1866 Creek Treaty-Article 2: the basis of Muscogee Nation membership reinstatement for the Black Creek Freedman
The Creeks hereby covenant and agree that henceforth neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted in accordance with laws applicable to all members of said tribe, shall ever exist in said Nation; and inasmuch as there are among the Creeks many persons of African descent, who have no interest in the soil, it is stipulated that hereafter these persons lawfully residing in said Creek country under their laws and usages, or who have been thus residing in said country, and may return within one year from the ratification of this Treaty, and their descendants and such others of the same race as may be permitted by the laws of the said Nation to settle within the limits of the jurisdiction of the Creek Nation as citizens [thereof,] shall have and enjoy all the rights and privileges of native citizens, including an equal interest in the soil and national funds, and the laws of the said Nation shall be equally binding upon and give equal protection to all such persons, and all others, of whatsoever race or color, who may be adopted as citizens or members of said tribe.
March 06, 2023
Solidarity Statement from Beacon Hill
The Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, a Black-led, multi-issue, grassroots organization based in Decatur, Georgia, stands in solidarity with the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band (“Creek Freedmen Descendants”) in their righteous and determined struggle to secure their full citizenship rights in the Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma. We strongly urge the government of the Muscogee Creek Nation to affirm the citizenship rights of the Creek Freedmen.
The city of Decatur was founded on December 10, 1823 and our community exists on land stolen from the Muscogee Nation that was given away in a Land Lottery held in 1821. In 1906, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) placed a cannon in our city square in front of the courthouse. In 1836, this weapon was brought by members of the Decatur, Georgia militia to Alabama, where the Muscogee Nation resisted the final steps of their forced removal from their land. Two years later in 1908, the UDC placed a 30-foot obelisk honoring those who fought to preserve the violent, white supremacist system which enslaved millions of Africans in the U.S. South.
The Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights successfully removed the obelisk on the eve of Juneteenth 2020 and what our students named the “genocide cannon” the following October. We saw this work to remove these two symbols of hate and white supremacy as consistent with our organization’s mission “to empower, advocate, educate, and organize people of African descent affected by systemic racism and oppression on issues of equity in education, housing, and the legal system moving us towards co-operative economics in the City of Decatur and surrounding communities.”
The Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights places the Indigenous – African connection that took place on this land at the center of our organizing. Because of the inhuman and exploitative effects of settler colonialism and the common experience of these two groups of people, we believe they cannot be separated. We call on the government of the Muscogee Nation to respect, affirm, and uphold the citizenship rights as outlined in the Creek Treaty of 1866. It is an honor and a privilege to stand with our sisters and brothers in the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band and we will continue to walk forward together with them until they receive the equity and justice they deserve.
March 24, 2022 via Mvskoke Media
Mvskoke Media shares Beacon Hill’s call for a Muscogee artist to create the work that will replace the “Genocide Cannon” that blighted Decatur Square until last fall.
September 9, 2021 via WABE Atlanta
Ellex Swavoni, the creator of “What Sonia Said”, was interviewed by Lois Reitzes for “City Lights” on WABE.