Happy #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth. Everyday this month I am sharing a history lesson.
Today’s lesson is about the proposed STATE OF SEQUOYAH.
#WeAreStillHere #NativeIn2019
How we teach history often buries resistance, especially if efforts didn’t come to fruition.
Today’s lesson is about the proposed STATE OF SEQUOYAH.
#WeAreStillHere #NativeIn2019
How we teach history often buries resistance, especially if efforts didn’t come to fruition.
In the early 1900’s, with Oklahoma statehood looming, Native tribes were set to lose land and political autonomy. Leaders from the Muscogee, Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole and Chickasaw tribes organized to try and create a Native-led and controlled state.
They named the proposed state Sequoyah, after the Cherokee leader who invented our syllabary. The organizers held a constitutional convention in Muscogee in 1905. At the convention, leaders drafted a constitution, mapped out counties, and elected delegates to petition Congress.
Residents of the territory approved the proposed constitution by a petition of 56,279 to 9,073.
Bills to make the proposed state a reality were introduced in congress, but did not pass.
Bills to make the proposed state a reality were introduced in congress, but did not pass.
Instead, in 1906, Congress passed the Oklahoma Enabling Act in 1907 and Oklahoma became the 46th state in the US.
Imagine the map of our country with a state—in the middle of the country—controlled and ran by tribes.
Imagine the map of our country with a state—in the middle of the country—controlled and ran by tribes.
