I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1514 
To sever United States Government relations with the Creek Nation of Okla-
homa until such time as the Creek Nation of Oklahoma restores full 
Tribal citizenship to the Creek Freedmen disenfranchised in the October 
6, 1979, Creek Nation vote and fulfills all its treaty obligations with 
the Government of the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 5, 2019 
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To sever United States Government relations with the Creek 
Nation of Oklahoma until such time as the Creek Nation 
of Oklahoma restores full Tribal citizenship to the Creek 
Freedmen disenfranchised in the October 6, 1979, Creek 
Nation vote and fulfills all its treaty obligations with 
the Government of the United States, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Historically, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation 
(‘‘Creek Nation’’) were comprised of a confederacy 
of separate towns, Tribes, and peoples. Each town 
was a complete governmental unit in and of itself. 
Among those peoples were the Yamassee or Jamassi, 
who were reported to have emigrated from Africa 
prior to the European discovery of America. 
(2) As colonists and eventually nonindigenous 
Americans began to inhabit this area, these new 
residents sought to ‘‘civilize the Creek Indian’’. In 
the ensuing decades, the United States continuously 
and repeatedly attempted to impose, often by force, 
its customs, economy, religion, and political struc-
ture on indigenous groups such as the Creek Nation. 
(3) One American custom adopted by some 
Creek Nation citizens was the plantation economy 
and the reliance on chattel African slavery as a labor 
force. Along with enslaved Africans who were owned 
by Creek Nation citizens, there were also Creek Na-
tion citizens of African descent and free Blacks 
openly living as full citizens of the Creek Nation. 
(4) In the 1830s, citizens of the Creek Nation 
were forcibly removed from their lands in the south-
eastern United States and forced to migrate to In-
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dian Territory (present day Oklahoma) along a route 
known as the Trail of Tears. Among those persons 
forced to migrate were— 
(A) African individuals who were enslaved 
by citizens of the Creek Nation; 
(B) Creek Nation citizens of ‘‘African de-
scent’’; 
(C) free ‘‘Africans’’ living as citizens of the 
Creek Nation; and 
(D) ‘‘mixed blood’’ Creek Nation citizens 
now known as the ‘‘Black Creeks’’ or ‘‘Creek 
Freedmen’’. 
(5) Citizens of the Creek Nation were removed 
primarily by their traditional Tribal ‘‘town’’, and it 
was the town ‘‘Micos’’ or chiefs who kept the Tribal 
rolls. This allowed Creek Nation citizens who sur-
vived the journey to reestablish their traditional 
towns in Indian Territory. 
(6) Removal was carried out by the military, 
and approximately 24,000 Creek Nation citizens 
were forced to travel to Indian Territory on foot or 
by riverboats. Due to poor planning, organization, 
and indifference by the Federal Government, thou-
sands of Creek Nation citizens died on the way to 
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Indian Territory due to exposure, starvation, and 
disease. 
(7) Even after removal to Indian Territory, 
some Creek Nation citizens continued to hold slaves 
until the Creek Treaty of 1866 abolished slavery in 
the Creek Nation. 
(8) In 1861, a faction of the Creek Nation 
known as ‘‘Southern Creeks’’ executed a treaty with 
the Confederate States of America, severing its rela-
tions with the United States Government. Members 
of the Southern Creeks held positions in the Con-
gress and military of the Confederate States of 
America and waged war against the United States 
during the Civil War. Other Creeks, known as the 
‘‘Loyal Creeks’’, who generally resisted cultural as-
similation, provided supplies, men, and support for 
the Union. A contingent of Loyal Creeks, which in-
cluded a substantial ‘‘Black’’ Creek component, left 
their homes in Oklahoma and moved to Kansas to 
flee Southern Creek soldiers and their Confederate 
allies. 
(9) The Battle of Honey Springs was a major 
battle that occurred in Indian Territory during the 
Civil War, and Loyal Creeks, including ‘‘Black’’ 
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Creeks, valiantly fought against the Confederacy and 
their allies. 
(10) In 1865, as the Civil War ended, President 
Andrew Johnson designated a commission to travel 
to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to convene a council for 
the purpose of negotiating a new treaty with the 
Creek Nation. 
