by P. Westbrook, S. Wells and Cynthia Leitich Smith

Freedmen is the term for enslaved African Americans emancipated in 1865. Native Freedmen are those people of African descent enslaved by members of the five southeastern tribal nations—Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole—and like their Native slaveholders, they were forcibly removed during the Trail of Tears from their Indigenous ancestral lands to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. Today, descendants of Native Freedmen are commonly known simply as Freedmen.

My ancestors and lived experiences taught me how to hold both grief and gratitude—and to grow within that tension. Sharing that know-how is the greatest gift I can give back to young people in this moment and time. This approach—equal parts truth and care, naming the thing and charting a path forward—is what my characters do in Mvskoke Joy, my contribution to the Legendary Frybread Drive-In anthology. This is my gift. My responsibility. And it is the heart of everything I write—especially for young people. — Marcella Bell, Muscogee Freedman

After the U.S. Civil War, most Freedmen became tribal citizens, though many, along with their descendants, were disenrolled and disenfranchised during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time of this article, Freedmen are now eligible to reclaim their citizenship status in the Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation, though the latter has paused enrollment pending “alignment” of laws and their tribal constitution. The Seminole Nation offers partial citizenship through voting and council participation but not full services. The Choctaw have not yet restored citizenship, and the Chickasaw never recognized Freedmen as citizens.

How could two communities, both hurt by European and American colonization and exploitation, not create an alliance in the past? And how do hurt and fear often keep our communities today from confronting this difficult history and reconciling? — Alaina E. Roberts, Ph.D. Chickasaw Freedman and author of I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land

Indigenous identity is a matter of political affiliation through citizenship/tribal membership as well as shared kinship, history, cultural and community ties. As a practical matter, this translates to legal citizenship, which is critical to sovereignty, nationhood, treaties, and the advocacy and preservation of rights.

My father was a storyteller who passed his stories on to me, and I must keep them alive for my children. I am the voice of my Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen ancestors, the voice they were forced to swallow, a painful silence that kept them separate from their wholeness. I am their vessel; I allow their words to pour through me. And as a children’s author, I feel it my sacred duty to help children know they are never alone, especially mixed-race children, who so often feel they never fully belong to one race or another. It’s important for them to know that with every step, our ancestors walk with us, lovingly guiding us, protecting us. – Pasha Westbrook, a Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen is the author of picture book Braided Roots, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw)

I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land by Alaina E. Roberts, Ph.D. (Chickasaw Freedman) (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021)

Oklahoma Freedmen of the Five Tribes by Angela Y. Walton-Raji (Choctaw Freedman) (The History Press, 2023)

Untangling A Red, White, and Black Heritage: A Personal History of the Allotment Era by Darnella Davis (UNM Press, 2020).

Pasha Westbrook, a Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen descendant, lives among the Arizona cacti with her husband and three beautiful boys. Braided Roots is her debut picture book. Stacy Wells (Choctaw Nation) is a youth librarian serving children from birth to teens. Her debut picture book, Stronger Than co-authored with Nikki Grimes and illustrated by E.B. Lewis (Lenni Lenape), is forthcoming in 2026 from Heartdrum. Cynthia Leitich Smith (Mvskoke Nation) is a New York Times-bestselling author of books for young readers, including Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Library Association’s Youth Literature Award. She is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books.

* The authors are extremely grateful to Alaina E. Roberts, Ph.D. for her time and guidance as they wrote this article.