People whose African ancestors were enslaved by the Muscogee Nation have won a long-sought right to tribal citizenship, opening up thousands of new members to increased protections under the Indian Child Welfare Act — a landmark federal law aimed at keeping Indigenous families and nations intact.
Along with various health, education and housing benefits now granted under a Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court ruling last year, descendants of Freedmen, as they are known, will gain access to tribal services and protections if they become involved with the child welfare system.
Those benefits include stronger efforts to reunify families and ensuring Indigenous relatives are prioritized when out-of-home foster care placements are deemed necessary. The 1978 law known as ICWA seeks to repair damage caused by centuries of forced attendance at Indian boarding schools and coercive adoptions into white, Christian homes.
The court ruling followed a yearslong struggle between Freedmen descendants and the country’s fourth largest tribe, which has over 100,000 members. It affects an estimated 44,000 Muscogee Freedmen descendants and their children.
The story of tribal Freedmen is often missing from U.S. history lessons. Five tribes that were forcibly relocated to the land now known as Oklahoma engaged in chattel slavery: the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Muscogee nations.
Following the Civil War, people formerly enslaved by tribes were supposed to receive full citizenship rights, but those agreements were not honored. Freedmen descendants have been fighting their respective tribes for that recognition ever since.
Before the July 2025 Muscogee Nation ruling, only the Cherokee Nation granted full citizenship rights to the Freedmen, while the Seminole extended citizenship but not full rights.
In the eyes of Marilyn Vann, the Muscogee ruling is a hard-won victory. She’s a Cherokee Freedmen descendant and president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes Association, a nonprofit advocacy group that has pushed for citizenship for decades.
“There hasn’t been a big spotlight” on how the court’s decision will affect Indigenous child welfare, Vann said. But she said she is glad that along with the extra protections granted under ICWA, the children who are descendants of Freedmen will also gain better access to Muscogee culture through tribal programs and language classes.
“I do have family members and friends who are Creek Freedmen descendants and I am thrilled for them,’’ she said.
Tribal leaders initially resisted, arguing that the tribal council must approve the new laws of their nation, but the tribe is now in the process of updating its laws so that Freedmen can enroll.
Are you a foster youth or adoptee with African and Indigenous heritage, or a Freedmen descendant who wants to share your child welfare story? Email nspears@imprintnews.org.
