Historically , certain Native American tribes have had close relations with African Americans , especially in regions where slavery was prevalent , or where free people of color have historically resided . Members of the Five Civilized Tribes participated in holding enslaved African Americans in the Southeast , and some enslaved or formerly enslaved people migrated with them to the West on the Trail of Tears in 1830 and later during the period of Indian Removal . In peace treaties with the US after the American Civil War , the slaveholding tribes , which had sided with the Confederacy , were required to emancipate slaves and give them full citizenship rights in their nations . In controversial actions , since the late 20th century , the Cherokee , Creek , and Seminole nations tightened their rules for membership and at times excluded Freedmen who did not have at least one ancestor listed as Native American on the early 20th-century Dawes Rolls . This exclusion was later appealed in the courts , both because of the treaty conditions and in some cases because of possible inaccuracies in some of the Rolls . The Chickasaw Nation never extended citizenship to Chickasaw Freedmen
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Black Indians in the United States