Cherokee Adoption
Past and Present
In traditional Cherokee culture, your clan (family) was the most important social entity, to be without a clan was to be considered an alien or non-citizen. Having no clan or family meant having no rights in Cherokee society, true Cherokee "orphans" were very rare as if a child's mother died, the child's clan (his mother's clan) would take them into one of the clan members household. When a person was adopted by a clan mother they were given all the rights, rules, and responsibilities of that clan, and vice versa, the clan was just as responsible for them as any clan member by birth.
Indeed, many famous Cherokee's were Cherokee by adoption such as Attakullakulla or Atagulkala, adopted into the Wolf Clan, he was the father of Dragging Canoe. Attakullakulla was a Cherokee warrior and diplomat, he was captured as an infant during a raid. He married Nionne Ollie, a Natchez captive adopted as the daughter of his cousin (therefore also Cherokee), Oconostota. The marriage was permissible because they were of different clans; he was Wolf Clan and she was Paint Clan.
William Holland Thomas, was another adopted Cherokee, as a youth, Thomas worked for the US Congressman Felix Walker as a clerk at a trading post in Qualla Town, a center of the Cherokee. He was adopted into the tribe by Chief Yonaguska, who gave him the Cherokee name Will-usdi (Little Will).
Sam Houston, was also another adopted Cherokee. In 1829, Sam Houston went west and lived among the Cherokee in the Arkansas Territory, there Houston married, according to Cherokee tradition, Tiana Rogers, daughter of Chief John Headman Hellfire Rogers (1740–1833) and Jennie Due (1764–1806), sister of Chief John Jolly. In October of that year they formally adopted Houston into the Cherokee tribe, as a citizen of their Nation. He set up a trading post (Wigwam Neosho) near Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, by the Verdigris River near its confluence with the Arkansas. The Cherokee gave him a nickname "Golanv" meaning "The Raven".
The Cherokee also adopted many African-Americans, leading to some confusion and mistaking them for slaves, especially during the Civil War. According to the Cherokees, they were already citizens, when African Americans and freed slaves were officially made citizens in 1866.
After a particularly dark time in the history of Native children, when they were often sent to boarding schools, regardless of the wishes of their parents, a new law was passed.
In 1978 the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law, was passed, in order to protect Native children of federally recognized tribes and enable them to stay with their families, tribe (extended family), or another Native family if AT ALL possible, only after all other options had been exhausted would they go to non-Native families, with the tribes permission.
Today, adoption is still done by many Cherokee tribes and bands, it is understood that regardless of birth or origin they are treated no differently and have the same rights and responsibilities towards their tribe and clan.
Indeed, many famous Cherokee's were Cherokee by adoption such as Attakullakulla or Atagulkala, adopted into the Wolf Clan, he was the father of Dragging Canoe. Attakullakulla was a Cherokee warrior and diplomat, he was captured as an infant during a raid. He married Nionne Ollie, a Natchez captive adopted as the daughter of his cousin (therefore also Cherokee), Oconostota. The marriage was permissible because they were of different clans; he was Wolf Clan and she was Paint Clan.
William Holland Thomas, was another adopted Cherokee, as a youth, Thomas worked for the US Congressman Felix Walker as a clerk at a trading post in Qualla Town, a center of the Cherokee. He was adopted into the tribe by Chief Yonaguska, who gave him the Cherokee name Will-usdi (Little Will).
Sam Houston, was also another adopted Cherokee. In 1829, Sam Houston went west and lived among the Cherokee in the Arkansas Territory, there Houston married, according to Cherokee tradition, Tiana Rogers, daughter of Chief John Headman Hellfire Rogers (1740–1833) and Jennie Due (1764–1806), sister of Chief John Jolly. In October of that year they formally adopted Houston into the Cherokee tribe, as a citizen of their Nation. He set up a trading post (Wigwam Neosho) near Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, by the Verdigris River near its confluence with the Arkansas. The Cherokee gave him a nickname "Golanv" meaning "The Raven".
The Cherokee also adopted many African-Americans, leading to some confusion and mistaking them for slaves, especially during the Civil War. According to the Cherokees, they were already citizens, when African Americans and freed slaves were officially made citizens in 1866.
After a particularly dark time in the history of Native children, when they were often sent to boarding schools, regardless of the wishes of their parents, a new law was passed.
In 1978 the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law, was passed, in order to protect Native children of federally recognized tribes and enable them to stay with their families, tribe (extended family), or another Native family if AT ALL possible, only after all other options had been exhausted would they go to non-Native families, with the tribes permission.
Today, adoption is still done by many Cherokee tribes and bands, it is understood that regardless of birth or origin they are treated no differently and have the same rights and responsibilities towards their tribe and clan.
