Photo illustration courtesy Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band
A lawsuit filed in Federal Court on July 20, 2018, names defendants RYAN ZINKE, Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior; UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; and JAMES FLOYD, Principal Chief of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, in His Official Capacity.
According to court documents, plaintiffs are individuals and a collection of persons whose direct lineal ancestors were listed on the final Dawes Rolls of 1906 as Creek Nation Freedmen (“Creek Freedmen” or “Freedmen”) and citizens of the Muscogee Creek Nation (“MCN” or “Creek Nation”). Plaintiffs include descendants of (1) individuals who were enslaved by MCN, (2) Creeks of “African Descent,” (3) free “Africans” living as citizens of the Creek Nation, and/or (4) “mixed blood” Creek Nation citizens who were listed as Creek Freedmen on the Dawes Rolls (collectively “Descendants” or “Creek Freedmen Descendants”).
In 1866, the Creek Treaty between the United States and the MCN, the Freedmen and Freedmen Descendants, stated that regardless of their “blood” status “shall have and enjoy all the rights and privileges of native citizens” of the MCN.
On or about August 18, 1975, the MCN through its National Council, submitted to
DOI a draft constitution (“Draft Constitution”) that, among other things, contained express provisions which (1) stripped individuals on the 1906 Creek Freedmen Rolls and their then-living lineal descendants of their MCN citizenship; and (2) prevented the unborn lineal descendants of individuals who were enrolled on the 1906 Creek Freedmen Rolls from becoming citizens of MCN.
On October 29, 1977, then-MCN Principal Chief Claud Cox, a proponent of the new constitution, admitted that one of the express goals of the Draft Constitution was to strip Freedmen and Creek Freedmen Descendants of their MCN citizenship and rights stating:
“When you go back to the old [1867] Constitution, you are licked before you start; because it doesn’t talk about Indians, it talks about CITIZENS of the CREEK NATION. When you got down to the Allotment time, there were more that was non-Indians or half-blood or less, who outnumbered the full blood, all of these totaled about 11,000, and there were only 18,000 on the entire Roll; so there was only 9,000 above One-half blood. That’s the reason, they lost control; the FULLBLOOD lost control. That’s what we’re fighting, this blood quantum, trying to get back and let the people control because under the old Constitution, you’ve lost before you ever started. There were three FREEDMAN bands that would outnumber you today as citizens. So if we want to keep the INDIAN in control we’ve got to take a good look at this thing and get us a Constitution that will keep the Creek Indian in Control.” (MCN National Council Minutes, October 29, 1977)
Upon the dubious ratification of the 1979 Constitution, and with DOI’s approval, the MCN illegally declared that all Freedmen were not entitled to MCN citizenship and would no longer be recognized or allowed to be citizens of MCN. The MCN also began to summarily deny Creek Freedmen and their Descendants applications for citizenship.
Between 1979 to the present, eligible Freedmen and Creek Freedmen Descendants applied for MCN citizenships and were summarily denied. Oftentimes Freedmen applicants would be informed of their denial via a form letter from the Citizenship Board, which would include some version of the following language taken from a May 31, 2002 letter from MCN to a Creek Freedmen applicant:
We are returning your letter and any other documents submitted for enrollment into the Muscogee (Creek) Nation because in checking the Dawes Commission Rolls, your ancestors were enrolled on the Creek Freedmen Rolls. If you will note from the copy you submitted there is no blood quantum listed because they are not Creek by Blood. When slavery was abolished following the Civil War, Treaties were negotiated with the Five-Civilized Tribes; the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole Nations. The treaties conferred citizenship in the tribes on the negroes who had been held in slavery by the tribes. Such citizens were referred to as ‘Freedmen.’
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The document is an interesting read and a mini-history lesson, encompassing references to the Civil War, the Trail of Tears and other significant events in American history. The full complaint may be found here: