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Despite recent gains, tribal citizens descended from slaves face disparate treatment
Freedmen descendants face exclusion from tribal citizenship and federally funded programs despite Civil War treaties, with a 2024 GAO report highlighting ongoing barriers in health, education, and housing.
- In recent years, agencies and tribes have widened access for Freedmen descendants to Native American health care and education, but the Government Accountability Office found more work is needed.
- Post–Civil War treaties with the United States guaranteed Freedmen citizenship, but tribal rules like the Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood and the 1823 Seminole Nation lineage cutoff restrict access, and the GAO found the Seminole Nation's housing points system gives Freedmen descendants zero priority.
- An applicant's experience at Haskell shows a Freedman descendant was asked for proof of 'Indian blood,' while Mark McClain found six IHS clinics required the same between 2018 and 2020.
- Last year, the Muscogee Nation Supreme Court struck down a constitutional requirement, but enforcement and law changes are still pending before citizenship can be extended to Freedmen descendants.
- The Bureau of Indian Education in 2024 clarified that tribal enrollment cards prove eligibility, and federal agencies have worked in recent years to clarify policies, activist Marilyn Vann said, `It's important to shine a bright light on this 21st century racism.
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Despite recent gains, tribal citizens descended from slaves face disparate treatment
Federal reforms have made Native American health care and education programs more accessible to tribal citizens descended from enslaved Black people. Following the Civil War, five tribal nations in present-day Oklahoma that allowed slavery ended the practice. Treaties signed with…
·Tulsa, United States
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Total News Sources12
Leaning Left2Leaning Right0Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution78% Center
Bias Distribution
- 78% of the sources are Center
78% Center
L 22%
C 78%
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