TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Descendants of former black slaves owned by the Cherokee Nation say they have received letters this week booting them from the tribe.

The letters come after a ruling last month by the nation's Supreme Court that upholds a 2007 special election to amend the Cherokee constitution and remove about 2,800 slave descendants, known as freedmen, from tribal rolls.

The matter had been tied up in tribal and federal courts for years.The freedmen fought for decades to reclaim their citizenship, even though they were adopted into the tribe in 1866 under a treaty with the U.S. government.

As a result of the Supreme Court's ruling, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has temporarily frozen $33 million in funds tribe as it studies the issue.