Chelokee Tribe Essay

The Cherokees were natives to the new land before the europeans came to colonized it.

The Cherokee language has 3 principal dialects. A’Tali or also called the upper principle is spoken throughout Northern Georgia, Eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina and is exclusively used in the native literature of the tribe. Kituwah or also known as the middle principle is spoken chiefly on the waters of the Tuckasegee River in western North Carolina and is now prevailing dialect on the east Cherokee Reservation. Elati also known as the lower principle and is spoken on the heads of the savannah river, in South Carolina and Georgia and was the only dialect to have the “R” sound, which is now extinct. Many of the Cherokee’s 12,000 tribe members still use this language today.

Like the Oneida, the Cherokee men were the hunters and the women were the farmers. Although the women did most of the farming, the entire Cherokee community would come together to plant and harvest the big fields of corn, pumpkins, beans, gourds, and potatoes. The women would keep personal gardens outside their homes to have fast growing corn and other produce that they could quickly use to make a meal. The Cherokee were famous for the many dishes that they made with corn. They made breads, soups, used corn as a side dish, and used it in stew. Corn was a necessity in the Cherokee community.

The Cherokee people were forced out of their land because of the settler’s greed for everything and anything the land had to offer. Many Cherokee even embraced the “civilization program,” abandoning their own beliefs so that they may be accepted by white settlers. Unfortunately for the Cherokee though, the settlers would never accept them as an equal citizen. A quote from historian Richard White says it very well, “The Cherokee are probably the most tragic instance of what could have succeeded in American Indian policy and didn’t. All these things that Americans would proudly see as the hallmarks of civilization are going to the West by Indian people. They do everything they were asked except one thing. What the Cherokees ultimately

The Cherokee were farmers, and their new land was infertile. The land was meant for cattle raising, which they didn't know ho to do. They built a capital city called Tahlequah, and their nation was declared in September 6, 1839. John Ross who was elected by the Cherokee as the President of the Cherokee nation in 1827 continues his roll in the land, shared with another seventy tribes. They had opened up schools in the Indian Territory to continue their education for their children. The first Cherokee school opened in 1801 when the people were learning their language. Their written language, which consists of 85 characters, was said to be created by a Sequoia (1760-1843), a Cherokee leader. The Cherokee had mixed blood from the early British settlers and traders. Therefore, the Cherokee were educated in both languages. For over half a century the Cherokee have abstained from becoming American Citizens until 1906 when the Unites States made all

The Cherokees had lived in the interior southeast, for hundreds of years in the nineteenth century. But in the early eighteenth century setters from the European ancestry started moving into the

To begin with, the Cherokee tribe was one of the three primary Native American tribes in South Carolina that called themselves “the real people.” Upward in the mountains, they lived in these villages called “longhouses.” For the girls, their daily lives consisted of doing work in the field, planting and hoeing corn, then harvesting it. On the other hand, the boy’s daily lives consisted of being taught to fish and hunt. Their food was examples of fruits, nuts, corn, pole beans, squash, pumpkins, bottle gourds, and tobacco. Next, the Catawba tribe was another one of the three primary Native American tribes in South Carolina that called themselves the “river people. They used Carolina clay to make their pottery which they were known for. The Catawba dwellers lived in villages that had an open rounding on the top. The Catawbas were primarily farmers because every day they planted crops by the river, fished and hunted. Therefore, the Yemassee tribe was the third primary tribe in South Carolina that was from Spanish Florida. Throughout the summer, they lived on a beach, staying in Wigwams concealed in palmetto leaves. However, during the fall, winter, and spring they stayed in wattle and daub homes with a roof of leaves like the Cherokee. Every day they would eat clams which were part of their diet and equip the land for crops. Women were obligated for child rearing, making clothes, and served food and the men congregated the rest of the food in fishing and hunting.

There are hundreds of Native American tribes and millions of people that are within North America that identify themselves as Native Americans. Each tribe has their own unique customs, language, and myths. However, within the confines of this paper I will take a broad view with regards to Native American customs and traditions from a small sample of tribes that were observed prior to the vast expansion of colonizing the west.

The Cherokee Indians were mainly know for living in the southeastern part of the United States of America. But they had moved around several different areas before they discovered their so thought "forever home." They lived there until they were forced to leave to Oklahoma during the trail of tears. Lots of us have heard of the "Smokey Mountains," and the Smokey Mountains is where the Cherokee Indians were famous for living at. Now the area they

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

History tells us where we have been and possibly where we are going. In Indian culture, the past is just as important, if not important than the future because the past is what shaped them into what they are today. For the Cherokee, they are an Iroquoian variant which says a lot about their history, even deeper into their history is that they are made up of seven different clans. History is passed down through stories and ceremonies, which is why language is so important. Through the passing along of oral history, it was known to the Cherokees that they settled in the fertile lands along the rivers and valleys if the Smokey Mountains for the abundant herbs and plants that grew and the many types of game available to hunt. History shows that the Cherokees lived in four different settlements, lower, middle, valley and overkill, each with their characteristics that made them

First of all, the Cherokee were residents of Georgia, North and South Carolina,Virginia,Kentucky,and Tennessee. During, the 1800's on the Trail of Tears many

die. The Red Chief was also in charge of the lacrosse games which were called

So where do the laws actually come from? As it turns out, the traditional law of the Cherokee emanated from religious beliefs, rather than from written secular rules mandating certain behavior. The basic tenet of religious belief that guided tribal life was the maintenance of harmony. The Cherokee people lived by a clearly defined pattern and structure to their lives, sustained by age-old customs, rituals, beliefs, ceremonies, and symbols that guided the “rightful” and “eternal” order of things. They believed that there was no aspect of life free from spiritual meaning and thus Cherokee life was “woven together into a unified pattern of religious rules and connections involving harmony with the world above, the world below, and the world around.”

Most of us have learnt about the Trail of Tears as an event in American history, but not many of us have ever explored why the removal of the Indians to the West was more than an issue of mere land ownership. Here, the meaning and importance of land to the original Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States is investigated. American land was seen as a way for white settlers to profit, but the Cherokee held the land within their hearts. Their removal meant much more to them than just the loss of a material world. Historical events, documentations by the Cherokee, and maps showing the loss of Cherokee land work together to give a true Cherokee