Original Keetoowah Society

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Original Keetoowah Society is a Cherokee religious organization that preserves the culture and teachings of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society (Cherokee:ᎩᏚᏩ ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ) in Oklahoma.

According to historian Allogan Slagle of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, The Original Keetoowah Society is the surviving core of the Cherokee religious movement originally led by Cherokee Red Bird Smith to preserve the culture and teachings of the Keetoowahs in Oklahoma. In 1993, United Keetoowah Band historian Allogan Slagle confirmed that "The original Keetoowah Society" evolved from the group known as "The Nighthawk Keetoowahs."

Contents

[edit] Keetoowah Society Beliefs, History, and Spirituality

Budd Gritts, a Cherokee Baptist Minister, was appointed to draft a Constitution and Laws of government for the Keetoowah Society, and in response to the changing religious and Political climate of the times. The constitution and Laws of Government was formally adopted by the Keetoowahs who prospered and lived in peace under its provisions for many years.

In 1861 the Keetoowah Society enacted a provision, which stated:

"...if any urgent and important message from the Chief of the Cherokee Nation should be received by Head Captains to be looked into, it shall be the duty of the head captains to send up the message to all parts of the Cherokee Nation. If anyone, or any one of us Keetoowah is called upon or chosen to take a message for them he shall willingly without hesitancy respond to the responsibility."

During the period from 1859 to 1889, the Keetoowahs flourished and were strongly united. Almost without exception, the Keetoowahs sided with the Northern States during the Civil War. During this period the Keetoowahs were predominantly Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, a few Quakers, and a part of them wor­shipped according to the rituals of the ancient Keetoowah. Gadugi was strong among the Cherokee people during this period in their history, and Cherokee society was for the most part harmonious. Dissentions began to arise after white Missionaries objected to and condemned what they termed “the Pagan Form of worship” of the ancient Keetoowahs, and designated them as “The work of the Devil.”

Influenced by these white teachers, who were conscientious and sincere in their efforts of Christian work, the members of the different denominations became strictly sectarian in their practice, but there was still no enmity existing.

In 1895 when the question of the allotment of lands to the members of the Five Civilized Tribes was being agitated, the ancient Keetoowahs became very active in opposing the proposed change. In this, however, all the Keetoowah element were united in their opposition to any speedy change. From this time to 1900 the following of Redbird Smith were designated universally as the “Nighthawk Keetoowahs” because of their vigilance in their activities.

The Keetoowah Constitution and Laws of Government was amended in 1889, making it rather a political organization in character. From this period the differences between the Christian Keetoowahs and the Ancient Keetoowahs became more marked, and there was lack of harmony even in their policies of political effort.

In November 1899, the Keetoowah Society convened in Tahlequah to pass resolutions critical of the Cherokee Council and the Dawes Commission, particularly with regard to plans to dispose of Cherokee land and to create a roll without the consent of the Cherokee Nation. They challenged amendments to the Constitution, and resolved to enroll only under protest. The Keetoowahs in convention at Big Tucker Springs on 6 September 1901 decided to enroll with the Dawes Commission led to a final schism between Keetoowah factions. Redbird Smith left the meeting with eleven of his traditionalist supporters to resist enrollment actively, forming the Nighthawk Keetoowahs.

Several hundred Keetoowah Indians, including several groups that started out as members of the Keetoowah Society and left with the Nighthawks in 1901, coalesced to form a number of secretive, traditionalist, exclusive factions. Most of these groups started near Gore, Vian, or Proctor, and adjoining areas. These groups were nascent within the Keetoowah Society as early as 1893, and derived from Goingsnake fire or various of the Four Mothers Nation fires. Like the Nighthawks, these groups generally refused until 1910 or later to accept the work of the Dawes Commission.

While they fully intended to maintain tribal government and functions regardless of the fate of the Cherokee Nation, the Keetoowahs as a body officially acquiesced under protest to the effect of all the legislative provisions that would dissolve Cherokee Nation's government and allot Cherokee lands. They learned that they could not prevent the 1893 Act, the Dawes Commission enrollment, U. S. citizenship, the Curtis Act and the abolition of tribal courts, the Agreement with the Cherokee Nation of April 1, 1900, the 1906 Act and the virtual political dissolution of the ... Cherokee government as of 4 March 1906, presidential approval for all tribal ordinances affecting tribal or individual lands after allotment, and the allotment in severalty of Cherokee lands. See Cherokee Nation v. Southern Kansas R. R. 135 U. S. 641 (1890) and Cherokee Nation v. Journeycake, 155 U. S. 196 (1894).

