| Cherokee |
Flag of the Cherokee Nation
Flag of the United Keetoowah Band.
Flag of the Eastern Band Cherokee |
|
| Total population |
|
320,000+
|
| Regions with significant populations |
Federally Enrolled members:
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (f):
270,000+
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Oklahoma
(f):
10,000
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, North Carolina (f):
10,000+
(f) = federally recognized
|
| Language(s) |
| English & Cherokee |
| Religion(s) |
| Christianity (Southern Baptist and
Methodist), Traditional Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya, other small
Christian groups. |
| Related ethnic groups |
| American Indians, Five
Civilized Tribes, Tuscarora, other Iroquoians. |
The Cherokee (
ah-ni-yv-wi-ya {Unicode: ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ} in the Cherokee language) are a people from
North America, who at the time of European contact in the 1600s, inhabited what is now the Eastern and Southeastern United
States. Most were forcibly moved westward to the Ozark Plateau. They were one of the
tribes referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, they are the most numerous of the 563 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States.[1]
Bands and naming
Several Cherokee Nations and Bands recognized by the U.S. government and
representing Cherokees have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma (the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians)
and at Cherokee, North Carolina (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians).
A 1984 KJRH-TV documentary, Spirit of the Fire, explored the history of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, and their preservation of traditional ceremonies and rituals
practiced and maintained by the Cherokee after their arrival in Oklahoma. Redbird Smith was an influential Nighthawk member, and
the group revitalized traditional spirituality among Cherokees, beginning in the early 20th century. language's name, "Tsalagi"
(ᏣᎳᎩ)—this then may have been rendered phonetically in Portuguese (or more likely a
Barranquenho dialect, since Hernando
de Soto was Extremaduran) as chalaque, then in French as
cheraqui, and then by the English as cherokee.
The word "Cherokee" is a derived word which came originally from the Choctaw trade language. It was derived from the Choctaw word "Cha-la-kee" which means "those who live in the mountains" –
or (also Choctaw) "Chi-luk-ik-bi" meaning "those who live in the caves". The name which the Cherokee originally used for
themselves, and some still use to this day is Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya (literal translation: "Principle People" or "these are all
the human people"). Most American Indian tribes' names for themselves
mean approximately the same thing. However, modern Cherokee call themselves Cherokee, or Tsalagi.
Language and writing system
-
The Cherokee speak an Iroquoian language which is polysynthetic, and is written in a syllabary invented by
Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏆᏱ). For years, many people wrote transliterated Cherokee on the Internet or used
poorly intercompatible fonts to type out the syllabary. However, since the fairly recent addition of the Cherokee syllables to
Unicode, the Cherokee language is experiencing a renaissance in its use on the Internet. As of
January 2007, however, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma still officially uses a non-unicode font for online documents, including
online editions of the Cherokee Phoenix.[citation needed]
The Cherokee language does not contain any "r" based sounds, and as such, the word "Cherokee" when spoken in the language is
expressed as Tsa-la-gi (pronounced Jah-la-gee, or Chaosje-la-gee) by native speakers, since these sounds most closely resemble
the English language. A Southern Cherokee group did speak a local dialect with a trill
consonant "r" sound, after early contact with Europeans of both French and Spanish ancestry in Georgia and Alabama during
the early 18th century (This "r" sound spoken in the dialect of the Elati, or Lower, Cherokee area – Georgia and Alabama – became
extinct in the 19th century around the time of the Trail of Tears, examples are Tsaragi
or Tse-La-gee). The ancient Ani-kutani (ᎠᏂᎫᏔᏂ) dialect and Oklahoma dialects do not contain
any 'r'-based sounds.
Due to the polysynthetic nature of the Cherokee Language, new and descriptive words in Cherokee are easily constructed to
reflect or express modern concepts. Some good examples are di-ti-yo-hi-hi (Cherokee:ᏗᏘᏲᎯᎯ) which means "he argues
repeatedly and on purpose with a purpose". This is the Cherokee word for attorney. Another example is
di-da-ni-yi-s-gi (Cherokee:ᏗᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ) which means the final catcher or "he catches them finally and conclusively".
This is the Cherokee word for policeman.
Many words, however, have been borrowed from the English Language, such as gasoline which in Cherokee is
ga-so-li-ne (Cherokee:ᎦᏐᎵᏁ). Many other words were borrowed from the languages of tribes who settled in Oklahoma in the
early 1900s. One of the more humorous examples relates to a town on Oklahoma named "Nowata". The word "nowata" is a Delaware
Indian word for "welcome" (more precisely the Delaware word is "nu-wi-ta" which can mean "welcome" or "friend" in the Delaware
Language). The white settlers of the area used the name "nowata" for the township, and local Cherokee's, being unaware the word
had its origins in the Delaware Language, called the town a-ma-di-ka-ni-gv-na-gv-na (Cherokee:ᎠᎹᏗᎧᏂᎬᎾᎬᎾ) which means "the
water is all gone gone from here" -- i.e. "no water".
