Motto People of the Mountain Official language English | Headquarters Tracy City, Tennessee Website chikamaka.us | |
Location United States ( Tennessee) ( Alabama) ( Georgia) Formerly called Chikamaka-Cherokee Band of the South Cumberland Plateau | ||
The Chikamaka Band is an organization based in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, who identify as American Indians descended from Chickamauga Cherokee band, who lived the Tennessee River valley area near Nickajack in the 1790s and early 1800s, then retreated from the river bottom land and migrated up to the Cumberland Plateau in and around Tracy City, Tennessee. The Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs describes the Chikamak Band as a "culture club."
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Members
The members of the Chikamaka Band claim descent from American Indians, who came together resisting the encroachments of European-descended settlers of what became the United States of America. Their alliance, known as the Chickamauga Confederacy, was largely made up of people from the following American Indian groups: Chikamaka, Catawba, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Itsate Creek, Creek, Delaware, Mohawk, Natchez, Saponi, and Shawnee. It also included allied groups of Tories, many of whom were of Scottish, Irish, or German origin.
Recognition status
On 19 June 2010, the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs recognized the Chikamaka Band as a Tennessee State Indigenous American Indian Tribe; however, the state attorney general's office declared that recognition "void and of no effect" on 3 September 2010. The Chickamaka Band is an unrecognized tribe, which neither state recognition or federal recognition.
History
Current members of the Chikamaka Band claim descent from Chickamauga Cherokees. Through intermarriage with different ethnic groups, they have a range of physical appearances, including some who have blue eyes and light skin. Some such people consider themselves "Indians" or "Native Americans", regardless of their physical appearance or exact ancestry.