Cherokees accept black freedmen

The descendants of freed slaves who joined the Cherokees in the 1800s must be recognized as citizens of the tribe, the Cherokee Nation's highest court has ruled. The decision by the Judicial Appeals Tribunal sets aside a previous opinion against the so-called freedmen and strikes down a 1992 Cherokee Nation Council law limiting citizensip to those who are "Cherokee by blood."Black freedmen included free blacks and former slaves who settled in the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes after the Trail of Tears. Those freedmen were listed with the Cherokees in an 1866 treaty with the U. S. government.