Other examples of borrowed words are ka-wi (Cherokee:ᎧᏫ) for coffee and wa-tsi (Cherokee:ᏩᏥ) for
watch (which led to u-ta-na wa-tsi (Cherokee:ᎤᏔᎾ ᏩᏥ) or "big watch" for clock).
Language Drift
There are two main dialects of Cherokee spoken by modern speakers. The Giduwa dialect (Eastern Band) and the Otali Dialect
(also called the Overhill dialect) spoken in Oklahoma. The Otali dialect has drifted significantly from Sequoyah's Syllabary in
the past 150 years, and many contracted and borrowed words have been adopted into the language. These noun and verb roots in
Cherokee, however, can still be mapped to Sequoyah's Syllabary. In modern times, there are more than 85 syllables in use by
modern Cherokee speakers. Modern Cherokee speakers who speak Otali employ 122 distinct syllables in Oklahoma.
History
Cunne Shote, Cherokee Chief painted by Francis Parsons. This portrait is believed to show either
Kanagatucko or
Oconostota
Prehistoric and Protohistoric periods
In describing the history of Indians living in the interior of the American southeast, scholars use the term prehistory for the time before the mid-1500s, when several Spanish expeditions journeyed through the
southeast. After these expeditions the European historic record is silent until about 1700. The term protohistory is used for this period. The time after about 1700 is called the historic era.
Since historic documentation is generally lacking, Cherokee prehistory and protohistory has been studied via oral tradition,
linguistic analysis, and archaeology.
Unlike most other Indians in the American southeast at the start of the historic era, the Cherokee spoke an Iroquoian language. Since the Great Lakes region was the core
of Iroquoian languages, it is theorized that the Cherokee migrated south from the Great Lakes region. Linguistic analysis shows a
relatively large difference between Cherokee and the northern Iroquoian languages, suggesting a split in the distant
past.[2] Glottochronology studies suggest the
split occurred between about 1,500 and 1,800 B.C.[3]
The ancient settlement of Keetoowah or giduwa (Cherokee:ᏚᏩ), on the Tuckasegee River near present-day Bryson City, North
Carolina, is frequently cited as the original Cherokee City.[2]
During the early historic era, Europeans wrote of several Cherokee town groups, usually using the terms Lower, Middle, and
Overhill towns. The Lower towns were situated on the headwater streams of the Savannah
River, mainly in present-day western South Carolina and northeastern Georgia. Keowee was
one of the chief towns. The Middle towns were located in present western North Carolina, on the headwater streams of the
Tennessee River, such as the Little Tennessee
River, Hiwassee River, and French Broad
River. Among several chief towns was Nikwasi. The Overhill towns were located across the
higher mountains in present eastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. Principal towns included Chota and Great Tellico. It should be noted that these
terms were created and used by Europeans to describe their changing geopolitical relationship with the Cherokee.[2]
One of the earliest European-American accounts of the Cherokee comes from the expedition of James Needham and Gabriel Arthur,
sent in 1673 by fur-trader Abraham Wood of Virginia to the Overhill Cherokee country. Wood
hoped to forge a direct trading connection with the Cherokee in order to bypass the Occaneechi Indians who were serving as middlemen on the Trading Path.
The two Virginians did make contact with the Cherokee, although Needham was killed on the return journey and Arthur was almost
killed. By the late 1600s traders from both Virginia and South Carolina were making regular journeys to Cherokee lands, but few
wrote about their experiences. Much of the early trading contact period has only been pieced together by colonial laws and
lawsuits involving traders. The trade was mainly deerskins, raw material for the booming
European leather industry, in exchange for European technology "trade goods" such as iron and steel tools (kettles, knives, etc),
firearms, gunpowder, and ammunition. Although selling alcohol to Indians was made illegal by colonial governments at an early
date, rum and, later, whiskey, were a common item of trade.[4]
18th century
Of the southeastern Indian confederacies of the late 1600s and early 1700s (Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, etc), the Cherokee were
one of the most populous and powerful, and were relatively isolated due to their hilly and mountainous homeland. A relatively
small-scale trading system was established with Virginia in the late 1600s. A much stronger and important trade relationship with
the colony of South Carolina, based in Charles Town, began in the 1690s and
overshadowed the Virginia relationship by the early 1700s.[5]
Although there was some trading contact, the Cherokee remained relatively unaffected by the presence of European colonies in
America until the Tuscarora War and its aftermath. In 1711 the Tuscarora began attacking colonists in North Carolina after diplomatic attempts to address various
grievances failed. The governor of North Carolina asked South Carolina for military aid. Before the war was over, several years
later, South Carolina had mustered and sent two armies against the Tuscarora. The ranks of both armies were made up mostly of
Indians, with Yamasee troops especially. The first army, under the command of John Barnwell,
campaigned in North Carolina in 1712. By the end of the year a fragile peace had been established and the army dispersed. No
Cherokee were involved in the first army. Hostilities between the Tuscarora and North Carolina broke out soon after, and in late
1712 to early 1713 a second army from South Carolina fought the Tuscarora. This army consisted of about 100 British and over 700
Indian soldiers. As with the first army, the second depended heavily on the Yamasee and Catawba. This time, however, hundreds of Cherokee joined the army. The army's campaign ended after a
major Tuscarora defeat at Hancock's Fort. All told, over 1,000 Tuscarora and allied Indians were killed or captured. Those
captured were mainly sold into the Indian slave trade. Although the second army from
South Carolina disbanded soon after the battle, the Tuscarora War continued for several years. Some previous neutral Tuscarora
turned hostile, and the Iroquois confederacy entered the dispute. In the end a large number of
Tuscarora moved north to live among the Iroquois.
