Two descendants of Black people once enslaved by a Native American tribe are asking a federal court in Oklahoma to force tribal leaders to issue them citizenship cards as ordered a year ago by a tribal court.
A lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City on behalf of Rhonda Grayson and Jeffrey Kennedy names Principal Chief David Hill and the Muscogee Nation Citizenship Board as defendants.
It says that Hill and the citizenship board are violating an 1866 treaty between the tribe and the U.S. government by refusing to recognize Black Creek as citizens as the Muscogee Nation Supreme Court in July 2025.
The board of Grayson and Kennedy in 2019 after it incorrectly determined they could not identify a lineal descendant of the tribe, but the court said the pair are entitled to tribal citizenship.
However, Hill and the board have not yet issued the citizenship cards, denying Grayson and Kennedy their 鈥渞ight to vote and the ability to participate fully as members of the Nation,鈥� according to the lawsuit.
Last August, the tribe鈥檚 citizenship board from issuing citizenship cards until leaders decide how to change the tribe鈥檚 constitution. The tribe’s headquarters is in Okmulgee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City.
A spokesman for the Muscogee Nation said late Thursday afternoon that it had not yet been served with the complaint.
鈥淲e would point out that federal law and precedent is clear that matters of Muscogee Nation law and governance are to be addressed through the Nation鈥檚 own governmental institutions,鈥� the Muscogee Nation said in a statement.
鈥淲e are committed to ensuring that the Muscogee Nation鈥檚 Constitution and laws are followed fairly and consistently,鈥� the statement said. 鈥淕etting policies right is always more important than getting them done quickly. Anything less would undermine the integrity of our governmental processes and the rights of our citizens.鈥�
The Muscogee Nation is one of five tribes in Oklahoma that once practiced slavery.
Under the 1866 treaty, the tribe abolished slavery and granted citizenship to the formerly enslaved. The Muscogee Nation adopted in 1979 a constitution that restricted membership to the descendants of people listed as 鈥淢uscogee (Creek) Indians by blood鈥� on the Dawes Rolls, a census of members of the five tribes created around 1900.
When the Dawes Rolls were created, people were listed on two separate rolls: those who were Muscogee and those who were identified by the U.S. government as Freedmen.
The court’s 2025 ruling also directed the board to apply the treaty of 1866 to future applicants who can trace an ancestor to either roll. The decision could create a path to tribal citizenship for thousands of new members who are not Muscogee by blood.
Attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, a Black Creek Indian who is one of the lawyers representing Grayson and Kennedy, said Thursday that there are about 100,000 Black Creeks across the United States.
Successful legal cases were brought against two of the five Oklahoma tribes, the Seminole Nation and the Cherokee Nation, which have since granted citizenship to Freedmen descendants.
鈥淓very day of non-compliance is another day that Black Creek Freedman are denied our birthright and our very identity as citizens,鈥� said Grayson, president of the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band.
鈥淭he fight is bigger than every one of us,鈥� she told reporters Thursday. 鈥淚t belongs to every Black Creek Freedman descendant who has carried this history, protected these stories and refused to let our identity be dismissed or diminished.鈥�
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This story was first published on July 23, 2026. It was updated on July 24, 2026, to make clear that the Muscogee Nation Citizenship Board鈥檚 determination was incorrect when it said the Creek Freedmen citizenship applicants could not identify a lineal descendant of the tribe.
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Williams is a member of AP’s Race & Ethnicities Team. He reported from Detroit.
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