Cherokees residing on land ceded by the Treaty of New Echota, signed in 1835, were given two years to voluntarily remove to the West. When the time period expired in May 1838, only about two thousand Cherokees had left their homes. To complete the removal, seven thousand federal and state troops were sent to the Cherokee Nation. Between June 1838 and April 1839, fifteen thousand Cherokees were forced to emigrate to the Indian Territory.
———The forced removal of the Cherokees in 1838-39 marked the beginning of a new era in Cherokee history. This rebirth was signified by the adoption of a new constitution shortly after the majority of Cherokees arrived in the Indian Territory in 1839. The Cherokees brought to Oklahoma their concept of democratic government, their churches and schools, their newspapers and books, and their businesses. Tahlequah became the new capital and the center of business activity, and Park Hill emerged as a cultural oasis in Indian Territory. Two bilingual publications, the Cherokee Advocate and the Cherokee Messenger, became, respectively, the first newspaper and the first periodical in the new territory. In addition, the presses churned out hundreds of religious and secular tracts printed in the Cherokee syllabary, which had been introduced by Sequoyah in 1821. Before long, the Cherokees' educational system had grown to include 144 elementary schools and two institutions of higher education, the Cherokee Male and Female Seminaries.
———Despite the losses experienced during removal, the Cherokees regained their prominence by adopting a progressive outlook toward the future. The years between removal and the 1860s were called the Cherokee golden age, a period of prosperity that ended with the devastation of the American Civil War. Like residents of most border areas, Cherokees were divided in their loyalties. One-third of the Cherokee population either died or moved away during the war. After the Cherokee land was again taken, this time to accommodate other tribes displaced by the U.S. government. At the turn of the century most of the remaining tribal land was parceled out to individual Cherokees in allotments. Final eligibility for allotments was determined by the Dawes Commission rolls of 1906. The surviving original enrollees and their descendants make up the tribal membership of today's Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
———The Cherokee Nation is a source of people and identity for its members, many of whom live in the original territory of Cherokee Nation, which is located in fourteen counties of southern Oklahoma. Today the land is not a reservation, but a jurisdictional service area. The tribal structure was reorganized in the 1970s, and since then the Cherokee Nation has become a leader in education, health care, housing, vocational training, and economic development in northeastern Oklahoma. The nation currently employs 940 people on staff and in its business enterprises, and its annual payroll exceeds $13 million.
———The assets of the Cherokee Nation include ninety-six miles of the Arkansas River bed and more than sixty-one thousand acres of tribal land. Over the past fifteen years, the Cherokee Nation has posted dramatic and steady financial growth while increasing its asset base. The annual operating budget exceeds $50 million, with the funds provided by federal programs and generated from tribal sources.
———The responsibilities of the Cherokee Nation tribal government are divided into three major areas: social programs, development and special services, and tribal operations. Among tribal business enterprises are Cherokee Nation industries, two arts-and-crafts outlets, a utility company, and ranching, poultry, and wood-cutting operations. In November 1990 the Cherokee Nation opened its first gaming facility, Bingo Outpost, at Roland, Oklahoma.
———In addition to the decision to enter the bingo market, other recent initiatives of the tribal government include the approval of a tax code and the tribe's bid to enter the self-governance program. In February 1990 with tribal council approved the Cherokee Nation Tax Code, which allows the tribe to tax businesses on tribal lands, including smoke shops. The Cherokee Nation applied for direct funding for programs and services for fiscal year 1991 as part of its aggressive push for increased self-governance. The agreement, approved by the U.S. Congress, authorizes the tribe to plan, conduct, consolidate, and administer programs and receive direct funding to deliver services to tribal members.