(11) The members of that commission declared 
that a treaty with the United States ‘‘must’’ contain 
certain stipulations, including that ‘‘the institution 
of slavery, which has existed among several of the 
Tribes, must be forthwith abolished, and measures 
taken for the unconditional emancipation of all per-
sons held in bondage, and for their incorporation 
into the Tribes on an equal footing with the original 
members, or suitably provided for.’’. 
(12) The Creek Nation’s 5-person delegation in-
cluded both leaders of the Loyal Creeks and South-
ern Creeks. One of the members of the Loyal Creek 
delegation was an African Creek named Cow Tom. 
(13) The Creek Treaty of 1866 negotiations oc-
curred between 1865 and 1866, first in Fort Smith, 
Arkansas, and then in Washington, DC. It was in 
Washington, DC, where the Treaty was signed and 
upon the signing of the 1866 Treaty the United 
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States reestablished official relations with the Creek 
Nation. 
(14) The Creek Treaty of 1866 became the 
foundational legal document of the Creek Nation 
and established the Creek Nation as it is known 
today. 
(15) The Creek Treaty of 1866 declared that 
the Black Creeks, also known as ‘‘Creek Freedmen’’, 
were to be made citizens of the Creek Nation and 
to have all the rights of other Creeks Citizens. 
(16) Article II of the Creek Treaty of 1866 pro-
vides in pertinent part: 
‘‘[I]nasmuch as there are among the Creek 
many persons of African descent . . . it is stip-
ulated that hereafter these persons, lawfully re-
siding in said Creek country, under their laws 
and usages, or who have been thus residing in 
said country, and may return within one year 
from the ratification of this treaty, and their 
descendants and such others of the same race 
as may be permitted by the laws of said Nation 
to settle within the limits of the jurisdiction of 
the Creek Nation as citizens [thereof], shall 
have and enjoy all the rights and privileges of 
native citizens, including an equal interest in 
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the soil and national funds; and the laws of said 
Nation shall be equally binding upon and give 
equal protection to all such persons . . .’’. 
(17) Virtually identical clauses relating to the 
citizenship of individuals of African descent within 
the Seminole and Cherokee Nations were negotiated, 
agreed upon, and added to the respective Seminole 
and Cherokee Treaties of 1866. 
(18) Shortly after executing the Treaty of 
1866, the Creek Nation reorganized their constitu-
tional structure, and in 1867, it created a new and 
expansive constitution which recognized and af-
firmed the full citizenship rights of Black Creeks. 
(19) The 1867 Constitution did not discrimi-
nate against Creeks of African descent, Free Black, 
or Creek Freedmen citizens of the Creek Nation. 
(20) In fact, upon ratifying the 1867 Constitu-
tion, the Creek Nation reconstituted its 44 tradi-
tional ‘‘towns’’ and voluntarily created 3 additional 
towns (‘‘Freedmen Towns’’) so the Freedmen would 
have equal representation in the Creek Nation’s Na-
tional Council. 
(21) Also, in 1867, the Creek Nation gathered 
at the request of Federal Indian Agent J.W. Dunn 
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(‘‘Dunn’’) to identify and list the individual mem-
bers of the Creek Nation. 
(22) As a result of that gathering, Dunn com-
piled a roll of the Creek Nation’s citizens, which 
came to be known as the ‘‘Dunn Roll’’. Listed on 
the Dunn Roll were all of the Creek Nation’s then- 
gathered citizens, which encompassed Creek Nation 
citizens with African ancestry, including Native Afri-
cans, Free Africans, and newly emancipated, for-
merly enslaved Creek Freedmen. 
(23) Many Creek Nation citizens were forced to 
leave Creek Nation territory during the Civil War 
because of the violence or for various other reasons. 
The Treaty of 1866 gave Creek Nation citizens until 
July 15, 1867, to return to Creek territory in order 
to be included on the Dunn Roll. However, Dunn 
completed his roll 5 months early and sent it to 
Washington, DC, in February 1867. 
(24) As a result, the Creek Nation created a 
Post-Civil War Citizenship Commission to review the 
applications of people who claimed they were Creek 
Nation citizens who should have been included on 
the Dunn Roll. The Creek Nation Post-Civil War 
Citizenship Commission reviewed several thousand 
applications, and admitted over 1,700 individuals 
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