HUM 221: Monday's class and Wednesday's assignment - Cherokees in Okla. and N.C.

For Wednesday, read pp. 44-45 in Zimmerman and Molyneaux. Also the essay by Carroll Arnett (Gogisgi) in "Here First." This is about the third time I've assigned it, and we're finally ready to discuss it. Arnett, of Oklahoma, discovered his Cherokee heritage after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and went on to write poetry.

This week we'll study the Cherokee people. There are two main groups: The Cherokee Nation, who have lived in Oklahoma since they were forced to move there over the "Trail of Tears" in 1838, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee in western North Carolina, who are descended from people who hid in the mountains in 1838.

The Eastern Band has an attractive promotional website at http://www.cherokee-nc.com/ on their principal town in Cherokee, N.C. Pull down the menu on "The People" at the left of the page, and read the pages on Cherokee history, language and legends for starters. The website, created by an ad agency in nearby Asheville, is designed for tourists (even German tourists, who can click on the flag of Germany on the lower left of the page), but its information is accurate.

(The cherokee-nc.com website also offers help with geneology, for those of you who may have Cherokee ancestors.)

To get a feel for some of the history, we'll watch a Nammy-winning video on the Trail of Tears. Its blurb says:

Nearly a quarter of the Cherokee Nation froze or starved to death on the trail to Oklahoma Indian Territory. This video explores America's darkest period: President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma in 1838. Nearly a quarter of the Cherokee National died during the Trail of Tears, arriving in Indian Territory with few elders and even fewer children. Presented by Wes Studi and narrated by James Earl Jones, "Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy" has already captured an impressive array of awards including a Nammy for best long video. Known worldwide as "The Nammys" - Nama (Native American Music Awards) is an ultimate celebration of music & video honoring the outstanding achievements of today's leading Native American artists.

We will follow it with the national anthem of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Yes. That's right. Nation. Indian tribes are semi-independent, sovereign nations, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia (1832). The Cherokees won the case, but it didn't stop them from being forced to go on the Trail of Tears.

We'll also see a few clips of people preserving the old traditions, which are largely lost now. Walker Calhoun, an Eastern Band elder who has preserved many of the old traditions and handed them down to later generations, sings the corn dance song while pictures of southern cornfields show in the background; the Cherokee revered corn as a food source and as one of their most important culture heroes (not quite a godess, but almost), named Sula.
A small group of traditional dancers demonstrates the bear dance in the old council grounds at Red Clay, Tenn. A Cherokee Indian performs his interpretation of a traditional war dance at the Ocmulgee Indian Celebration in Macon, Ga.

Another kind of tradition lives on in a Cherokee stickball game at the Nikwasi Celebration in Franklin, N.C. May 17, 2008. A writer for North Carolina's Smoky Mountain News described a game like this:

Like most of you reading this, I’ve experienced or observed in one way or another the more grueling sports played in this country: hockey, football, wrestling, boxing, and so on. But the near-violent mayhem of that Cherokee ball game was the first and only event that has ever turned my stomach; that is, I was a bit nauseous for a few moments. It appeared to my unschooled eyes that the players could, with a running start, hit anybody at any time with just about anything.

I asked a Cherokee man standing alongside me, “What are the rules?”

“Can’t touch the ball with your hands,” he replied.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” he replied.