The Tuscarora War altered the geopolitical context of colonial America in several ways, including a general Iroquois interest
in the south. For the many southeastern Indians involved, it was the first time so many had collaborated in a military campaign
and seen how different the various English colonies were. As a result the war helped to bind the Indians of the entire region
together, enhancing Indian networks of communication and trade. The Cherokee become much more closely integrated with the
region's various Indians and Europeans. The Tuscarora War marked the beginning of an English-Cherokee relationship that, despite
breaking down on occasion, remained strong for much of the 18th century. The Tuscarora War also marks the rise of Cherokee
military power, demonstrated in the 1714 attack and destruction of the Yuchi town of Chestowee (in
today's southeastern Tennessee). The English traders Alexander Long and Eleazer Wiggan instigated the attack through various
deceptions and promises, although there was a pre-existing conflict between the Cherokee and Yuchi. The traders' plot was based
in the Cherokee town of Euphase (Great Hiwassee), and mainly involved Cherokee from that
town. In May of 1714 the Cherokee destroyed the Yuchi town of Chestowee. Inhabitants not killed or captured fled to the Creek or
the Savannah River Yuchi. Long and Wiggan had told the Cherokee that the South Carolina government wished for and approved this
attack, which was not true. The governor of South Carolina, having heard of the plot, sent a messenger to tell the Cherokee not
to attack Chestowee. The messenger arrived too late to save Chestowee, but played a role in the Cherokee decision not to continue
and attack the Savannah River Yuchi. The Cherokee attack on the Yuchi ended with Chestowee, but it was enough to catch the
attention of every Indian tribe and European colony in the region. Thus around 1715, after the Tuscarora War and the attack on
Chestowee, the Cherokee emerged as a major power.[5]
In 1715, just as the Tuscarora War was winding down, the Yamasee War broke out. Numerous
Indian tribes launched attacks on South Carolina. The Cherokee participated in some
of the attacks, but were divided on what course to take. After South Carolina's militia succeeded in driving off the Yamasee and
Catawba the Cherokee's position became strategically pivotal. Both South Carolina and
the Lower Creek tried to gain Cherokee support. Some Cherokee favored an alliance with South Carolina and war on the Creek, while
others favored the opposite. The impasse was resolved in January of 1716, when a delegation of Creek leaders were murdered at the
Cherokee town of Tugaloo. Subsequently, the Cherokee launched attacks against
the Creek, but in 1717 peace treaties between South Carolina and the Creek were finalized, undermining the Cherokee's commitment
to war. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades.[6]
The Cherokee nation was unified from a society of interrelated city-states in the early 18th century under the "Emperor"
Moytoy, with the aid of an unofficial English envoy, Sir Alexander Cuming. In 1730, at Nikwasi,
Chief Moytoy II of Tellico was chosen as "Emperor" by
the Elector Chiefs of the principal Cherokee towns. Moytoy agreed to recognize the British king, George II, as the Cherokee
protector. Seven prominent Cherokee, including Attacullaculla, traveled with Sir
Alexander Cuming back to England. The Cherokee delegation stayed in London for four months. The visit culminated in a formal
treaty of alliance between the British and Cherokee, the 1730 Treaty of Whitehall. While the journey to London and the treaty
were important factors in future British-Cherokee relations, the title of Cherokee Emperor did not carry much clout among the
Cherokee, and eventually passed out of Moytoy's direct avuncular lineage. The unification of the Cherokee nation was essentially
ceremonial, with political authority remaining town-based for decades afterward. In addition, Sir Alexander Cuming's aspirations
to play an important role in Cherokee affairs failed.[7]
Beginning at about the time of the American Revolutionary War in the late
18th century, divisions over continued accommodation of encroachments by white settlers, despite
repeated violations of previous treaties, caused some Cherokee to begin to leave the Cherokee Nation. Many of these dissidents
became known as the Chickamauga. Led by Chief Dragging
Canoe, the Chickamauga made alliances with the Shawnee and engaged in raids against
colonial settlements (see Chickamauga Wars). Some
of these early dissidents eventually moved across the Mississippi River to areas that
would later become the states of Arkansas and Missouri. Their settlements were established on the St. Francis and the
White Rivers by 1800.
