Redbird Smith fought the allotment policy, under which the United States government took more than 7,000,000 acres (28,000 km2) of land from the Cherokee.

[1] On two separate occasions, Smith served as the Estate Tax Attorney of the United States Department of Treasury, from 1980 to 1982 and from 1987 to 1989.

From 1999 to 2011,[6] Smith served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the second largest Indian tribe in the United States with more than 285,000 citizens.

The position is responsible for the execution of the laws of the Cherokee Nation, establishment of tribal policy, and delegation of authority for the day-to-day operations of the tribe.

During his first term, Hastings Shade, a Cherokee traditionalist, language teacher, artist, and author, served as deputy chief.

Smith was re-elected to subsequent terms in 2003 and 2007, with Joe Grayson as deputy chief, who is a bilingual, full-blood community organizer and military veteran.

Because the results could not be determined with mathematical certainty, the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ordered a second vote for Sept. 24, 2011.

During his tenure as principal chief, Smith focused on three initiatives: economic self-reliance for the tribe, Cherokee language and cultural revitalization, and community development in Northeastern Oklahoma.

Smith popularized the term gadugi, which in Cherokee refers to the spontaneous work crews communities formed as needs arose.

[10] The mission of ITEC is to protect the health of Native Americans, their natural resources, and their environment as it relates to air, land, and water.

In February 2021, the Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation rejected the citizenship restriction that had been passed at the instigation of Smith, saying "The 'by blood' language found within the Cherokee Nation Constitution, and any laws which flow from that language, is illegal, obsolete, and repugnant to the ideal of liberty.

These words insult and degrade the descendants of the Freedman much like the Jim Crow laws found lingering on the books in Southern states some fifty-seven years after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.