RACIAL DISPUTE: UCR professor not Cherokee, Indians say - Press-Enterprise
Patti Jo King, a Cherokee and former Riverside resident, is a professor of American Indian Studies at Bacone College, a historically American Indian school in Muskogee, Okla. She said she confronted Smith about her claim of Cherokee heritage at a Native American and Indigenous Studies Association conference in 2007. King said she and Smith had a cordial conversation at a coffee shop. King said she recognizes that some people with American Indian heritage may not be able to prove it, either because of missing records or families that were split up as tribes were moved and dispersed. But the Cherokee Nation relies on the Dawes Final Rolls, a census of the tribe taken between 1899 and 1906. To be recognized as a member of the Cherokee Nation, a person must have an ancestor listed on the rolls. King said Smith does not. the right to republish your name and comment in additional Freedom publications without any notification or payment. Source: www.pe.com