Pre 19th century society
Much of what we know about pre 19th century Cherokee history, culture, and society comes from the papers of American writer
John Howard Payne. The Payne papers describe the memory Cherokee elder's had of a
traditional societal structure based in a "white" organization of elders representing the seven clans, an organization which was
hereditary and described as priestly. This group was responsible for religious activities such as healing, purification, and
prayer. A second group of younger men were the "red" organization, which was responsible for warfare. However, warfare was
considered a polluting activity which required the purification of the priestly class before participants could reintegrate in
normal village life. However, this hierarchy had faded by the Cherokee removal in 1838. The reasons have been widely discussed
and may include a revolt by the Cherokee against the abuses of the priestly class, the massive smallpox epidemic of the late
1730s, and the inception of Christian ideas which transformed Cherokee religion by the end of the eighteenth century (Irwin
1992).
Ethnographer James Mooney studied the Cherokee in the late 1880s and traced the decline
of the former hierarchy to the revolt (Mooney 1900, 392). By that time the hierarchy of Cherokee religious practitioners was more
informal and based more on individual knowledge and ability than the previous hereditary system. Further complicating this was
that the Eastern Cherokee which had not participated in the removal and remained in the mountains of western North Carolina faced
constant pressure from the U.S. government, who wished for their removal (Irwin 1992).
Another major source of early cultural history comes from the materials written in Cherokee by the didanvwisgi
(Cherokee:ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ), or Cherokee medicine men, after the creation of the Cherokee syllabary
by Sequoya in the 1820s. These were initially only used by the didanvwisgi (Cherokee:ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ), and were considered extremely
powerful (Irwin 1992). Later, these were widely adopted by the Cherokee people.
19th century
Eventually, there were such large numbers of Cherokees in these areas, the U.S. Government in 1815 right after the
War of 1812 in which Cherokees fought on both the British and American armies, established a
Cherokee Reservation in Arkansas, with boundaries from north of the Arkansas River up to
the southern bank of the White River. Cherokee leaders who lived in Arkansas were The Bowl, Sequoyah, Spring Frog and The Dutch.
Another band of Cherokee lived in southeast Missouri, western Kentucky and Tennessee in frontier settlements and in European
majority communities around the Mississippi River.
John Ross was an important figure in the history of the Cherokee tribe.
His father emigrated from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary War. His mother was a
quarter-blood Cherokee woman whose father was also from Scotland. He began his public career in 1809. The Cherokee Nation was
founded in 1820, with elected public officials. John Ross became the chief of the tribe in 1828, and remained the chief until his
death in 1866.
Trail of Tears
Cherokees were displaced from their ancestral lands in North Georgia and the Carolinas in a period of rapidly expanding white
population, a situation as well as a gold rush around Dahlonega, Georgia in the 1830s. Various official reasons for the removal were given. One was that
the Cherokee were not efficiently using their land, and the land should be given to white farmers. Others disputed this, although
some contest to this day that President Jackson's intentions toward the Cherokee in this
policy was humanitarian. Jackson himself said that the policy was an effort to prevent the Cherokee from facing the fate of "the
Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the
Delaware" (Wishart 1995, 120). However there is ample evidence that the Cherokee were adapting
modern farming techniques, and a modern analysis shows that the area was in general in a state of economic surplus (Wishart
1995).
Despite a Supreme Court ruling in their favor, many in the Cherokee Nation were
forcibly relocated West, a migration known as the Trail of Tears or in Cherokee Nunna
Daul Tsunny (Cherokee:The Trail Where They Cried). This took place after the Indian
Removal Act of 1830, although as of 1883, the Cherokee were the last large southern Indian tribe to be removed. Even so,
the harsh treatment the Cherokee received at the hands of white settlers caused some to enroll to emigrate west (Perdue 2000,
565).
Samuel Carter, author of Cherokee Sunset, writes: "Then… there came the reign of terror. From the jagged-walled
stockades the troops fanned out across the Nation, invading every hamlet, every cabin, rooting
out the inhabitants at bayonet point. The Cherokees hardly had time to realize what was happening as they were prodded like so
many sheep toward the concentration camps, threatened with knives and pistols, beaten with rifle butts if they resisted."[8]
Ridge opposition
Among the Cherokee, John Ross led the battle to halt their removal. Ross's position was in opposition to that of a group known
as the "Ridge Party" or the "Treaty Party". This was in reference to the Treaty of New
Echota, which exchanged Cherokee land for land in the west and its principle signers John
Ridge and his father Major Ridge.