Modern Eastern Cherokees trace their origins to about one thousand Cherokees who managed to avoid removal. One-third of these — some fifty-seven families — were living outside the Cherokee Nation on the Oconaluftee River in the early nineteenth century and claimed U.S. citizenship under the treaties of 1817 and 1819. Living on nontribal land, these families were referred to as the Oconaluftee Citizen Indians by the U.S. Army, which made no attempt to remove them. These Indians were joined in November 1838 by refugees from the Nantahala River area.
———Other Cherokees who remained in North Carolina included those living in the village of Cheoih, near Robbinsville, which had a close alliance with local whites. A number of families along the Valley River were also left behind. They were headed by white males, and the army was unable to obtain clarification of their status. Other Cherokees who remained in the East came from such places as Turtle Town and Duck Town in Tennessee, Fighting Town in Georgia, and Shooting Creek and Hanging Dog Town in North Carolina.
———In fate of the North Carolina Cherokees remained in question for several years following removal. By 1848, however, the U.S. Congress agreed to recognize the rights of the North Carolina Cherokees on the condition that the state reorganize their rights as permanent residents. Acknowledgment was not forthcoming until after the Civil War. During the war the Eastern Cherokees sided with their white neighbors and the Confederacy. Many enlisted in the Sixty-ninth North Carolina Infantry, which was commanded by William Holland Thomas and became known as the Thomas Legion. After the war , the Cherokees faced the prospect of losing their land again. Title to their land was held by Thomas, their trusted friend and attorney. He had invested heavily in the Southern cause and was now impoverished and mentally unstable. His creditors obtained sheriff's deeds to all his property, including the Cherokees' land. In 1866, the state of North Carolina finally recognized the Cherokees as permanent residents and the federal government allowed money promised under the previous treaty to be used to pay Thomas's debts to insure that the title would not be dispossessed.
———With questions about their residency and legal status resolved, the Cherokees began to reorganize their tribal government. On December 9, 1868, a general council of the Eastern Cherokees was held at Cheoih in Graham County. In the first election since removal, Flying Squirrel was chosen principal chief and was inaugurated on December 1, 1870. The Qualla Boundary, also known as the Eastern Cherokee Reservation, was soon established, and the limits were marked in 1876 by the Temple Society. The Qualla Boundary had a population of 855 in 1880; another 189 Cherokees lived in Graham County, 83 in Cherokee County, and 72 in Macom County. In the 1880s, many of the Cherokees living in Macom and Cherokee counties moved to Qualla to take advantage of its newly established school and to give themselves a chance to become involved in the community.
———The Cherokees became incorporated under the laws of North Carolina in 1889 and began conducting business as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Title to tribal lands previously held by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs was transferred to the corporation. By 1890 an incipient cash economy had developed. Unfortunately, the advent ot the number industry, which operated on Cherokee land for a few decades, resulted in the deforestation of the mountains.
———In 1919, Cherokee veterans of World War I were made citizens of the United States. In 1924, all American Indians received U.S. citizenship. Also in that year, Cherokee land was placed in federal trust, with the guarantee that the land would always remain in Cherokee possession.
———The opening of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1940 changed the long-term focus of the Cherokee economy. After World War II, the scenic wilderness of the park began to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. The Cherokee Historical Association was organized in 1948 and premiered its outdoor drama, Unto These Hills, two years later. In 1932, the association opened the Oconaluftee Indian Village. Today tourism is the primary industry in the Qualla Boundary area, providing jobs for about 65 percent of the local population.
———Lands currently held by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians include 56,572.8 acres in five counties of western North Carolina and 76.3 acres in two counties in eastern Tennessee. In North Carolina, tribal holdings include fifty-two tracts of boundaries, which are contained in thirty separate bodies of land. The majority of the land is in Jackson and Swain Counties. A small strip of land is in Haywood County, and scattered residential tracts are in Graham and Cherokee Counties. Possessory title to approximately 80 percent of tribal land is held by individuals, who can transfer land only to other tribal members. Of the more than ten thousand Eastern Cherokees, about sixty-five hundred live on tribal lands.

In 1984, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma met in a joint council session for the first time in nearly 150 years. Joint sessions now meet every two years and deal with issues that affect both groups. Both groups take pride in their common history and have developed cultural attractions both in North Carolina and in Oklahoma that share the story of the Cherokees with the public. The re-created villages, museums, and outdoor dramas provide employment for Cherokee people, promote the continuation of traditional arts and crafts, strengthen tribal identity, and provide important educational services. About fourteen thousand people speak Cherokee as a first language, making them the seventh-largest group of speakers of a native language north of Mexico.
———Today, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma are prosperous and vibrant communities that share a deep appreciation for the past and great optimism about the future.

DUANE H. KING (Cherokee)
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles