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The Creek Freedmen
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Home | Our History | About Us | Getting Involved | Upcoming Events | Genealogy | Breaking News/Newsletter | Our Stories/Testimonies | Important Links | Contact Us
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"Every Muscogee citizen, whether his skin is red, white or black, has equal rights
and privileges in this (Creek) Nation. Even the most abject, poor and ignorant is entitled to equal consideration with the
most distinguished, rich and learned at the hands of our officers." Isparhecher
Our Ancestors, Our Stories, Our Fight
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.
| Freedmen Prior to Oklahoma Statehood |
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| Oklahoma Historic Society |
111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2761 To sever United States Government relations with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma until
such time as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma restores full tribal citizenship to the Cherokee Freedmen disenfranchised in
the March 3, 2007, Cherokee Nation vote and fulfills all its treaty obligations with the Government of the United States,
and for other purposes. Click here.
Creek Freedmen
Descendants, a call for action!
On June 14th 2009, we celebrated
143 years of Freedom! To
celebrate our freedom, we ask you to continue to apply for citizenship in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
We know
there are at the very least, 30,000 Creek Freedmen descendants. This organization hopes to send a message to the
Muscogee (Creek) Nation that we are still here. We have not disappeared or gone away. Copies of the applications will also
be sent to the BIA and the Congressional Black Caucus. Lets get the word out together.
If you are interested in helping,
please contact the association at
CreekFreedmen@gmail.com
A CALL FOR ACTION! One Thousand Creek Freedmen Descendants for a Federal Class Action Suit. Let us know who you are, please
fill out the Creek Freedmen Descendant Roster form. Click here.
Welcome to the Creek Freedmen website.
Please remember the words of the great Dr.
Martin Luther King,
"Now is the time to lift our nation
from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood."
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"..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 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
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Tullehassee Manual Labor School for Creek Freedmen 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
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Mission Statement
Enhance the social welfare and work for enforcement of treaty rights of
the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes.
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Toni Scott,
African/Creek Artist, provided the art for this site, Mvto!
Toni Scott, African/Creek Artist, Click here.
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