Cherokee Nation Courthouse, mid-19th century
On June 22, 1839, the prominent signers of the Treaty of New
Echota were executed, including Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot by
Cherokee extremists.
In the early 1860s, John Ridge's son, novelist John Rollin Ridge, led a group of
delegates to Washington D.C. as early as the 1860s in a failed attempt to gain federal recognition for a Cherokee faction that
was opposed to the leadership of Chief John Ross (Christiensen 1992).
Separation
In 1848, a group of Cherokee set out on an expedition to California, looking for new settlement lands. The expedition followed the Arkansas River upstream to Rocky Mountains in present-day
Colorado, then followed the base of mountains northward into present-day Wyoming, before turning westward. The route become known as the Cherokee
Trail or the Rocky Mountain Trail, starting from Fort Smith,
Arkansas that also extended northward to Montana all the way to the Canadian border near Cut Bank, Montana.
The group, which undertook gold prospecting in California, returned along the same route the following year, noticing
placer gold deposits in tributaries of the South
Platte. The discovery went unnoticed for a decade, but eventually became one of the primary sources of the
Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1859 and other gold rushes across the western U.S. in the
1860s.
Map of the present-day Cherokee Nation Tribal Statistical Area
Not all of the eastern Cherokees were removed on the Trail of Tears. William Holland
Thomas, a white store owner and state legislator from Jackson County, North
Carolina, helped over 600 Cherokee from Qualla Town (the site of modern-day Cherokee, North Carolina) obtain North Carolina citizenship. As citizens, they were exempt from
forced removal to the west. In addition, over 400 other Cherokee hid from Federal troops in the remote Snowbird Mountains of
neighboring Graham County, North Carolina, under the leadership of
Tsali (ᏣᎵ)[9]
(the subject of the outdoor drama Unto These Hills held in Cherokee, North Carolina). Together, these groups were the basis for what is now known as the
Eastern Band of Cherokees. Out of gratitude to Thomas, these Western North Carolina Cherokees served in the American Civil War as part of Thomas's Legion. Thomas's Legion consisted of infantry, cavalry, and
artillery. The legion mustered approximately 2,000 men of both Cherokee and white origin, fighting primarily in Virginia, where
their battle record was outstanding.[10] Thomas's Legion was the last Confederate unit in the eastern theater of the war to
surrender after capturing Waynesville, North Carolina on May 9, 1865. They agreed to cease hostilities on the condition of being allowed to
retain their arms for hunting. This, together with Stand Watie's surrender of western forces
on July 23, 1865, gave the Cherokees the distinction of being the very last Confederates to capitulate in both theaters of the
Civil War. In Oklahoma, the Dawes Act of 1887 broke up the tribal land base. Under the Curtis
Act of 1898, Cherokee courts and governmental systems were abolished by the U.S. Federal
Government.
20th century
These and other acts were designed to end tribal sovereignty to pave the way for Oklahoma Statehood in 1907 . The Federal
government appointed chiefs to the Cherokee Nation, often just long enough to sign a treaty. However, the Cherokee Nation
recognized that it needed leadership and a general convention was convened in 1938 to elect a Chief. They choose J. B. Milam as principal chief, and as a goodwill gesture President Franklin Delano Roosevelt confirmed the election in 1941.
W. W. Keeler was appointed chief in 1949, but as the federal government adopted the
self-determination policy, the Cherokee Nation was able to rebuild its government and W. W. Keeler was elected chief by the
people, via a Congressional Act signed by President Richard Nixon. Keeler, who was also
the President of Phillips Petroleum was succeeded by Ross Swimmer,
Wilma Mankiller, Joe Byrd, and Chad
Smith, who is currently the chief of the Nation (2007).
The United Keetoowah Band took a different track than the Cherokee Nation, and received federal recognition after the
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 . They are descended from the Old Settlers
or Cherokees that moved west before Removal, and the tribe requires a quarter blood quantum for enrollment. The UKB members must
descend from an ancestor on the Final Dawes Roll of the Cherokee.
Cherokee Recognition
-
Historically, race was not a factor in the acceptance of individuals into Cherokee Society, since historically, the Cherokee
People viewed their self-identity as a political rather than racial distinction.[11] Going far back into antiquity based upon existing social and historical evidence as well as oral
traditions among the Cherokee themselves, the Cherokee Society was best described as an Indian Republic.
Inheritance was largely matrilineal, and kinship and clan membership was of primary importance until around 1810, when the
seven Cherokee clans began the abolition of blood vengeance by giving the sacred duty to the new Cherokee National government.
