By Ian Nikkel, Fox23 News
TULSA, Okla. — The Cherokee Nation celebrated Black History Month Tuesday afternoon with major announcements centered on honoring Cherokee Freedmen and expanding community investment.
The event, held at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, featured tribal leaders unveiling a trailer for a new documentary focused on Cherokee Freedmen and releasing a comprehensive task force report examining the economic impact slavery had on the Cherokee Nation during the 19th century.
The report details how enslaved labor shaped the Nation’s economy and infrastructure before the Civil War. Among the notable findings, nearly 1,600 enslaved people were recorded in the Cherokee Nation in 1835. The report also found a significant wealth gap between slaveholding and non-slaveholding households, including an average 64-acre difference in land ownership between the two groups.
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said confronting this history is necessary to uphold treaty rights and Freedmen citizenship.
“The truth will set us free, so talking truthfully about the history where it starts,” Hoskin said. “Honoring Freedmen’s rights to citizenship is really about honoring treaty rights. We spend a great deal of time talking about treaty rights and how the United States has violated every treaty ever signed with every tribe in this country. I’m going to hold ourselves to that same standard.”
Leaders also highlighted the opening of a new Cherokee Community Center in North Tulsa, which opens Thursday. The center will offer in-person Cherokee language classes beginning in May, an elder nutrition program running five days a week, and a dedicated gathering space for Cherokee citizens.
Waynette Lawrie, president of the North Tulsa Cherokee Community Organization, said the new space is long overdue.
“It means a lot to us to have this space in North Tulsa. It’s something that we’ve been striving for, and it’s been a long time coming,” Lawrie said. “We haven’t had this kind of space. For the Cherokee Nation to reach out and want to provide this to us, we just welcome it.”
Tribal leaders say the announcements are part of a broader effort to fully embrace Cherokee Freedmen history, expand services in North Tulsa, and present a more complete account of the Nation’s past.
You can view the full report by clicking here.
