History Doctoral Student Awarded $100,000 SREB Fellowship

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Bethany Henry Rosenbaum, University of Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – From the time she was in the seventh grade, Bethany Henry Rosenbaum has been interested in the history of the American Indians, particularly the five major Indian nations of Oklahoma: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole. 

In her master’s thesis at the University of Arkansas, Henry Rosenbaum investigated the issue of the Cherokee Freedmen – slaves owned by individual Cherokees who became members of the Cherokee tribe after the end of the Civil War. An 1866 treaty between the tribe and the federal government gave the freedmen and their descendants “all the rights of native Cherokees.” 

But in 2007, more than 76 percent of about 8,000 voters in Cherokee Nation approved an amendment removing the freedmen and other non-Indians from the tribal rolls, resulting in an ongoing political and tribal dispute between descendants of the freedmen and the Cherokee Nation administration.

“After the Civil War, there were deep relationships between African Americans and Cherokees,” Henry Rosenbaum said. “They started intermarrying and thus African Americans could become members of the Cherokee tribe. From my research, I found that it was the federal government’s perspective forced on to the Cherokee to define their own citizenship. My conclusion was that the Cherokee Nation is fighting to be in control of its history and identity, so it is not the role of a local or federal government to tell the Indians who they are.”

Henry Rosenbaum earned a master’s in history from the U of A this spring and enrolled in the doctoral program this fall. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Henry Rosenbaum has been awarded a Southern Regional Educational Board Doctoral Scholars Program Fellowship. The five-year, $100,000 award is made to cover the cost of tuition and provide stipends to students from minority groups who are enrolled in doctoral programs and will seek careers as faculty on college campuses.

She completed her thesis with the assistance of Stacy Leeds, dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law. Leeds is a Cherokee Nation citizen and former Justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court.

“I am confident that my thesis would not have been as well developed or successful if it were not for Dean Leeds,” Henry Rosenbaum said.

Henry Rosenbaum’s dissertation examines American Indians’ roles in the Civil War and how the National Park Service interprets that history to the public at large.

“I’m combining my passion for my Native American heritage with my experience in the National Park Service,” said Henry Rosenbaum, who has worked for the National Park Service in various capacities since 2008. “My goal is to create a guide to working with American Indian tribes in how they interpret and present their history to the public.”

Henry Rosenbaum is originally from Neosho, Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and history. She is a member of the Native American Student Association at the U of A and serves on the board of the National Trail of Tears Association.

“I want to give credit to my Lord because I would be no one and nowhere without Him,” Henry said. “My priorities are faith and family.”