Clans formally relinquished judicial responsibilities by the 1820s when the Cherokee Supreme Court was established. When in 1825,
the National Council extended citizenship to biracial children of Cherokee men, the matrilineal definition of clans was broken
and clan membership no longer defined Cherokee citizenship. These ideas were largely incorporated into the 1827 Cherokee
constitution (Perdue 2000, 564). The constitution did state that "No person who is of negro or mulatlo [sic]parentage, either by
the father or mother side, shall be eligible to hold any office of profit, honor or trust under this Government," with an
exception for, "negroes and descendants of white and Indian men by negro women who may have been set free" (Perdue 2000,
564-565). Although by this time, some Cherokee considered clans to be anachronistic, this feeling may have been more widely held
among the elite than the general population (Perdue 2000, 566). Thus even in the initial constitution, the Cherokee reserved the
right to define who was and was not Cherokee as a political rather than racial distinction.
This principle of self-government and tribal sovereignty has not prevented controversy on the matter. According to the Boston
College Sociologist and Cherokee Citizen, Eva Marie Garroutte, there are upwards of 32 separate definitions of "Indian" used in
federal legislation as of a 1978 congressional survey (Garroutte 2003, 16). The 1994 Federal Legislation AIRFA (American Indian Religious Freedom Act) defines an Indian as one who belongs to an
Indian Tribe, which is a group that "is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United
States to Indians because of their status as Indians."
The Congress of the United States, The Federal Courts, and State Courts have repeatedly upheld this sovereignty of Native
Tribes and define their relationship in political rather than racial terms, and have stated such as a compelling interest of the
United States.[12]
Many groups have sought recognition by the federal government as Cherokee tribes, but today there are only three groups
recognized by the government. Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller has discussed that some groups, which he calls
Cherokee Heritage Groups, are encouraged (Glenn 2006). Others, however, are
controversial for their attempts to gain economically through their claims to be Cherokee, a claim which is disputed by the three
federally recognized groups, who assert themselves as the only groups having the legal right to present themselves as Cherokee
Indian Tribes (Official Statement Cherokee Nation 2000, Pierpoint 2000).
Garroutte categorizes four facets of Indian identity: law, biology, culture, and self-identification. By law, membership in
the Cherokee Nation is based in being direct blood descendant of a Dawes Act enrollee.[13]
Modern Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation Historic Courthouse in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
The modern Cherokee Nation in recent times has excelled and has experienced an unprecedented expansion in economic growth,
equality, and prosperity for its citizens under the leadership of Principal Chief Chad Smith, with significant business, corporate, real estate, and agricultural
interests, including numerous highly profitable casino operations. The Cherokee Nation controls Cherokee
Nation Enterprises, Cherokee Nation Industries, and Cherokee Nation Businesses. CNI is a very large Defense contractor
that creates thousands of jobs in Eastern Oklahoma for Cherokee Citizens.
The Nation has constructed health clinics throughout Oklahoma, contributed to community development programs, built roads and
bridges, constructed learning facilities and universities for its citizens, instilled the practice of Gadugi and self-reliance in its citizens, revitalized language immersion programs for its children and youth, and
is a powerful and positive economic and political force in Eastern Oklahoma.
The Cherokee Nation hosts the Cherokee National Holiday on Labor Day weekend each year and 80,000 to 90,000 Cherokee Citizens travel to Tahlequah,
Oklahoma for the festivities. The Cherokee Nation also publishes the Cherokee Phoenix,
a tribal newspaper which has operated continuously since 1828, publishing editions in both English and the Sequoyah Syllabary.
The Cherokee Nation council appropriates money for historic foundations concerned with the preservation of Cherokee Culture,
including the Cherokee Heritage Center which hosts a reproduction of an ancient
Cherokee Village, Adams Rural Village (a turn-of-the-century village), Nofire Farms and the Cherokee Family Research Center
(genealogy), which is open to the public.[14] The
Cherokee Heritage Center is home to the Cherokee National Museum, which has numerous exhibitions also open to the public. The CHC
is the repository for the Cherokee Nation as its National Archives. The CHC operates under the Cherokee National Historical
Society, Inc., and is governed by a Board of Trustees with an executive committee. Current President of the board is Mary Ellen
Meredith. Director Carey Tilley sees over the daily operations.[citation needed]
The Cherokee Nation also supports the Cherokee Nation Film Festivals in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and participates in the Sundance
Film Festival in Park City, Utah Many famous American Indian actors are members of the
Cherokee Nation, such as Wes Studi.
