Creek Treaty of 1866, click here
A NOTE FROM THE HISTORY PAGES
It will be remembered that at the outbreak of the Civil
War Gen. Albert Pike went over into Indian Territory and induced a large majority of Creek Indians to join the Southern Confederacy.
After the close of the Civil War, without any consideration passing to the Creek Indians and as a penalty for their having
joined the Southern Confederacy---as declared in the preamble---certain agents of the Government caused the Creek Indians
to enter into the Creek treaty of 1866 (14 Stat, 785), volume 2, Kappler Treaties, page 931.
The Creek treaty
of June 1866 recites in the preamble that---
the Creeks made
a treaty with the so-called Confederate States on the tenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, whereby they
ignored their allegiance to the United States and unsettled the treaty relations existing between the Creeks and the United
States, and did so render themselves liable to forfeit to the United States all benefits and advantages enjoyed by them in
lands, annuities, protection, and immunities, including their lands and other property held by grant or gift from the United
States, and whereas, in view of said Habilities, the United States required of the Creeks a portion of their land wherein
to settle other Indians
But
in article 2 of the Creek Treaty of June 14, 1866, it is provided that---
Inasmuch as there are among the Creeks many persons of African
descent who have no interest in the soil, it is stipulated that hereafter these persons lawfully residing in said Creek
country under their laws and usages, or who have been thus residing in said country and may return in one year from the ratification
of this treaty, and their descendants and such others of the same race as may be permitted by the laws of the said nation
to settle within the limits of the jurisdiction of the Creek Nation as citizens thereof, shall have and enjoy all the
rights and privileges of native citizens, including an equal interest in the soil and national funds.
thus putting freedmen on a parity with blood citizens, having an equal interest in both the land and tribal
funds, using stronger language in recognition of freedmen's equal participation with blood citizens in property rights of
the nation than any other of the Five Civilized Tribes.
R.C. Allen, National
Attorney for the Creek Nation, March 3, 1914
Freedmen making application with the Dawes Commission
Oklahoma Historic Society
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Indians,
No Freedmen=Ethnic Cleansing!
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation in 1979 reorganized the government and
constitution by using the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. Racist members of the tribe used this stature to remove its
Freedmen descendants. Similar events in history was Hitler removing the Jews, and Andrew Jackson removing the
Creeks in the 1830s from their original homelands of the southeast.
The moral implications are astounding.
Ethnic cleansing in the worst way.
The Creeks by blood claimed that the Freedmen don't have Indian blood, however most do, but
its hardly the issue when our ancestors didn't need Indian blood when they were purchased on
the slave auction blocks.Shame on Creek Indians who voted for this new way of government. Shame. For more than 30 years,
the Creek Freedmen have pleaded with leadership of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation to do the right thing and return
the tribe back to God's grace, but our cries have fallen on deaf ears. We realized after trying this issue before
the Creek Supreme Court, with no satisfaction of justice, that
the Creeks are blinded by their hatred of black people, revealed by their blatant racism. We have now taken our
claim to Washington before members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other members of Congress who will listen and
understand our suffering. Our citizenship was based on the same citizenship theory of enslaved Africans who received
American citizenship after the emancipation. The Creek slaves received Creek citizenship because they were not owned
by Americans, they were the property of Creek citizens,therefore their freedom, and citizenship was of the
nation they served.
The Creek Freedmen Descendants say to you, what if the Governor of Mississippi take it to a
vote of the people to de-citizenize every black person who does not have a drop of white blood
from his State.
Think about it.
Congresswoman Diane Watson Podcast, click here to listen
Creek Nation Supreme Court Upholds Racial Discrimation Against Creek Freedmen, click here
The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, click here
Report of Joseph W. Howell of March 3, 1909, a must read, click here
The Creek Descendants ask Congress was it your intent for the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
to be used as a instrument of racial injustice by allowing the Creek Nation to remove its Freedmen members?
sec. 3. That such
election shall be void unless the total vote cast be at least 30 per centum of those entitled to vote.
Can
the Muscogee (Creek) Nation give the names of the 30 percent of Creek Freedmen who voted in 1979? Creek Freedmen Descendants
can you name one of your family members who voted in 1979?
Can the Secretary of the Interior name the 30 percent of Creek
Freedmen who voted in 1979?
Can anybody name a Creek Freedmen who voted in the 1979 election that reorganized the
Muscogee (Creek) Nation government?
United States Constitution, Amendments 13, 14 and 15, click here
