The Cherokee and Their Native Land, Essay Example

Culture is an important facet of human life. It is the element that defines a people’s beliefs, perceptions and world view. Without culture, there would not exist any differences between people in the world. The article “Cherokee Life Just Before the Removal” by Barbara Duncan highlights the life of the Cherokee before eviction from their tribal lands. The Native American tribes of North America all had distinctive features that set them apart from each other. In particular, the Southwest Native Americans differed from the Southeast Native Americans. Owing to these distinct and unique differences, it was simple for the colonialist to divide and conquer the native tribes of North America. The Cherokee are one of the main southeast Native American tribes that lived mainly in the states of Alabama, Louisiana and Georgia. They are one of the infamous “Five Civilized Tribes” as the tribe was considerably developed compared to the other native tribes of the southeast. However, they are presently located in Oklahoma owing to the state removal of the native tribes from the lands as a result of gold mining (Conley R. J., 2005). What role did the Cherokee play in the removal from their native lands? Even though it is largely considered as the fault of the state in its ambition and greed to chase away the Cherokee from their land. The Cherokee contributed to this. This paper will take a positive point of view

Culture

The Cherokee speak Iroquoian and organized themselves in clans. The Cherokee instituted a tract clan system that helped with identity and intermarriage restriction within the same clan. Clan members were essentially family, all brothers and sisters descended from one common ancestor. Individual’s inherited their clans through their birth mothers and the clans included the Wolf Clan, the Blue Clan, the Bird Clan, the Deer Clan, The Paint Clan, the Wild Potato Clan the Wolf Clan and the Long Hair Clan (Conley R. J., 2005).

Most of the tribe had round shelter. They were primarily made of logas and sticks with grass covering acting as the roof. At the top of the roof, there was a hole that let in sunlight during the day and moonlight at night. However, some of their neighbouring tribes had a slightly different architectural design, with storey frame houses. These structures were covered with bark while others preferred the thatched roof.

Most of their diet was meat based with several variations for vegetables and other meals. Their food involved:

• Cornpones
• Corn bread
• Tomatoes
• Hominy grits
• Sweet potatoes
• Potatoes
• Bear meat
• Possum meat
• Turkey
• Other available meats(Thornton, Snipp, & Breen, 1990)

The Cherokee wore brightly coloured clothing. During the summer, the women would primarily be naked from the waist up while during the winter, the whole tribe would be dressed in wool and moss. Later on, the long skirt became popular with the tribes of this group. The Cherokee were primarily hunters and gatherers solely depending on their land for sustenance. This work was predominantly done by the men with the young boys receiving training as a rite of passage. The women would take care of house chores and raise the children.

The California Gold Rush

The discovery of gold in the California region led to the invasion of native tribe land by prospective miners. The news of the discovery of Gold in California brought in colonial miners even as far as Europe. However, the chemicals and the procedures used in the mining process had a significant impact of the environment and the quality of water (Conley R. J., 2005). This contamination by the mining processes led to the death of life within the ecosystem. The fish with the nearby rivers started perishing and so did the wildlife that drank the water from these contaminated rivers. The Mining activity negatively affected the land that led to conflict between the natives and the miners as the natives sought to protect way of life. In 1830, the sitting president, Andrew Jackson, ratified the removal bill (Thornton, Snipp, & Breen, 1990). President Jackson believed that the economic prospect that gold held for the country far outweighed the plight of the Cherokee. This bill would remove the native Indians from their land and relocate them elsewhere, leading to the trail of tears (Ehle, 1988).

The Cherokee then signed a series of treaties that would see them agree to leave their land as long as no other government is placed over them. This raises the concern over the fact that the Cherokee actually played a huge role in their relocation. This is where the controversy in the history of the Cherokee lies. The Cherokee succumbed to the rule and authority of the colonialist, failing to defend their land and actually easily giving their land away, contrary to the widely held belief that the Cherokee were victims.

The author effectively employs language to highlight the plight of the Cherokee people. The rich history of the Cherokee people sets them apart amongst the native tribes of North America. The article depicts how the culture of the Cherokee people possible extinction at the time of the eviction from their native lands. Their way of life was altered as a result of their forced change of geographical location. While families had developed their livelihood around their environment, hunting, gathering and farming food, this way of life, their culture was perceived to be of lesser value to the potential economic benefits that would be realized from mining gold from their land.

Clifford Geertz defines culture as “public because meaning is”. In essence he believes that culture is a collective property of any given group that easily relate to or associate with each other. This explains the difference and difficulty in understanding another’s culture other than our own, showing the lack of familiarity with a foreign meaning. Edward Said defines cultures as a fact that spun out of a dialectic of self and other. Where the subject I is a representation of home while you or it being a representation of something foreign and that potentially poses a threat.

In conclusion, the Cherokee were an advanced and more developed tribe as compared to the other Native Indian tribes. The Gold Rush led to the eviction of the Cherokee from their land and eventual death of many of the tribe members in the trail of tears. The Cherokee agreed to their eviction to safeguard their way of life.

Works Cited

Claro, N. (1994). Cherokee indians. New York: Chelsea House Publishers.

Conley, R. J. (2005). The Cherokee Nation : A History. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Conley, R. J. (2007). A Cherokee encyclopedia. Albuquerque : University of Mexico.

Duncan, B. (2010). Cherokee Life Just Before the Removal. Tar Heel Junior Historian, 50(1). Retrieved July 4, 2015, from http://www2.ncdcr.gov/Portals/7/Collateral/Database/F10.cherokee.pdf

Ehle, J. (1988). Trail of tears : the rise and fall of the Cherokee nation. New York: Doubleday.

Mails, T. E. (1996). The Cherokee people : the story of the Cherokees from earliest origins to contemporary times.New York: Marlowe & Company.

Thornton, R., Snipp, M. C., & Breen, N. (1990). The Cherokees : A Population History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Waldman, C., & Braun, M. (2009). Encyclopedia of Native American tribes (3rd ed.). New York: Facts on File.