Environment
Today the Cherokee Nation is one of America's biggest proponents of ecological protection. Since 1992, the Nation has served
as the lead for the Inter-Tribal Environmental Council.[15] The mission of ITEC is to protect the health of American Indians, their natural resources and
their environment as it relates to air, land and water. To accomplish this mission, ITEC provides technical support, training and
environmental services in a variety of environmental disciplines. Currently, there are forty-one (41) ITEC member tribes in
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.
Cherokee Freedmen
-
The seal of the Cherokee Nation.
The Cherokee Freedmen, descendants of African American slaves owned by citizens of the Cherokee Nation during the Antebellum Period, were first guaranteed Cherokee citizenship via treaty in 1866, in the wake of the
American Civil War. Their citizenship was revoked in the 1980s. On March 7, 2006, the Cherokee Nation Judicial Appeal Tribunal announced that the
Cherokee Freedmen were eligible once more for Cherokee citizenship. This ruling proved controversial; while the Cherokee Freedman
had historically been recorded as "citizens" of the Cherokee Nation at least since 1866 and the later Dawes Commission Land Rolls, the ruling "did not limit membership to people possessing Cherokee
blood".[16] This ruling
was consistent with the 1975 Constitution of the Cherokee Nation, in its acceptance of the Cherokee Freedmen on the basis of
historical citizenship, rather than evidenced blood relation.
The Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Chad Smith, later
announced that because of issues raised by the Cherokee people, the issue of Freedmen citizenship was being considered for a vote
proposing amendments to the Cherokee Nation Constitution. These amendments were intended to restrict tribal membership
exclusively to Cherokees by blood descent, thus excluding the Freedmen from tribal membership.[17] The Constitution had
always restricted governmental positions to persons of Cherokee blood.
In March 2007, the tribe voted on the constitutional amendment.[18] 76.6% of voters affirmed the proposed amendment, revoking the tribal citizenship of the
descendants of black slaves who had formerly been considered Cherokee citizens.[19] The vote to oust the Freedmen provoked a firestorm of controversy,
particularly from various political circles, including the Congressional Black
Caucus. There were calls for the revocation of all federal funding for the Cherokee Nation.[20]
The Cherokee Freedmen were reinstated as citizens of the Cherokee Nation by the Cherokee Nation Tribal Courts on May 15, 2007,
while appeals are pending in the Cherokee Nation Courts and Federal Court.[21]
On May 22, 2007, the Cherokee Nation received notice from the United States Bureau
of Indian Affairs that the BIA and Federal Government had denied the amendments to the 1975 Cherokee Nation Constitution
because it required BIA approval, which had not been obtained. The BIA also noted that the Cherokee Nation had excluded the
Cherokee Freedmen from the amendment vote. The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Nation could take away the
approval authority it had granted the federal government. Principal Chief Smith has also argued against the requirement of BIA
approval for constitutional amendments.[22][23] Congresswoman Diane
Watson responded by introducing a bill which would sever ties between the United States and the Cherokee Nation until the
Freedmen issue is resolved.[24][25]
As of August 9 2007, the BIA has given the Cherokee Nation consent to modify their Constitution without approval from the
Department of the Interior.[26] Businessman and owner of
the Tennessee Titans football team Bud Adams is an
enrolled member of the tribe.
Jimi Hendrix, lead singer, guitarist and frontman of Jimi Hendrix Experience, was of Cherokee heritage through his maternal grandmother, Nora
Rose Moore.[27]
Other famous people of Cherokee ancestry include the actors Johnny Depp, Burt Reynolds, James Garner, Wes
Studi and Chuck Norris; the musicians Eartha
Kitt; the painter Robert Rauschenberg; John Leak Springston, and the writer Mitch Cullin.
See also
Notes
- ^ The American Indian and Alaska Native
Population: 2000. Census 2000 Brief (2002-02-01). Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ a b c Mooney, James [1900] (1995). Myths
of the Cherokee. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-28907-9.
- ^ Glottochronology from: Lounsbury, Floyd (1961), and Mithun, Marianne
(1981), cited in The Native Languages of the Southeastern United States, by Nicholas A. Hopkins.
- ^ Drake, Richard B. (2001). A History of Appalachia. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN
0-8131-2169-8.
- ^ a b Gallay, Alan (2002). The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South
1670-1717. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10193-7.
- ^ Oatis, Steven J. (2004). A Colonial Complex: South Carolina's Frontiers in the Era of the Yamasee War,
1680-1730. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-3575-5.
- ^ Finger, John R. (2001). Tennessee Frontiers: Three Regions in Transition. Indiana University
Press. ISBN 0-253-33985-5.
- ^ Carter
(III), Samuel (1976). Cherokee sunset: A nation betrayed : a narrative of travail and triumph, persecution and exile.
New York: Doubleday, p. 232. ISBN 0-385-06735-6.
- ^ Tsali. History and culture of the Cherokee (North Carolina Indians). Retrieved on
2007-03-10.
