Enrolling as Cherokee Freedmen: Social Networks of Rejected Applicants

Hai In  Jo

doi:10.21900/pww.26

Enrolling as Cherokee Freedmen: Social Networks of Rejected Applicants

Authors

Hai In Jo

Texas A&M University

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3467-5825

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21900/pww.26

Keywords:

Cherokee Freedmen, Black history, social network, census

Synopsis

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Cherokee Freedmen—the people of African descent formerly enslaved by the Cherokees—and their descendants were required to apply for enrollment on Cherokee census rolls, administered by the United States, to receive land allotments, annuities, and benefits as Cherokee citizens. A chronological examination of the lives of rejected Freedmen applicants through their interview transcripts, combined with a non-linear visualization of their social networks, this project revitalizes the rejected Cherokee Freedmen applicants who are multiply marginalized from the Cherokee Nation, the United States, and the Cherokee Freedmen community. This visualization further aims to offer a less hierarchical experience of digitized archival materials. This project also explores the goals, process, and limitations of the Cherokee census rolls to contextualize how the Cherokee Freedmen status has been determined by a particular racial, economic, and bureaucratic dynamics within the Cherokee Nation.

Chapters

An Introduction to the Social Networks of Cherokee Freedmen Applicants
Cherokee Freedmen History: From Slavery to Freedom
Social Networks of Cherokee Freedmen Applicants
Migrations of Blacks Among the Cherokees
Making of Cherokee Rolls
Dawes Enrollment Card
The Making of This Book

Author Biography

Hai In Jo, Texas A&M University

Hai In Jo is a Ph.D candidate in the English department at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on race and data in the 19th and 20th century American literature and culture, with a special interest in the intersections of slavery and digital humanities as critical theory. Her dissertation explores the role of African American writers as pioneers in innovative and ethical data practices that challenge the reduction of human lives to mere data points. Through her work, she aims to maximize the insights drawn from the limited archive of slavery and contribute to broader conversations on ethical data use, highlighting how African American literature has creatively paved that path.