THE history of Native American tribes is rife with suffering and
intrigue. Few however have as complicated an ancestry as the
Lost Cherokees. Originally from Tennessee, they were shuttled
into Arkansas by the federal government in the early 19th
century. Desperate to hang on to their new home, the Cherokees
went to Washington, DC, to plead their case; but in 1828 they
were forced to sign a treaty giving up the Arkansas Reservation
for a new home in what later became Oklahoma.  The tribe split.
One group walked the “trail of tears” to Oklahoma. Those who
refused to accept the treaty stayed in Arkansas—but at the cost
of losing their sovereign status and hiding their ancestry. They
were often known as the Black Dutch or the Black Irish. Now
these Lost Cherokees, who number around 9,000 in Arkansas with
several hundred more in southern Missouri, are fighting for
recognition as a proper tribe.  The federal Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) has been reviewing the Lost Cherokees' case since
1999. The tribe has twice a