Commentary: Cherokee blood spread far and wide

"Some families are aware this, some people have heard rumors or stories from family members about Indian background and some are totally unaware of it. Did great, great, great grandma really have a Cherokee parent?

There may be more Americans with Cherokee DNA in them than of other tribes. This is because Cherokees began intermixing with Scottish and other explorers, hunters and trappers at a much earlier phase in American history – much of it in the mid-1700s.

By the time of the Trail of Tears, there were already several generations of mixed-race families living in the Cherokee mountain regions of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and surrounding areas.

This intermixing goes back further in American history than with many other tribes further west, creating wider dissemination of Cherokee DNA into many family trees."

Get the Story:
Steve Hammons: Who is a Cherokee? Many Americans have Indians in the family tree (The American Chronicle 3/6)

Sovereign Immunity Court Decision:
Vann v. Kempthorne (December 19, 2006)

Jim Cason Letter:
Cherokee Nation Constitution (August 30, 2006)

Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeals Tribunal Decision in Freedmen Case:
Allen v. Cherokee Nation (March 7, 2006)

Relevant Links:
Cherokee Nation - http://www.cherokee.org
Freedmen Of The Five Civilized Tribes - http://www.freedmen5tribes.com
Freedmen Conference - http://www.freedmenconference.com

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