In 1835, the Treaty of New Echota was signed, forcing the Cherokee people off their ancestral land in the southeast United States and along a 1,200-mile march that became known as the Trail of Tears.

A long-forgotten part of this devastating pact was a promise to the Cherokee that they could send a delegate to the House of Representatives; with a view that they could have a say in the government that had displaced their homes, leading to the loss of thousands of lives.

Last month, the council for the Cherokee Nation – now based in Oklahoma – made good on the centuries-old offer by appointing Kimberly Teehee as its first official representative to Congress.

Teehee, who worked as a senior policy advisor for Native American affairs in the Obama White House, says she’s optimistic that the federal government is now more aware and receptive of the issues facing her 380,000-strong community and others like it – making the right time to enact the treaty provision.

“I feel we are in an environment now where Congress is more educated about Native American issues,” Teehee tells the Guardian in a new interview.

“We have four members of Congress, people who are citizens of federally recognised tribes, who take on our issues and champion our issues. There is a bipartisan Congressional Native American caucus, whose job is to educate, on a bipartisan basis, members of Congress about Native American issues.”

Kimberly Teehee to become Cherokee Nation’s first delegate to Congress – if Washington allows it