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The Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama is a state-recognized Native American heritage group based in northern Alabama. It was among the first seven organizations to be granted state recognition under the laws of the state of Alabama in 1984. Recognition by an American state government is not the same as recognition on the federal level, or recognition by continually existing Indian tribes.
Contents
The Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians include the Echota on their list of "fraudulent groups."
Heritage groups
Numerous organizations in the US identify as having Cherokee heritage, but have no documented ancestry or connection to the Cherokee people. Some of these groups apply to US state governments for the governmental recognition that has been denied to them by Indian Nations. However,
History
In 1980 a group of people ineligible to enroll in any federally recognized Native American tribe set up a nonprofit heritage club known as "The Echota Cherokee." In 1984, when the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission was established, the group attained state recognition. The group is headquartered in Falkville, Alabama.
The Echota organization consists of people who do not meet the enrollment requirements of any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes. They state they are the descendants of Cherokee remnant peoples who remained in northern Alabama at the time of Indian Removal. However, after the passage of the Indian Removal Act in the late 1830s, most of the Cherokee People were driven out of the Southeast; they were forcibly marched under military guard to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. Many Cherokee died during this brutal event, which came to be known as The Trail of Tears. Those that remained in the Southeast became the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
In 1997 the Echota Cherokee organization was said to have 22,000 members. However, there is no documentation to support this claim. They have elected a council that hopes to offer "instruction in the Cherokee language through the Alabama public school system."
Despite being considered a fraudulent group by the Cherokee Nation and Eastern of Band Cherokee Indians, the Echota Cherokee have a representative on the Alabama Indian Commission. and the Inter-Tribal Council of Alabama's WIA Program, to assist workforce improvement.
The Echota are not federally recognized as an Indian tribe, nor are they recognized as a tribe by the Cherokee people.