Reference no: EM133491871

Case Study: Introduction: The United States has a fraught history of racial and ethnic diversity. In our exploration of the Native-American Experience, the idea of the "blood quantum" was introduced (see our text, pages 63-65). This week, we will examine the Indian Removal Act (1830) and "Trail of Tears" (see text, pages 52 - 55). One relatively obscure feature of Indian removal was the impact on those who were of African descent held in bondage by Native Americans. They too were party to the forced relocation of Native Americans to the Oklahoma territory.[1] For example, Ron Graham is an African American who also traces his lineage to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation (MCN).[2] He appealed to the MCN for full tribal membership. Graham's appeal for membership in the MCN was rejected the MCN Supreme Court.[3] This issue, however, has taken on new urgency with the U.S. Supreme Court's groundbreaking decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, 2020, which expanded the roles of Native American tribes and their tribal governments with both the federal and state governments.[4] The reason for this urgency is that the McGirt decision was predicated on Treaty with the Creek, 1866. To be clear, the reason the McGirt decision found in favor of the MCN was based on the Court's textual analysis of this 1866 treaty. Article 2 of this 1866 Treaty indicates that the MCN will cease slavery and grant those of African ancestry and their descendants MCN citizenship.[5] The broader challenge for inclusion is carried on by an advocacy group called African Indians of the 5 Civilized Tribes Foundation.[6]

This challenge, however, establishes a pivotal question regarding Native rights. Harvard University Professor Philip Deloria argues, "But how to reconcile citizenship claims with tribal-sovereignty claims? A constitutive element of being a sovereign nation, after all, is having control over citizenship criteria. And, as tribal nations have developed economic resources and political standing in the course of the past several decades, wannabe Indians have appeared on their borders."[7]

Assignment: Read the Philip Deloria piece published in The New Yorker magazine. Do you believe that African Americans who have a clear connection of their descendants being held in bondage by Native Americans should have access to formal tribal membership? Why? Or, do you believe that a tribal nation, which proclaims its sovereignty and independent of any other control, should have the right to decide who may be citizens? Why?