A plan for the use and distribution of approximately $1.4 million awarded to the Creek Nation of Indians by the Indian Claims Commission is being published in the Federal Register, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today
The award is additional compensation for 1.4 million acres of land in Alabama and Georgia taken from the tribe in 1818.
According to the plan, approved by Congress and made effective June 15, 1978, the funds will be divided between the Creek Nation of Oklahoma and an unorganized group of descendants of the Creek Indians east of the Mississippi.
The funds apportioned to the Eastern Creeks will be distributed on a per capita basis after an updated roll of eligible persons is presented by the Secretary of the Interior.
The funds received by the Creek Tribe of Oklahoma will be used for social and economic development programs for the benefit of the Creek members by blood.
Creek Freedmen, former slaves and their descendants who were granted rights of citizenship in the Creek Nation by an 1866 treaty, will not participate in the distribution of the award because they were not affiliated with the tribe in 1818 when the land was taken.
