The Cherokee

The Cherokee were originally located in the
Southern Appalachian Mountains including the
Carolinas, Northern Georgia and Alabama,
Southwest Virginia and the Cumberland Basin of
Tennessee and Kentucky.
The Cherokee too, were one of the tribes
who made claim to the land now called Kentucky.

Cherokee comes from the Creek word "Chelokee"
which means "people of a different speech."
Although the Cherokee language is Iroquoian it
differs significantly from the other
Iroquoian languages.

The Cherokee originally called themselves
the Aniyunwiya the "principal people" or
the Keetoowah - "people of Kituhwa.
Many prefer being called Tsalagi
from their own name for the Cherokee Nation.
It is estimated that the DeSoto expedition
in the mid 1500s introduced epidemics which
wiped out 75% of the Native American population.
In the 1670s the Cherokee population was
estimated at 50,000 but a series of smallpox
epidemics in the early to mid 1700s cut this in half.
Then came the Civil War in which the Cherokee
lost another 25% of their population.
It is said that no other group of Americans,
red or white, suffered as much from this conflict.
Current estimates are in excess of 370,000
Cherokee living on and off the reservations,
making them the largest group of Native Americans.

There are four groups of Cherokee,
three of which are recognized by the federal government.
These are: the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma,
the United Keetoowah Band, both in Oklahoma,
and the Eastern Band of Cherokee, in North Carolina.
The fourth, the Echota Cherokee,
are recognized only by the State of Alabama.
By the time the Europeans arrived,
the Cherokee were a settled agricultural people.
They relied heavily on what was called the
"three sisters", corn, beans and squash.

Their diet was supplemented through the gathering
of wild plants and hunting.
With the infiltration of the "New"
Americans the Cherokee adapted quite well.
In the 1800s they adopted a government
according to a written constitution.
They established their own court,
schools, and achieved a standard of living
that was the envy of their "civilized" neighbors.

Sequoyah developed the Cherokee alphabet and
within a few short years most of the
Cherokee Nation could read.
Today their level of education and standard
of living is among the highest of all
Native Americans.

Through the years of broken promises and
one broken treaty after another the Cherokee
were forced to move as more and more of their land
was taken. The Cherokee had even fought for
their rights in the court system.
Although they won their case before
the Supreme Court to save their lands
President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce
the court's decision and managed to pass
the Indian Removal Act.

Consequently the Cherokee and all they
owned became fair game.

When the deadline for removal arrived,
7,000 soldiers moved into the Cherokee homeland.
The reward for "taking the white man's road"
was to be driven from their homes at gunpoint.
That became what is known as the "Trail of Tears."

As for the President Andrew Jackson
he was honored by Putting him on the 20 dollar bill.

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