Federal Recognition
We have had several inquiries about federal recognition and why we are not federally recognized.
Federal recognition is a federal government process. As such, it is a slow and long drawn out affair.
I will not bore you with the many steps and hoops to jump through.
However, I will tell you that the steps to obtain federal recognition have and are presently being taken.
Part of those steps was to write and file a Letter of Intent to petition the federal government for recognition.
This was done in 1985 & 1991. In 1999 the federal government (BIA) Bureau of Indian Affairs
gave our Nation petition numbers, #100 for the Northern Cherokee Nation;
#100a for both the Sac River and White River bands; and
#100b for the group that now calls itself the Northern Cherokee of the Old Louisiana Territory.
The (BIA) considered all these bands to be part of the same Cherokee Nation.
Also, we had to prove that we had existed and worked as a united and cohesive Nation
for at least 200 years in the Missouri and Arkansas areas in order to be considered an existing
and viable group of Cherokees. Chief Grey Owl delivered that proof to the (BIA) while
he was Chief and that paperwork, The 200 year History of the Northern Cherokee,
became the book; History of the Northern Cherokee.
However, during the editing process by a person not a NCN citizen, many key items and information was removed.
We continued to wait to hear if the acknowledgment office at the (BIA) would decide
whether to recognize us or invent new hoops for us to jump through!!
Update: 1999: the group known as the Northern Cherokee of the Old Louisiana Territory #100b,
supposedly still led by Beverly Baker split from NCN shortly after the
BIA letter of 1999 was delivered to Chief Grey Owl, Beverly Baker and Don Coombs.
Group #100a, the White and Sac River bands, led by Kay Stockton, decided to officially split with NCN in January of 2013.
With the newly passed revisions of the Federal Recognition Process, otherwise known as “Part 83”,
these groups are now known by the Federal Office of Recognition (FOA) as splinter groups.
A “kinder and gentler” U.S. Government has reached out to bring all
available tribes into being recognized. That is if they can provide the proper documentation.
And that is where the NCN is today.
Federal recognition is a federal government process. As such, it is a slow and long drawn out affair.
I will not bore you with the many steps and hoops to jump through.
However, I will tell you that the steps to obtain federal recognition have and are presently being taken.
Part of those steps was to write and file a Letter of Intent to petition the federal government for recognition.
This was done in 1985 & 1991. In 1999 the federal government (BIA) Bureau of Indian Affairs
gave our Nation petition numbers, #100 for the Northern Cherokee Nation;
#100a for both the Sac River and White River bands; and
#100b for the group that now calls itself the Northern Cherokee of the Old Louisiana Territory.
The (BIA) considered all these bands to be part of the same Cherokee Nation.
Also, we had to prove that we had existed and worked as a united and cohesive Nation
for at least 200 years in the Missouri and Arkansas areas in order to be considered an existing
and viable group of Cherokees. Chief Grey Owl delivered that proof to the (BIA) while
he was Chief and that paperwork, The 200 year History of the Northern Cherokee,
became the book; History of the Northern Cherokee.
However, during the editing process by a person not a NCN citizen, many key items and information was removed.
We continued to wait to hear if the acknowledgment office at the (BIA) would decide
whether to recognize us or invent new hoops for us to jump through!!
Update: 1999: the group known as the Northern Cherokee of the Old Louisiana Territory #100b,
supposedly still led by Beverly Baker split from NCN shortly after the
BIA letter of 1999 was delivered to Chief Grey Owl, Beverly Baker and Don Coombs.
Group #100a, the White and Sac River bands, led by Kay Stockton, decided to officially split with NCN in January of 2013.
With the newly passed revisions of the Federal Recognition Process, otherwise known as “Part 83”,
these groups are now known by the Federal Office of Recognition (FOA) as splinter groups.
A “kinder and gentler” U.S. Government has reached out to bring all
available tribes into being recognized. That is if they can provide the proper documentation.
And that is where the NCN is today.
