The Real History of The Cherokee, Slavery and Juneteenth

The Real History of The Cherokee, Slavery and Juneteenth

 Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in Texas and is widely celebrated as the symbolic end of slavery in the United States. However, it was not the absolute end of slavery everywhere in U.S. territory. The Cherokee Nation, along with other Native nations known as the Five Civilized Tribes, also held African American slaves, and emancipation there followed a different timeline.

By 1860, the Cherokee were the largest slaveholders among the Five Tribes, with around 4,600 enslaved people. The Cherokee National Council passed emancipation acts in February 1863, officially abolishing slavery in the Cherokee Nation and making them the only one of the Five Tribes to do so during the Civil War. However, enforcement was inconsistent, especially among pro-Confederate Cherokee, and many enslaved people were not immediately freed. The final, legally binding end to slavery in the Cherokee Nation came with the Treaty of 1866, after the Civil War, which required the Cherokee to grant full citizenship and rights to their freedmen and descendants. Some enslaved people in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, likely remained in bondage after Juneteenth, until federal enforcement and treaty obligations ended the practice.

The areas where pro-Confederate Cherokee held onto slavery the longest were primarily in Indian Territory, present-day eastern Oklahoma, where Cherokee slaveholding was most concentrated and enforcement of emancipation was slowest. There were also pro-Confederate Cherokee communities in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where Thomas's Legion included Cherokee fighting for the Confederacy and slavery persisted among some families.

While most Confederate slaveholders in the southern states were forced to give up their slaves by the end of the Civil War in spring 1865, enforced by Union occupation and the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865, some Cherokee and other Native slaveholders in Indian Territory continued the practice until the Treaty of 1866. This means slavery persisted in these areas even after emancipation was enforced elsewhere in the South. The 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery nationwide, but enforcement in Indian Territory required additional treaties and federal action.

In summary:
Juneteenth commemorates the liberation of enslaved people in Texas, but it was not the final act of emancipation for all enslaved people in U.S.-controlled lands. In the Cherokee Nation and other Native territories, slavery persisted beyond June 19, 1865, with full emancipation and citizenship rights coming only after the Civil War through federal treaties and enforcement—especially in eastern Oklahoma and among some pro-Confederate Cherokee in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. While most enslaved people in the former Confederacy were freed by mid-1865, some in Native territories remained enslaved until at least mid-1866.