Our History. Our People. Our Purpose.

This page shares the story, leadership, and mission that guide Cherokee Nation West and the community we serve.

Our History. Our People. Our Purpose.

This page shares the story, leadership, and mission that guide Cherokee Nation West and the community we serve.

Does This Sound Like You?

You may be in the right place if you:

Have Cherokee roots or family history and want to learn more

Are looking for trustworthy information about Cherokee Nation West

Want to stay informed about meetings, updates, and community activity

Value leadership guided by tradition, history, and collective responsibility

Are seeking a respectful space to connect, learn, and stay engaged

Does This Sound Like You?

You may be in the right place if you:

Have Cherokee roots or family history and want to learn more

Are looking for trustworthy information about Cherokee Nation West

Want to stay informed about meetings, updates, and community activity

Value leadership guided by tradition, history, and collective responsibility

Are seeking a respectful space to connect, learn, and stay engaged

History

The Cherokee Nation West are Native Americans who identify themselves as Western Cherokee, identified with the mountainous areas of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, they lived west of the Mississippi before the Trail of Tears, and did not migrate to Indian Territory after the Treaty of 1828. The Cherokee West are not a single group but instead are a coalition of groups with various historical backgrounds in Arkansas, southern Missouri, Eastern Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, and identiy as a community with a singular identity. They are a single nation unified by their identity as Western Cherokee, and in their shared government, and recognized by the United States as the Cherokee Nation West under the Treaties os 1817 & 1819 which created their independent nation. The Cherokee Nation West never ratified or recognized the Treaty of 1828, which attempted to remove the Cherokee Nation West lands. The Western Cherokee delegation who signed that document, which was sent for approval to the United States Congress by President Adams before it was ratified by the Cherokee Nation West Full Council, informed the United States verbally and in writing that the treaty was not valid until is was signed by the Full Council in Arkansas. The Western Cherokee were not bound by the Treaty of 1828 since it had not been approved or ratified by the Full Cherokee Nation West Council. At that time there were at least 15,000 people in Cherokee Nation West. By Dr. Timothy Jones

Beliefs

GIVING THANKS
O Great One, Creator of all things, we come before you in a humble way, offering what gifts we have. Giving thanks for the gifts of life that we have been given amidst the beauty of this Great Creation, so that we may learn to walk the path of Good Medicine as we give thanks to the Creator and each of the Four Directions. To the spirit of Fire/Sun (warm and light) in the East. The East is the Sacred Way. To the spirit of the Wind (wisdom and giving) in the North. To the spirit of the Waters (purity and strength) in the West. The West is the place the storms come from. To the spirit of Mother Earth (peace and renewal) in the South. We give thanks to Mother Earth and the Sacred Fire, which burns brightly in our hearts, offering us the precious gifts of clarity, openness, strength and wisdom as we walk this path of peace. We give thanks to all of our relations and for the beauty of all things, for those who walk along side of us, for those yet to come, in harmony and balance, we give thanks, O Great One, we give thanks. Wah doh.

Why We Give Thanks To The Four Directions

From Egela (Fire) we receive the heat that makes our hearts alive, pulsing with vitality and flickering with vibrance.

From Inole (Wind) we receive our first breath of life and experience the Giveaway of our last sigh.

From Ama (Water) we receive the life stream of our blood, flowing ever outward before returning once again to the source of beginning, only to flow again outwards giving life to us, completing the circle.

From Elohine (Mother Earth), we receive the solid form of our physical being that which we know as the body, made of all the same substance that makes up every living thing in our world.

This is why we give thanks to the Four Directions, that which makes us what we are, both in substance and form.

And in the Center is our Spirit, the ever-changing, ever-lasting connection with all that is, all that moves, flows, breaths and flickers. We are one with all that is and all things are connected like the blood that united one family.