One hundred and forty years ago a number of traditionalists came together and formed the Keetoowah Society. The organization still exists known as the Nighthawk Keetoowahs and they meet at Stokes Stomp Grounds near Vian. Do not confuse these traditionalists with the political organization of the United Keetoowah Band that was created by the federal government in 1946. But the Nighthawk Keetoowahs on the eve of the American Civil War came together and in their bylaws reflected eloquently the issue that continually faces us. In 1860, the Keetoowah Society wrote:

" We must not surrender under any circumstances until we shall "fall to the ground united." We must lead one another by the hand with all our strength. Our government is being destroyed. We must resort to our bravery to stop it.
...Few members of men of the society met secretly and discussed the condition of the country where they lived. The name Cherokee was in danger. The Cherokee Nation was about to disintegrate. It seemed intended to drown our Cherokee Nation and destroy it. For that reason we resolved to stop from scattering or forever lose the name of Cherokee. We must love each other and abide by treaties made with the Federal government. We must cherish them in our hearts. Second, we must also abide by the treaties made with other races of people. Third, we must abide by our constitution and laws and uphold the name of the Cherokee Nation."[1]

[edit] 1993 Keetoowah Society Recognition

From "Burning Phoenix" Written by Allogan Slagle for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, 1993 [2].

Copyright © 1993 Allogan Slagle All Rights Reserved.
"After 1907, the Nighthawk Keetoowah Society, in true sectarian spirit, named itself the "Original Keetoowah Society," based on the prophetic insights of several of the leaders. John Smith, son of Redbird Smith, and would-be prophet, continued to issue prophetic utterances in this vein throughout his life, long after the Nighthawks had adopted an official stance that they were not a political organization:
"This is the original Kee-Too-Wah Society. . . . Any other organization or body functioning or claiming representation under the name of the Kee-Too-Wah Society are fictitious and impostors. (26 May 1937)"

John Smith, the most influential Nighthawk leader among Redbird Smith's sons, had lost virtually all credibility among Keetoowahs by the 1930s due to his disastrous support of the Oneida con artist Chester Polk Cornelius. Cornelius nearly destroyed the Nighthawk organization with failed get-rich-quick development schemes that left many members landless and destitute. Some Nighthawk spokesmen and leaders now erroneously claim the UKB is a splinter of their religious cult, though the Nighthawks officially withdrew from all political activity after 1901, and barred its members from affiliating with any other groups or entities, including Christian churches. As the number of tribal towns associated with the Nighthawks dwindled from 21 in about 1900 to 3 in 1937, the remnants of the non-political" Nighthawk faction eventually collapsed into a variety of factions. These included two ceremonial grounds run by opposing factions of Redbird Smith's own family at Redbird's and at Stokes Smith's grounds, as well as the Goingsnake "Seven Clans" fire, the Medicine Springs Fire or Medicine Society, and the Four Mothers Nation.

[edit] Keetoowah Society Divergence

Other Cherokee political factions arose among the Keetoowahs, partly due to concerns about potential claims, partly to organize formally as a federally recognized Tribe: the Cherokee Immigrant Indians, and the Eastern and Western Emigrants. These factions of Oklahoma Keetoowah Cherokees by blood pulled together a coalition from the northern 14 counties of Oklahoma between 1920 and 1924, electing a Chief (Levi Gritts), and an Executive Council of Cherokees by Blood out of the body of the Keetoowah Society, Inc. During the 1930s, the majority of Keetoowah factions, now without any support of the dwindling Nighthawk separatists, supported the idea of reorganizing all the Keetoowah Cherokees in all the old clan districts as a united Band under the proposed Indian Reorganization Act. The Cherokees by Blood, representing all Cherokee descendants rather than Keetoowahs alone, failed in 1932 to obtain standing as a party to the Cherokee claims litigation.

[edit] Christianity and its Impacts on the Keetoowah Society

Redbird Smith's son objected to Redbird Smith's reverence for (but not worship of) Jesus and the posthumous adoption of Jesus into the Keetoowah Society. This history seem a bit confusing, but was recorded in "The Burning Phoenix" by United Keetoowah Band (Federally recognized in 1949) historian Allogan Slagle.

From the 1993 document "The Burning Phoenix:"

"A very weird thing happened, politically speaking, in 1955. It had to do with Jesus Christ's membership. The Nighthawks at the Redbird Smith Stomp Grounds were in civil strife. Stokes Smith, Redbird's youngest, was Chief. Before Redbird died, he told his people to incorporate the worship of Christ into Nighthawk religion. In 1936, the Keetoowah Society amended its constitution to recognize Christ. While Stokes had acquiesced and signed the measure, he and other elders were unhappy.

"William Lee Smith, current Nighthawk Chief at Stokes Smith's Grounds, says his father, Stokes, took the fire, wampum and pipe, and left the original grounds, but left part of the fire.

