The Vote is to determine whether or not you must show that you have a Cherokee Blood line...some Freedmen can do that others can not...just as with the whites if they can not prove a Cherokee Blood line back to a Dawes Roll ancestor they can not be Cherokee Citizens...many full bloods can not trace back to an ancestor on the Dawes Roll and are not citizens...been like that for ions... This is an interesting issue since, it pits an 1866 Civil War treaty again modern day Self Determination by the Cherokee Nation...actually the Civil War Treaty is a badge of slavery for both the Freedmen and the Cherokee... If you think this is bad, you see what the California Indian Tribes are doing, that is sad.... Charlotte On 3/2/07, Sunshine49 <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > for what it's worth... this is really sad to see... > > Nancy > > Cherokees may expel slaves_ descendants > The 250,000-member Cherokee Nation will vote in a special election > Saturday whether to override a 141-year-old treaty and change the > tribal constitution to bar "freedmen," the descendants of former > tribal slaves, from being members of the sovereign nation. > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17407728/from/ET/ > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > -- Cherokee Basketweaving Books: http://stores.lulu.com/cherokeebasketweaver See more of my Baskets: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cherokeebasketweaver/ Visit the Family History Store at LuLu: http://www.lulu.com/allfamilyhistory Can't find the records you need and you're a male surnamed Coats or varitation, order a DNA kit to join our DNA project: http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.asp?code=A59642&special=True Coats Archive http://www.coatsarchive.us Baker DNA Project http://www.bakerdna.net/ Need Original Records? Pages through Time http://www.pagesthroughtime.us Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. ~Pam Brown Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because Grandaddies have only so many horsey rides in them. ~Gene Perret To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html