Keetoowah Nighthawk Society

This article is about the historic, traditionalist Native American organization formed by Redbird Smith. For the original Keetoowah Society that predated the Nighthawks, see Original Keetoowah Society. For the ancient Cherokee mother town of Keetoowah, that lay in what is now North Carolina, see Kituwa.
The Council of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, 1916, from Starr (1921).[1]

The Keetoowah Nighthawk Society was a Cherokee organisation formed in 1858[2] and re-established ca. 1900 that intended to preserve and practice traditional Cherokee spiritual beliefs and "old ways" of tribal life, based on religious nationalism. It was led by Redbird Smith, a Cherokee National Council and original Keetoowah Society member. It formed in the Indian Territory that was superseded by admission of Oklahoma as a state, during the late-nineteenth century period when the federal government was breaking up tribal governments and communal lands under the Dawes Act and Curtis Act.[3] The Nighthawks arose in response to weakening resolve on the part of Cherokee leaders—including the original Keetoowah Society (Cherokee: ᎩᏚᏩ ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ),[2] a political organization created by Cherokee Native American full bloods, in 1858—to continue their resistance on behalf of the Cherokee after the Dawes Commission began forcing the transfer of Oklahoma tribal lands in the Indian Territory to individual ownership in the 1890s (a process termed allotment).[4][3]

Soon after forming, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society grew to as many as 5,500 members, but they could not forestall the changes made by the Dawes Commission. In 1900 its representatives came to an allotment agreement with Cherokee leaders. After doing so, the Commission enrolled the generally non-compliant Nighthawks in the tribe without obtaining their consents, and registered them for allotments. In 1902, Redbird Smith was arrested and also compelled to enroll for allotment.[3]

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President Theodore Roosevelt's Oklahoma statehood proclamation, November 16, 1907.[5]

The Nighthawks would not acknowledge these forced commitments, and as other Cherokee become citizens of Oklahoma (statehood, November 16, 1907[5]), the traditionalists, believing that "acculturation represented the greatest threat to [their] people," fled to hilly areas near Blackgum Mountain (in present-day Sequoyah County, Oklahoma).[3] There, on the strength of their commitment and numbers—and using the record of Cherokee and Keetoowah history of a sacred wampum belt that they had located—the remaining Nighthawks "strove to preserve the ancient Cherokee culture;" in 1908 they elected Smith as chief for life.[3] But, as Michael Lee Weber notes, "his movement had already declined," and by the end of 1918, "Redbird Smith, 'the moving spirit'" of their society, had died.[3]

Hence, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society became, alongside the original Keetoowah Society, a spiritual core of the Cherokee people during the years of the early 1900s, in the Indian Territory that would eventually become a part of Oklahoma.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Starr, Emmet (1921). History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore. Oklahoma City, OK: The Warden Company. p. 487. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Champagne, Duane (2005). "North American Indian Religions: New Religious Movements". In Lindsay Jones (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion: 15-volume Set. Vol. 10 (2nd ed.). Farmington Hills, Mi: Macmillan Reference USA – via Encyclopedia.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Weber, Michael Lee (2009). "Redbird Smith Movement". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved March 9, 2017. [Temporary Appearing Quote:] In 1887 Congress approved the Dawes Severalty Act (General Allotment Act), which began the forced transfer of Indian tribal lands to individual ownership. The Dawes Commission brought that legislation to Indian Territory during the 1890s, and, backed by the 1898 Curtis Act, concluded a Cherokee allotment agreement in 1900. Resistance to allotment in the Cherokee Nation was led by the Keetoowah Society, a political organization formed by full bloods in 1858. / Redbird Smith (1850–1918), a Keetoowah and a Cherokee National Council member, believed that acculturation represented the greatest threat to his people. When Keetoowah Society leaders softened their anti-allotment stance ca. 1900, Smith formed the more traditional Nighthawk Keetoowah, a party that soon had approximately fifty-five hundred members. He vowed a return to the old ways and located the sacred wampum belts, which recorded Cherokee and Keetoowah history. In March 1902 he was arrested in Muskogee and compelled to register for allotment. Most Nighthawks, however, refused to comply. Consequently, the Dawes Commission enrolled Smith's defiant followers without their consent. / In 1907 the Cherokee became citizens of the state of Oklahoma. The Nighthawks hid in the eastern hills where, centered near Blackgum Mountain in Sequoyah County, they strove to preserve the ancient Cherokee culture and refused to acknowledge their tribal enrollment and allotments. They elected Smith their chief for life in 1908, but his movement had already declined. Redbird Smith, "the moving spirit" of the Nighthawk Keetoowah, died in November 1918.
  4. ^ This was done on the basis of recent federal legislative acts that included the Dawes Severalty Act (General Allotment Act, 1887) and the Curtis Act (1898). See Weber (2009), op. cit.
  5. ^ a b Roosevelt, Theodore (2016) [1907]. "The Center for Legislative Archives, Featured Congressional Documents: Oklahoma Statehood, November 16, 1907 [Roosevelt Proclamation]". Washington, DC: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved March 9, 2017 – via Archives.gov. Web document date appearing, 15 August 2016.