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The Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky (SCNK) is an unrecognized tribe based in Kentucky. The SCNK said it had an estimated one thousand members as of 2009, living in several US states, and that it is "not affiliated with any other group calling themselves Southern Cherokee" or any officially recognized Cherokee nations.

State recognition status

While the State of Kentucky has a Native American Heritage Commission, Kentucky has no state-recognized tribes and "the state doesn’t have a process for them to apply for formal recognition." In 2011, a bill to establish a process for state recognition of Indian tribes passed the Kentucky House of Representatives, but did not make it to the Kentucky Senate floor for a vote, and thus failed to pass.

Amy Den Ouden and Jean O'Brien wrote in 2013 that "Kentucky's recognition of the Southern Cherokee nation proved even more tenuous: while Governor John Young Brown sent a letter to the Southern Cherokee nation in 1893 welcoming the tribe to the Commonwealth's state fair and noting that the Commonwealth 'regonize [sic] the Southern Cherokee Nation as a Indian tribe' (recognition that would be underscored by a 2006 proclamation by Governor Ernie Fletcher). Kentucky currently claims to have no state-recognized tribes and disputes that any kind of government-to-government relationship was established. Thus, even those recognitions that did occur during this period were more ambiguous and uncertain than many that took place during earlier and later periods."

See also

• Cherokee heritage groups, associations of people who identify with Cherokee culture but do not qualify for enrollment in any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes
• Cherokee in the American Civil War
• Ridgetop Shawnee, another non-recognized Indian tribe in Kentucky
• Scuffletown, Kentucky, a ghost town along the Ohio River at the northern border of western Kentucky that had Cherokee inhabitants

References

1. Southern Cherokee Nation Shares Their Culture. State Journal. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
2. Glenn, Eddie. "A League of Nations?" Tahlequah Daily Press. 6 January 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
3. "UNC Press :: The Encyclopedia of North Carolina". uncpress.unc.edu. 2016-12-23. Archived from the original on 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
4. ^ Hume, Sarah (November 23, 2023). "Written out of existence? Native Americans in Kentucky push for recognition of culture". Courier Journal. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
5. "State Recognition of American Indian Tribes". National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
6. Rowley, D. Sean (March 14, 2022). "CNFO is resource for entertainment productions". Cherokee Phoenix. Retrieved 2024-01-02. SCNK members claim descent from Cherokees who were members of the Treaty Party and marched west in the Removal. They say their ancestors fled the Cherokee Nation for Kentucky around 1871 to escape violence following the Civil War. The SCNK has received some state and municipal acknowledgements, but a 2011 bill to give it official state recognition died in the Kentucky Senate after passing the House of Representatives.
7. McVeigh, Tony (February 17 2011). KY Tribes Looking for State Recognition. WKMS. Retrieved June 2012
8. Kentucky Legislature HB50 11RS WWW Version March 2011, lrc.ky.gov. Retrieved October 2011.
9. Ouden, Amy E. Den; O'Brien, Jean M. (2013). Recognition, Sovereignty Struggles, & Indigenous Rights in the United States: A Sourcebook. UNC Press Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-4696-0215-8. Retrieved 31 July 2022.

External links

• Official website of the Southern Cherokee Nation of Kentucky
• Index of Tribal Governments on USA.gov
• Nations, Tribes, Bands 500 Nations

• Cultural organizations based in Kentucky
• Cherokee heritage groups
• Unrecognized tribes in the United States
• Native American-related controversies