Norman -
The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes convened for a two-day summit beginning Thursday.
The summit began Thursday morning at the Riverwind Hotel & Casino in the 2900 block of Bankers Avenue in Norman .
The organization met to consider issues currently facing tribal nations, both in Oklahoma and nationally.
This was the first meeting of the Council in the traditional two-day summit format in six years.
The standing committee and work groups met Thursday morning, and various committees were reorganized throughout the day.
The general assembly will convene on Friday afternoon to entertain Federal agency reports and to consider resolutions brought forth by the work groups.
Founded in 1950, the organization is made up of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole Nations and is the oldest such tribal organization in the United States.
Muscogee (Creek) Nation Principal Chief George Tiger is the newly-elected Chair of the executive committee, and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker is Vice-Chair.
Other members of the executive committee include Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Chief Greg Pyle, and Seminole Nation of Oklahoma Principal Chief Leonard Harjo.
Out of 562 Federally-recognized tribes—the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Muscogee (Creek) Nations are three of the four largest, with nearly 625,000 enrolled citizens.
Together, the Five Civilized Tribes have a several billion dollar impact on the state of Oklahoma.
The name "civilized tribes" was coined by Anglo-European settlers during the Colonial and early Federal period who believed that these specific Native Americans had adopted their European customs.
The Five Civilized Tribes lived in the southeastern United States but were relocated by the U.S. Federal Government in the early part of the 19th Century to Indian Territory (now known as Oklahoma) under the Indian Removal Act. This relocation is referred to as the Trail of Tears.
