Life Story: Elizabeth Kahuga Shoeboots (1806 - Unknown)

Elizabeth Kahuga Shoeboots was born in 1806 on a farm on the Etowah River in the area that is today called Georgia. Her father was famed Cherokee warrior Shoe Boots. Her mother, Doll, was a Black woman enslaved by Shoe Boots. At the time of Elizabeth’s birth, the Cherokee were only just beginning to practice slavery, so it is very likely that Doll was the only enslaved Black woman in her community. Shoe Boots gave Elizabeth the Cherokee name Kahuga, but he could not make Elizabeth a citizen of the Cherokee tribe. By Cherokee custom, tribal citizenship was inherited through the mother. It is unknown who gave Elizabeth her English name, but it is possible that Doll chose it. 

Because Elizabeth’s mother was enslaved, Elizabeth was also born into enslavement. In 1809, a white settler named Wofford tricked Shoe Boots into selling Doll and Elizabeth. Shoe Boots quickly realized his error and the Indian Agent reversed the sale. But the incident demonstrated that Elizabeth’s life was under the total control of her enslaver/father. 

Shoe Boots’s farm was home to his mother, sister, and other members of his extended family, so Elizabeth was raised with a blend of Cherokee and Black traditions. Her immediate family accepted her and her younger siblings, but her position in the larger community was more fragile. As the Cherokee Nation got more deeply involved in the practice of slavery, the Council passed laws that banned relationships between the Cherokee and their enslaved people and curbed the rights of people with mixed Afro-Cherokee heritage.  

Shoe Boots wanted to ensure that his children would be free in the event of his death. In 1824, he asked the Cherokee Council to emancipate Elizabeth and her two siblings. He also asked the Council to recognize all three children as citizens. The Council granted his request, transforming Elizabeth from an enslaved, unaffiliated child to a free member of the Cherokee Nation. But the Council told Shoe Boots that he should not father any more children with Doll, which indicates their displeasure with the interracial relationship. Doll gave birth to twin boys after this decision was made, and neither was ever emancipated or granted Cherokee citizenship by the Council.

Elizabeth married a Cherokee man and gave birth to a daughter. But her freedom did not last. Her father passed away in 1829. That same year, gold was discovered in Cherokee Territory. Eager to control the wealth, the governor of Georgia declared that all Cherokee had to follow state and federal government laws. He sent military forces into Cherokee Territory to enforce his order. Wofford, the man who had once tricked Shoe Boots into selling Doll and Elizabeth, reappeared and claimed that the new legal situation meant he still owned them. He captured Doll, Elizabeth, and most of her siblings. Because Black Cherokee people had no right to sue in court in Georgia, Doll and Elizabeth could not fight their enslaver. Elizabeth’s aunts and some members of the Cherokee community tried to get them freed, but they were unsuccessful. Elizabeth and her daughter were sold, and the rest of her family was scattered to other enslavers. One of the twins was never seen again.

In 1837, a member of the Cherokee community purchased the freedom of Elizabeth and her daughter for $2,000. When Elizabeth returned to Cherokee Territory, the Council fulfilled its commitment to her father and allowed her to inherit the family farm. Elizabeth assumed the role of head of the Shoeboots family. She gave a home to the members of her family who were free and married another Cherokee man. Soon after, she gave birth to her second daughter. 

Unfortunately for Elizabeth, the U.S. government was gathering its forces to upend her life yet again. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 gave the federal government the power to forcefully relocate Indigenous communities to make their land available for white settlers. In 1838, General Winfield Scott carried out the final removal of all Cherokee people from their lands in Georgia. Elizabeth and her family were among the 15,000 Cherokee men, women, and children captured by the U.S. Army and placed into concentration camps. They endured the grueling march to Indian Territory in Oklahoma that the Cherokee called the Trail of Tears. Historians estimate that 4,000 Cherokee died during this forced removal, but some believe the losses were much higher. 

Life did not get easier for Elizabeth when she arrived in Indian Territory. Most of the lands allotted to the Cherokee were not suitable for farming, so economic hardship was added to the trauma of forced removal and mass death that she had already endured. Many Cherokee embraced the slave trade to support themselves in their new lands, and this created further animosity toward Afro-Cherokee people like Elizabeth and her family. 

Elizabeth married a third Cherokee man and gave birth to two more children. Her sister, Polly, was also married to a Cherokee man, and was the mother of three children. All of these children were Cherokee by birth, having inherited their citizenship from their mothers. But their grandmother was a Black woman who was still enslaved, so they were vulnerable. In 1847, two of Elizabeth’s and Polly’s daughters were kidnapped by slave catchers and carried into Missouri. Because the girls were recognized Cherokee citizens, the local sheriff followed their trail and was able to recover the girls before they were sold. But the same was not true for most of the free and enslaved Afro-Cherokee people living in Indian Territory, who suffered terrible losses during this time. 

Elizabeth continued to rebuild her life and her family in Indian Territory. Her mother, Doll, was emancipated after the death of her enslaver in 1850. She lived with Elizabeth until her death in 1860. In 1852, Elizabeth finally received her payment for the property the government took during forced removal. The amount was a fraction of what her farm in Georgia was worth, but it was enough to buy land. Elizabeth settled in a community of Cherokee that made their fortunes on the slave trade. Elizabeth never achieved their level of success, but the account books of her neighbors reveal that she was an active and integrated member of the community. One of her sons, Morrison, fought for the Confederacy to preserve slavery during the American Civil War. The exact date of Elizabeth’s death is unknown.

• Cherokee: Name for a North American Indigenous tribe that originally inhabited territory in the area now known as the American Southeast. Today, the Cherokee Nation is headquartered in Oklahoma.
• Confederacy: Name for the country founded by the states that seceded from the Union in 1860 to preserve slavery.
• Indian Agent: A person appointed by the U.S. government to interact with Indigenous nations.
• Indian Territory: Name for the area of land the U.S. government forced the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Creek, and Seminole to move to during Indian Removal.