For further information with regard to dispelling myths and exposing frauds, call the Cherokee Nation or the Bureau of Indian Affairs for a list of legitimate nations, tribes and bands. Some descendents of Cherokee Indians cannot qualify for tribal membership in the Cherokee Nation because their ancestors were not enrolled during the final enrollment. The Cherokee Nation encourages people who fall into this category that want to embrace their Cherokee heritage to do so through a Cherokee cultural or historical society with like minded individuals rather than joining a group which claims to be a Cherokee nation, band or tribe. The owners of this website fully support the Cherokee Nation's position on this matter. While we realize that there are some legitimate Tribal entities who are not currently Federally recognized, we also feel that there is currently no other measure besides Federal recognition to separate the legitimate from the fraudulent.
State recognition is, in our opinion, too variable to be used as a measure of legitimacy.
For this reason we link to and present information regarding only Tribal entities which are Federally recognized.