Who are black Cherokee Indians?

Answer 1

They have an Eastern Woodland culture, sharing many traits with Muscogee Creek and Iroquois peoples. They traditional farmed corn and other crops and lived in wattle-and-daub houses organized into semi-permanent villages. Their traditional government was led by a war chief or red chief in times of conflict and a peace chief or white chief in times of peace; however, traditional government only led by influence. Women led clans and families. Cherokee have traditional been matrilineal (tracing their bloodlines through their mother) and matrilocal (newlywed couples move to the wife's family's place).

Answer 2

The Cherokee are a native American tribe (sometimes called "First Nations People") that inhabited south-eastern North America prior to its discovery by Europe. Currently tribal members are scattered around the globe and three main groups of the tribe exist in Texas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina.

Answer 3

First, 0% of 'Cherokees' are black. You probably mean to ask "What percentage of Blacks are Cherokee?"
That answer can never be determined. Many African Americans, through family stories, claim Native American ancestry. When in reality, during the supposed time that this mixing of blood was supposed to occur, it was very rare for Native Americans or Blacks to voluntarily procreate outside of their own race. The only way for them to have mixed is if escaped slaves sought refuge in a village, so then there would have never been any documentation.


I am not discounting that some African Americans do have Native American ancestry. However, it is very doubtful that it is Cherokee blood. Cherokee territory is very mountainous terrain, and lacked sufficient cleared land for plantations. Most plantations where slaves were used were located in flatter areas of the country. So, its more likely that blacks mixed more with Catawba, Tuscarara, or Pamlico tribes.


Second, the word Cherokee comes from another tribe of Iroquois and not actually the Cherokee tribe itself. Cherokee peoples have been misidentified for hundreds of years. 'Cherokee' in "Cherokee" is Tslagi. So most true 'Cherokee' people call themselves Tslagi and not actually "Cherokee".

Answer 4

The Treaty of 1866 brought about the abolishment of Slavery in Indian Territory, and the subsequent adoption of former black slaves into 4 of the 5 Cherokee nations. More than 20,000 Africans were adopted into these nations before the end of the 19th century.

Most freed blacks remained in Indian Territory , and most remained in the nation in which they had lived as slaves. In the decades that followed, the freedmen established lives for themselves alongside Native Americans of several different tribes including the Cherokee.

The so called "Red-Black Cherokees" represent a truly unique Cherokee population, they are the descendants of former slaves of the Cherokees, the freedmen. Other Red-Blacks are the result of mixtures of Cherokees with black and often white ancestry ( tricolor ). This later group is a small segment of the Cherokee population, but unique and important. They have often been forgotten and discriminated against by Cherokees and non-Cherokees alike. Their "indianness" has typically not been accepted to the same degree as that of Indians with white ancestry, even though they may have more Indian Blood.