'The Freedmen were forced to walk the Trail of Tears': Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California)
Channel: indianz
Date: 2021-07-28

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) discusses the historical mistreatment of the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes during a meeting of the House Committee on Rules on July 26, 2021.

The Freedmen are the descendants of formerly enslaved persons held within the Cherokee Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation, the Muscogee Nation and the Seminole Nation. They were guaranteed tribal citizenship following the end of the Civil War but Waters says the promise, which was required by treaty, has not always been kept.

"Despite the fact that these treaty obligations still exist and are binding on the five tribes, the descendants of Friedman continued to be denied tribal citizenship and other basic rights associated with citizenship, like equal access to federal housing assistance,"  Waters says.

Waters spoke in support of an amendment to an appropriations bill that prevents federal housing funds from being being distributed to any of the five tribes that are "not in compliance with obligations under its 1866 treaty with the United States relating to the inclusion of persons who are lineal descendants of Freedmen as having the rights of the citizens of such tribes."

Thumbnail photo of Trail of Tears marker in Tennessee by J. Stephen Conn:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jstephenconn/5211787840/

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