Lost Cherokee group seeks federal status

By Judy Gibbs Robinson
Published: January 4, 2007

A group seeking federal recognition as an American Indian tribe will hold four meetings in Oklahoma for members to vote on a constitution.

Card-holding members of the Lost Cherokee of Arkansas & Missouri, organized in 1999, will vote on a constitution at meetings Friday through Sunday in Shawnee, Poteau, Antlers and Sulphur.

The group, headquartered in Dover, Ark., is composed of descendants of Cherokees who moved west decades before the Trail of Tears, including about 3,000 now living in Oklahoma, said Cliff Bishop of Bartlesville, who identified himself as one of the tribe's head men.

The group began identifying members and pursuing federal recognition in 1999.

"It was hard. We had people up in Dover and up in the mountains who still think they're going to get sent to Oklahoma,” Bishop said.

The group usually is referred to as the Arkansas Cherokee. Bishop said the name "Lost Cherokee” was chosen for legal purposes because when the first Cherokee crossed the Mississippi River in the late 1700s, people said: "Those Cherokee are lost.”

The vote on a constitution, required for federal recognition, will close Jan. 31.

The Oklahoma meetings are:

Shawnee: 7 p.m. Friday at America's Best Value Inn, 4900 N Harrison Ave.;

Poteau: 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Days Inn Motel, 1702 N Broadway;

Antlers: 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Antlers Public Library, 202 S High St.;

Sulphur: 2 p.m. Sunday at the Murray County Expo Center on State Highway 7, west of Sulphur.