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Tribe Won't Appeal 'Freedmen Ruling'

Cherokee Nation

The Cherokee Nation says, in a news release, it will not appeal a federal judge's ruling ordering the tribe to accept the descendants of former salves as tribal members. Cherokee Attorney General Todd Hembree says the tribe has already taken steps to enroll the new members.

Descendants of black slaves, known as freedmen, who were once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation have a right to tribal citizenship under a ruling handed down by a federal court in Washington, D.C.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ruled Wednesday in a long-standing dispute between the Cherokee Freedmen and the second largest tribe in the United States.

Freedmen have long argued that the Treaty of 1866, signed between the U.S. government and the Tahlequah, Oklahoma-based Cherokees, gave them and their descendants "all the rights of native Cherokees." There are around 3,000 freedmen descendants today.