Known as the Dawes Rolls, ... Grayson and Kennedy's lawsuit countered that citizenship requirement is a violation of the 1866 treaty, and in 2023 a Muscogee Nation district court agreed.

Grayson and Kennedy’s fight for citizenship is not over. In late September, the Creek Freedman plaintiffs visited a citizenship office in Jenks, Oklahoma, to pick up their ID cards.

While many across the country recognize Juneteenth as the end to the institution of slavery in America in 1865, some tribal nations in Oklahoma continued to own slaves until the following year, 1866.

Rhonda Grayson and Jeff Kennedy pose for a portrait on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Moore, Oklahoma. Nick Oxford/AP. ... Known as the Dawes Rolls, the census created two lists ...

“Our ancestors were Muscogee people of African descent,” said Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney representing Grayson and Kennedy whose ancestor was also a Freedmen in the tribe. “We were ...

Rhonda Grayson and Jeff Kennedy pose for a portrait on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Moore, Oklahoma. Nick Oxford/AP Jeff Kennedy poses for a portrait on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Moore, Oklahoma.

Rhonda Grayson and Jeff Kennedy pose for a portrait on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Moore, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford) AP U.S. News. ... Known as the Dawes Rolls, ...

Rhonda Grayson and Jeff Kennedy pose for a portrait on Monday, June 16, 2025 in Moore, Oklahoma. ... “We were transformed into ‘Freedmen’ by the Dawes Commission.” ...

Juneteenth may mark the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they had been freed, but thousands of people in Oklahoma are still fighting for full citizenship in the ...