"The Redbird Grounds people then joined the UKB, realizing they could worship Christ and be Keetoowahs, and have the advantages of political recognition all at the same time, and God would not mind. Thereafter, Stokes' followers refused to recognize either the UKB or his other relatives at Redbirds, although Redbird is still an object of veneration. (Leeds 1992: 60)"

[edit] Documentary Explores Keetoowah Society Culture and History

The 1984 KJRH-TV documentary, "Spirit of the Fire" called the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society AKA The Original Keetoowah Society the "spiritual core" of the nation in reference to the traditional ceremonies and rituals practiced and maintained by the Keetoowah.

[edit] Redbird Smith

Redbird Smith was an influential Nighthawk member and revitalized traditional spirituality among Cherokees, beginning in the mid 19th century. Today there are seven ceremonial dance grounds in Oklahoma and these either belong to the Keetoowah tradition or the Four Mothers Society. In Redbird Smith's time, there with well over twenty Cherokee Stomp Grounds.

[edit] The Chosen Indian People

In explaining the Keetoowah wampum belts for the very first time publicly in the 1984 KJRH-TV documentary video produced by Oklahoma newsman Bill Jones, Chief William Smith stated that The Ancient Keetoowah are told that they are the Chief Indian Tribe in the Americas, and that if and when the Great Spirit spoke to the Indians in the Americas, they will deliver the message to the Keetoowah first.

[edit] John Red Hat Duke

The late elder John Red Hat Duke (1930-2002), was old enough to be a well known enrollee in both the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and in the United Keetoowah Band. He remembered that his full-blood grandmothers who raised him spoke a now considered-to-be-dead Southern Keetoowah dialect, and that they pronounced Keetoowah as kee-too'-rah, with a trilled "R" sound. Elder Red Hat was born into the Anigilohi (Long Hair) Clan and raised in the Old Cherokee Religion, and later converted to Judaism and became a Rabbi listed in the American Jewish Archives.

Elder Red Hat caught the attention of the Hopi Elders at Oraibi back in the 1960s because of his seeming (at least) partial fulfillment of the Hopi Prophecy, in which one the Hopi called Banaha (True White Brother) would:

1. Appear with two helpers, one male and one female.

2. Would be identified with the color red,

3. Would come from the "largest nation" (Cherokee is the largest Indian Nation),

4. Would wear a red hat or cloak,

5. Would come from the east of Hopi,

6. Would have his own distinctive religion.

7. Would be fair skinned.

John Red Hat Duke was a Cherokee Indian and member of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society. In the eyes of the Oraibi Kykmongwes (Chiefs), John Red Hat fulfilled all their prophecies but one. After many years of association of John Red Hat with the late Oraibi chiefs John and Mina Lansa, their son, the late Kykmongwe (chief) Mike of Oraibi declared the Hopi Prophecy to be fulfilled, leaving only the future return of the corner of the Sun Clan tablet. Chief Mike was the last Oraibi Kykmongwe, due to the fact that there is no one with the correct clan lineage.

According to Dr. Tim Jones of the University of Arizona, in ancient times, both the Hopi and Cherokee were known as "The Twin Fires", and in Grand Council when a member of either tribe spoke up, everyone stopped speaking and listened.

[edit] Trivia

Many Cherokee groups still refer to themselves as "Keetoowah (ki-tu'-wa) people." The original name used to describe all of the Cherokee People was ah-ni-yv-wi-ya, which means the human people .

"Back in Georgia from whence the Cherokees originally migrated to the Indian Territory in 1838 and 1839, the old Keetoowah group (City of Keetoowah) was dying out as early as 1835," (Tulsa Tribune, Dec. 28, 1928) stated John L. Springston Tulsa Tribune, Dec. 28, 1928).

Springston had served as a clerk and court reporter in the Saline District before Oklahoma statehood and was a Keetoowah Society Member.

In the early 1900s, anthropologists noted that on ceremonial occasions, Cherokees frequently speak of themselves as Ki-tu-wa-gi," (James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokees, 19th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington Government Printing Office, 1900, pg. 15)

Legends of the ki-tu'-wa people say that the name was given after seven of the wisest men (the seven priests of the ah-ni-ku-ta-ni) of the ancient Cherokees went to the highest peak and fasted for seven days and nights, asking the Creator for guidance. This peak is known today as "Clingman's Dome." On the seventh night of their fast, the Creator told them, "You shall be ki-tu'-wa (the spiritual center of the Cherokee People)."

(Benny Smith, The Keetoowah Society of Cherokee Indians, Masters Dissertation, Northwestern State College, Alva, OK, 1967)

Former Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Chief Dugan confirms this, "One name for the tribe is 'people of ki-tu'-wa'." ("Where Myth Meets Reality," Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2004)

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

Keetoowah/Hopi religious connection: Red Hat Speaks

[edit] References

  • Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center, Tahlequah, Okalhoma.
  • Cherokee, ISBN 1-55868-603-7, Graphic Arts Center Publishing
  • Writings and History of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni, central archives, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Ah-ni-ya-wi-ya Religious Organization. HCR 64 Box 816, Grassy MO 63751

[edit] External links