Mount Tabor Indian Community facts for kids

The Mount Tabor Indian Community is a cultural heritage group in Rusk County, Texas. It was started in 1997 and became a nonprofit organization in 2015. A nonprofit is a group that works to help the community, not to make money.

This modern group is different from a historical community that had a similar name in the 1800s. The modern group has faced some disagreements. Leaders of federally recognized tribes, like the Cherokee Nation, have publicly disagreed with the group's claims. Federally recognized tribes are Native American groups that have a special legal relationship with the U.S. government.

What Is the Mount Tabor Indian Community?

The Mount Tabor Indian Community was founded in 1997 by a man named J.C. Thompson. The group's goal is to promote cultural and ethnic awareness. It is named after a historical community that was once connected to the Cherokee Nation.

That historical community, also known as the Texas Cherokees and Associated Bands, stopped existing as a formal group after the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma reorganized in 1975.

A New Group with an Old Name

When J.C. Thompson started the new group in 1997, he used the name of the older, historical community. He said his new group was a continuation of the old one. In 1998, the new group created its own constitution. Thompson told people that the group would try to get federal recognition from the U.S. government.

However, the group's current leader, Cheryl Giordano, said in a public speech in 2025 that Thompson knew the group did not actually meet the requirements for federal recognition. The group mostly exists online and does not have regular in-person meetings or events.

What are the Group's Claims?

The modern community says its members have Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee ancestry. However, Chairwoman Giordano has stated that many members, including the founder, have not been able to prove their Native American heritage.

Giordano also said that many of the group's official papers, such as membership applications, have been lost or are missing. She has said that the stories the founder told about the group's history were not accurate. She believes the Mount Tabor Indian Community is a modern group and not a direct continuation of the historical communities from the 1800s and early 1900s.

Leadership and Internal Disagreements

The Mount Tabor Indian Community has had several leaders since it was founded.

• J.C. Thompson: Founder and chairman from 1997 to 1998, and again from 2001 to 2019.
• Terry Jean Easterly: Leader from 1998 to 2000.
• Peggy Dean-Atwood: Leader from 2000 to 2001.
• William "Billy" Bean: Chairman for 13 months in 2018–2019. He was removed from his position because of disagreements over how the group's money was used.
• Cheryl Giordano: Became chairwoman in 2019.

In 2025, Chairwoman Giordano made a public speech about serious problems within the group. She asked for help from government organizations and the public to fix these issues. After she spoke out, the founder's son, Jesse Thompson, created a separate group and took it offline.

Is the Group an Official Tribe?

The Mount Tabor Indian Community is not a federally recognized or state-recognized Native American tribe. This means it does not have a formal government-to-government relationship with the United States or the state of Texas.

The group has received congratulatory resolutions from the state of Texas. These are official documents that praise a group for its contributions. However, these resolutions do not make the group a state-recognized tribe. The state of Texas does not have a process for officially recognizing Native American tribes.

Chairwoman Giordano has said that some of the family histories used to get these honors from Texas might not be correct. She is working to correct this information with the state.