United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (previously listed as the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma)

The word Keetoowah is the name of an ancient Cherokee town in the (Eastern) Homeland of the Cherokee.

A group of Cherokee traditionalists calling themselves the Keetoowah Society (also called the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society) took advantage of the 1936 Oklahoma Indian General Welfare Act to organize a federally recognized Indian Band called the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. This, for the most part, is composed of "Old Settlers" -- descendants of Cherokee people who went to Oklahoma before the forced "Trail of Tears."

Cherokee religious ceremonies were banned on the reservations, and Cherokee children sent to boarding schools were forbidden to speak their native language. Cherokee traditional people, in response to the cultural erosion that was occurring, formed a secret society, the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, and practiced ceremonies and gatherings of the people in secret, in order to avoid censure or reprisal by the United States. This group preserved, re-invented, or revived a bit of the pre-removal culture, ceremonies, and beliefs of the Cherokee. These people and movements later influenced the formation of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in 1946.

In modern times, the society and the United Keetoowah Band are no longer a single organization, but have split, as over time many United Keetoowah Band members have joined the Cherokee Nation and the society has grown in modern times, with members who are affiliated with both the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (UKB).