- ^ Will Thomas. History and
culture of the Cherokee (North Carolina Indians). Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ AIRFA Federal Precedence Applied in State Court http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/stott.html
- ^ State of Utah Court Case http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/stott.html
- ^ Cherokee Nation Registration http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=services&service=Registration&ID=8sRG9ZCF7PE=
- ^ Cherokee Heritage Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ Inter-Tribal Environmental Council. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ Freedman Decision. Retrieved
on 2007-03-10.
- ^ Citizen Views Fall on
Both Sides of Freedmen Issue. Cherokee Nation News Release (2006-03-13). Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ Morris, Frank. "Cherokee Tribe Faces Decision
on Freedmen", National Public Radio, 2007-02-21. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
- ^ "Cherokees eject slave descendants", BBC News, 2007-03-04. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
- ^ "Freedmen Seek Federal Injunction To Protect Cherokee Citizenship", KOTV News, 2007-05-09.
Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ "Cherokee Courts
Reinstate Freedmen".
- ^ Cherokee Nation Says It Will Abide by Court's Decision on Constitution
[1]
- ^ BIA rejects Cherokee Amendment [2]
- ^ [3] To sever United States' government relations with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
until such time as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma restores full tribal citizenship to the Cherokee Freedmen...]. Retrieved on
2007-07-07.
- ^ Watson Introduces Legislation to Sever U.S. Relations with the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma (June 21, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ Letter from Carl
Altman, 8-9-2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
Relationship with the Eastern Band
The Cherokee Nation participates in numerous joint programs with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It also participates in
cultural exchange programs and joint Tribal Council meetings involving councillors from both Cherokee Tribes which address issues
affecting all of the Cherokee People. Unlike the adversarial relationship between the administrations of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation, the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians interactions with the Cherokee Nation
presents a unified spirit of Gadugi with the leaders and citizens of the Eastern Band. It should
be noted that the United Keetoowah Band tribal council unanimously passed a resolution to approach the Cherokee Nation for a
joint council meeting between the two Nations, as a means of "offering the olive branch", in the words of the UKB Council. While
a date was set (first Saturday in June 2007) for the meeting between members of the Cherokee Nation council and UKB
representation Chief Smith vetoed the meeting.
Marriage Law controversy
On June 14 2004, the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council voted to
officially define marriage as a union between man and woman, thereby outlawing same-sex
marriage. This decision came in response to an application by a lesbian couple submitted on May 13. The decision kept
Cherokee law in line with Oklahoma state law, which outlawed gay marriage as the result of a popular referendum on a
constitutional amendment in 2004.
Famous Cherokees
There were several famous Cherokees in American history, including Sequoyah, who invented
the Cherokee writing system. It was thought for many years that he was the only person to single-handedly invent a writing
system, however it has been recently speculated that there was an ancient clan of Cherokee priests who had an older, mostly
secret rudimentary written language from which Sequoyah may have gotten inspiration. Many historians speculate that Sequoyah
never learned to speak, read or write the English language for various reasons.
Elias Boudinot, statesman, orator, and editor, wrote Poor Sarah, the
first Native-American novel. Stand Watie, Buck's younger brother, was a famous frontiersman
and the last commander of Confederate forces to surrender in the
American Civil War.
Ned Christie was a Cherokee patriot who became the subject of many books and magazine
articles, including a fictional novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry (Zeke and Ned) and Ned Christie's War, a Western novel by author
Robert J. Conley.
Will Rogers, the entertainer, was also of Cherokee heritage.<ref>{{cite web | title
= Father and Cherokee Tradition Molded Will Rogers | author = Carter JH | url =
http://www.willrogers.com/stories/stories/molded/Molded.html | accessdate = 2007-03-10}}</li> <li
id="wp-_note-10">'''[[#wp-_ref-10|^]]''' Michael J. Fairchild, liner notes to Jimi Hendrix: Blues, MCAD-11060,
1994</li></ol></ref>
References
- Christensen, P.G., Minority Interaction in John Rollin Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta MELUS, Vol.
17, No. 2, Before the Centennial. (Summer, 1991 - Summer, 1992), pp. 61-72.
- Duvall, Deborah L (2000). Tahlequah: And the
Cherokee Nation. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-0782-2.
- Ehle, John (1988). Trail of Tears: The
Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-23954-8.
- Finger, John R (1993). Cherokee Americans: The
Eastern Band of Cherokees in the Twentieth Century. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-6879-3.
- Garroutte, Eva Marie. Real Indians: identity and the survival of Native America. University of California Press,
2003
- Glenn, Eddie. "A league of nations?" Tajlequah Daily Press. January 6, 2006 (Accessed May 24, 2007 here).
- Hill, Sarah H (1997). Weaving New Worlds:
Southeastern Cherokee Women and Their Basketry. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4650-3.