logo
Login Subscribe
ePaper
google_play
app_store
  • News
    • Obituaries
    • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • E-edition
  • Calendar
  • Archives
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertisers
    • Form Submission
    • About Us
    • News
      • Obituaries
      • Lifestyle
    • Sports
    • E-edition
    • Calendar
    • Archives
    • Contact
      • Contact Us
      • Advertisers
      • Form Submission
      • About Us
US Marshals Museum partners with Cherokee Nation to host Freedmen exhibit
news
June 4, 2024
US Marshals Museum partners with Cherokee Nation to host Freedmen exhibit

The U.S. Marshals Museum is partnering with Cherokee Nation to share more about the tribe’s history with Black slavery. This is the third destination for the touring exhibit.

“We Are Cherokee: Cherokee Freedmen and the Right to Citizenship,” features the stories, history, images and documents of Cherokee Freedmen, alongside original artworks by Cherokee Nation artists.

It is presented as part of the Cherokee Freedmen Art and History Project initiative, established by Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., to broaden Cherokee Nation’s understanding of the Cherokee Freedmen experience and ensure that it is included in the greater narrative of Cherokee history.

“Every nation gains strength from embracing its entire narrative – triumphs, tragedies and difficult chapters. Cherokee history is no different,” Chief Hoskin said. “To honor our history fully, we have confronted all aspects of our past, including acknowledging painful moments, like the enslavement of others by our ancestors. By recognizing and sharing these chapters, we make our tribal nation stronger for the future. This historic exhibition, which is traveling for the first time beyond Oklahoma, tells the remarkable resilience of Cherokee Freedmen amid generations of adversity. That spirit is a bond that unites us as Cherokees today.”

The Freedmen experience is shared from Cherokee people’s earliest known participation in slavery in the 18th century on through various historical milestones in the decades that followed, including the adoption of plantation-style slavery among Cherokees, Indian Removal to the West and the American Civil War. It also shares how the Treaty of 1866 granted freed slaves in Cherokee Nation the same rights as native Cherokees.

The exhibit discusses the steps taken by the tribe to strip Freedmen and their descendants of tribal citizenship and examines the 2017 U.S. District Court ruling that upheld the Treaty of 1866 and reaffirmed Cherokee Freedmen as citizens of the Cherokee Nation.

“It is an honor to partner with Cherokee Nation to host this special exhibit at the U.S. Marshals Museum,” said Dr. Terisa Riley, chair of the board of directors for the U.S. Marshals Museum and chancellor at U of A Fort Smith. “This timely exhibit is a profoundly brave and illuminating display that should challenge all of us to reckon with the history of enslaved people and of our collective humanity.”

The exhibit first debuted in Tahlequah at the Cherokee National History Museum in 2022, with an impactful narrative that details the fight Cherokee Freedmen endured to take back their treaty- protected right to Cherokee Nation citizenship. It then went on to 101 E. Archer in downtown Tulsa in cooperation with the University of Tulsa’s Oklahoma Center for the Humanities.

“We Are Cherokee: Cherokee Freedmen and the Right to Citizenship” is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Admission to the museum is $15 for adults, $13 for seniors 65 and older, and $8 for youth ages 6-17 and college students with photo ID. Children under 6 years old, current military, law enforcement and U.S. marshals receive free admission.

The U.S. Marshals Museum is located at 789 Riverfront Drive in Fort Smith.

Church breaks ground on new worship center
Main, news
Church breaks ground on new worship center
October 14, 2025
East Side Free Will Baptist church held a special groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday for their new 14,000-plus-squarefoot worship and ministry center, expected to open in December 2026. The new facilit...
Main, news
Klineline takes over libraries
October 14, 2025
Eastern Oklahoma Library System is pleased to announce that Muldrow Public Library and Stanley Tubbs Memorial Library will now be under the management of Shared Branch Manager Julie Klineline. She has...
Main, news
Muldrow woman injured in collision
By AMIE CATO-REMER EDITOR 
October 14, 2025
A Muldrow woman was injured last Friday morning in a three-vehicle collision on Hwy. 59 in Sequoyah County, according to a report issued by Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP). Troopers said the crash occur...
Search continues for missing teen
Main, news
Search continues for missing teen
Roland juvenile is located
By AMIE CATO-REMER EDITOR 
October 14, 2025
Roland Police said a male juvenile that was reported missing on Oct. 2 has now been located. Authorities reported that Skyler Butler, 15, was reported missing after last being seen at about 1 p.m. on ...
Kozie Quilters award Quilts of Valor to eight local veterans
Main, news
Kozie Quilters award Quilts of Valor to eight local veterans
October 14, 2025
The Kozie Quilters of Sequoyah County hosted a Quilts of Valor presentation on Oct. 1, at Trinity Methodist Church, east of Muldrow on Hwy. 64. Eight veterans were each recognized for their service to...
Central football homecoming held
Main, news
Central football homecoming held
October 14, 2025
The Central Tigers celebrated their football homecoming prior to Friday night’s District AII-3 home game against No. 1 Talihina at Tiger Stadium. Homecoming king Mekko Ariza (top left) crowned Madison...
ePaper
google_play
app_store
Editor Picks
news
VOD, PP scholarship contests open to local students
October 14, 2025
The Muldrow Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliary Post 8384 is offering two scholarship contests and awards to local students, Voice of Democracy (VOD) and Patriot’s Pen (PP). This year’s theme for b...
news
After review, price cuts, annex is OK’d
By LYNN ADAMS STAFF WRITER 
October 14, 2025
When the lowest bid for construction of the new Sequoyah County Courthouse annex came in at $4 million — about twice as much as county commissioners had anticipated — it sent shockwaves through the co...
news
Cherokee County agrees to aid in emergency management role
By LYNN ADAMS STAFF WRITER 
October 14, 2025
Despite the recent abrupt resignation of Brad Taylor as director of Sequoyah County Emergency Management, county commissioners aren’t panicking. After all, Cherokee County has apparently taken the “Fr...
Rep. Turner recognizes local heroes at state Capitol
news
Rep. Turner recognizes local heroes at state Capitol
October 14, 2025
Rep. Tim Turner, R-Kinta, on Tuesday at the state Capitol recognized two men he describes as heroes. First was Haskell County Assistant District Attorney James Green who received the 2025 Award of Exc...
The Power of the Church
Commentary
The Power of the Church
By Shirley R. Watts 
October 14, 2025
Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18). The power of the Church comes from the Holy Spirit of the Living God, not by any man, politician nation or denomination. Persecutor Convicted A ma...
Facebook
Twitter
Tweets
Twitter
Tweets

EASTERN TIMES-REGISTER
603 W. Schley
Vian, OK
74962

(918) 427-3636

This site complies with ADA requirements

© 2023 Eastern Times-Register

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Policy