Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
8-2014
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Pan-African Studies
Degree Program
Pan-African Studies, MA
Committee Chair
Jones, Ricky L.
Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)
Best, Latrica
Committee Member
Phillips, Selene
Subject
African Americans--Relations with Indians; Indians of North America--Ethnic identity; African Americans--Ethnic identity
Abstract
This research investigates the Cherokee Freedmen, who are people of African-American descent and peoples of mixed African-American and Native American descent, who were once enslaved by Cherokees in the Cherokee Nation, and who have articulated their identity and tribal citizenship status as Cherokee Natives in the Cherokee Nation. Upon emancipation, the Cherokee Nation adopted the Cherokee Freedmen as equal citizens in the Cherokee Nation under article nine from the Treaty of 1866, but this changed after citizens were recorded on the Dawes Rolls based upon blood quantum. The theoretical framework of this research is Antonio Gramsci’s theoretical perspective of cultural hegemony and core-periphery theory. Due to cultural hegemony, these citizenship rolls are still what articulate tribal citizenship status in the Cherokee Nation today. This research uses an Afro-Indigenous epistemological approach. Also, this Master’s thesis addresses the identity politics behind citizenship status today for the descendants of Freedmen as well as legitimizes their authenticity as Cherokee Native citizens, for their citizenship status has been revoked from the Cherokee Nation, because they do not meet the required blood quantum.
Recommended Citation
Spears, Shannon, "The problem of the twenty-first century in the Cherokee Nation is the problem of the color-line : how the Cherokee Freedmen have articulated a sense of cultural identity and citizenship claims over time." (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1364.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1364
