How Do you Join The Cherokee Tribe? For starters, there are three federally-recognized Cherokee tribes, each with its own set of admission qualifications. The Cherokee Nation is the largest and oldest of the three nations
In order to register with the Cherokee Nation you must be issued a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The white card (as the CDIB is often called) certifies your degree of Indian blood (blood quantum) and the tribe you are affiliated with. To obtain a white card, you must provide legal documents that prove your lineage from an ancestor who is listed, with a roll number and a blood degree, on the Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, Cherokee Nation. This roll is commonly known as the Dawes Roll.

The Cherokee Nation was divided into thousands of small pieces of land, which would be distributed among the Cherokee people. On the surface the act was an attempt to assimilate the Native people into white society, in itself a less than admirable cause, but in reality the Dawes Act did far more than Anglicize the Native Americans. The Act allowed for widespread fraud by government officials and legally stripped Native Americans of much of their land by allowing land not allotted to be opened to settlers. The Dawes Roll was the official roll of the Dawes Act and was open from 1899-1906. In order to receive a parcel of land Cherokees had to sign the rolls. In order to sign the rolls a Cherokee had to have a permanent residence in the Cherokee Nation and have appeared on previous rolls. Those who signed the Dawes Roll provided their names and blood quantum and in return were granted a piece of land in the location they desired. In addition to the "Cherokee by Blood" portion of the Dawes Rolls, there were separate rolls for Cherokee Freedman and Intermarried whites living in the Cherokee Nation.

There were a number of Cherokees who did not sign the Dawes Roll. Some Cherokee who lived in the Cherokee Nation and were eligible to sign the roll and receive land refused to do so. After years of broken treaties and bad policies implemented by the US government, many Cherokees were weary of signing the Dawes Roll and "registering" as Cherokee.

Other Cherokees were not living within the Cherokee Nation and were therefore ineligible to enroll. Cherokees who had settled in Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri were considered US citizens and were ineligible to sign the Dawes Rolls. Anyone descended from these Cherokee will be unable to enroll in the Cherokee Nation, even if they are able to prove their Cherokee heritage.

With all that said I am still gojng to try ot enroll and provide proof that my father's mother was cherokee as well as my her father listed in Dawes as full blooded Cherokee Indian. And my father's father was list in Dawes as a minor cherokee by blood so, with this said I will keep you posted on my progress. Wado, Debbe