The Cherokees: A First Americans Book by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Ronald Himler, Holiday House, New York, 1996.
The original Cherokee territory included northern Georgia and Alabama and then most of Tennessee and also parts of South and North Carolina. They had different homes in summer and winter. Winter homes were circular and larger. They had a fire burning in the center day and night. Summer homes were oblong and smaller. A village would have 30-60 homes. There was no chief of all the Cherokee, thee would be council meetings with several communities.
The men enjoyed sports. Villages were built around squares which were used for dancing or games. The men participated in stickball, a game similar to lacrosse. There were 50 en per team and villages would play eachother. Games were often accompanied by dances.
Women also participated in government and there were female councils held. women were considered sacred. The planted and raised crops, cared for livestock, smoked meat, tanned hides and made and repaired clothing.
Children, boys and girls played together until about ten years ole. Then the participated in gender related activities, boys learning to hunt and girls to help their mothers. Listening to stories was a common pastime for children.
Ceremony and dance were important to Cherokee communities; especially the green corn dance. Part of this ceremony was starting new. They would clean their home, get rid of or repair torn and old clothing, They would also put ut their fires. Then a medicine man would start a new fire and torches would go from that to all the homes to start new fires.
Contact with white men brought change. Many tried to adopt white ways. They were "civilized." However the Cherokee land kept shrinking with whites taking more and more. Cherokee became literate based on Sequoyah's alphabet. Many of them also dressed in White man clothes.
Even so President Jackson decided the Cherokee had to move, and Congress voted with him. Major John Ridge who was the elected chief at the time accepted the treaty of New Echola. He was afraid Georgia would just take their land with no recompense. They were to receive $5 million to move west. Many did not want to leave, but 17,000 Cherokee left for Indian Territory. This was the Trail of Tears. Four thousand Cherokee died on the trek.
There are still Cherokee in the east. A band of 400 were left in North Carolina. This became the eastern Cherokee.
In Oklahoma there is no longer a Cherokee reservation, but there is a government. Their land was allotted, giving each family land but also making some available to white settlers.
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