Tribal Membership

To qualify for Cherokee Tribal Membership you must first qualify for a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood - (CDIB) card —

To qualify for a CDIB card, you must have a Cherokee ancestor on the Dawes Rolls.

So ... let's look at these three items in detail:

Dawes Rolls:
The Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, Cherokee Nation, are commonly known as the Dawes Commission of Final Rolls, or simply, Dawes Rolls. Simply put; the Dawes Rolls were a Census.

The Dawes Rolls were compiled between the years of 1899-1906. To qualify for Dawes enrollment, one of your ancestors had to have met all three of the requirements below:

1. Applied for enrollment between the years 1899 and 1906.
2. Appeared on previous Tribal rolls (1880 or 1896), and
3. Had a permanent residence within the Cherokee Nation (1880-1906).

Only enrolled members of the Cherokee Nation named on these final rolls and/or their blood-related descendants will be furnished CDIB cards and/or Cherokee Tribal Membership.

Indeed, there are many people who are of Cherokee descent, but who do not qualify for Tribal Membership because their ancestors did not enroll with the Dawes Commission (1899-1906).

If you would like to pursue research to find your ancestors on the Dawes, or one of the earlier rolls, our Genealogy staff will be happy to assist you.

Access to our genealogical resource material is included in Museum Admission ($8.50)

If you would like our staff to conduct the research for you, our genealogical research rate for Cherokee National Historical Society Members is $10.00 an hour. For Non-members the rate is $20.00 per hour.

CDIB:
Certificates of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB), are issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is a Department of the US Federal Government.

Certificates of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) are traced only through the natural (biological) parents. In cases of adoption, Indian ancestry must be proven through biological parents to an enrolled ancestor.

The CDIB (or "white card", as it is often called) lists a person's "Indian blood quantum." Quantum of Indian Blood is "computed" from the nearest paternal and/or maternal ancestor(s)' of Indian blood listed on the Dawes Rolls.

In other words; if you had one parent on the Dawes Rolls whose "blood quantum" was listed as 4/4ths (100%), you would be deemed to have 1/2 of your Indian parent's blood quantum --i.e., 50%.

To obtain a CDIB, you must formally apply for one and provide acceptable legal documents which connect you to an ancestor who is listed with a roll number and a blood degree from the Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, Cherokee Nation.

Application forms for CDIB and Tribal Membership are available on-line (in pdf format) from the Cherokee Nation Registrar's office.

The acceptable legal documents which prove your ancestry, must be drawn exclusively from Primary Sources. See:

1.) Primary Sources
2.) Supplemental or Secondary Sources

Tribal Memberships — Formal Applications:
To be eligible for Tribal Membership with the Cherokee Nation, you must first be able to present a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB), issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

To obtain Cherokee Tribal Membership, you must formally apply through the Cherokee Nation -- Office of the Registrar.

Application forms for CDIB and Tribal Membership are available on-line (in pdf format) from the Cherokee Nation Registrar's office.