week of 8/7/02
 
 
 

Cherokee history has inspired many fine books
By George Ellison

As noted in the last two Back Then installments, I sometimes receive requests for information regarding this region’s “essential books.” Accordingly, this space has been devoted for two weeks to overviews of the literature about the natural history of the Southern Blue Ridge Province and the pioneer white settlement to present-day human history of Western North Carolina. As previously noted, it’s probable that more has been written about the Cherokees than any other Indian tribe in North America; therefore, we’ve waited until this third and final installment before considering that complex topic.

And yet again, I’ll note that any such overview is necessarily subjective and no doubt omits worthwhile titles. The titles mentioned are simply the ones I happen to have accumulated in my library and consult on a regular basis for articles and classes.

Archaeologists and anthropologists have calculated that the Cherokees emerged about 1,000 years ago as a distinct cultural entity during the Mississippian Period. As such, they were part of a “Southeastern Ceremonial Complex” that included the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creeks, Seminoles and Catawbas, as well as numerous smaller tribes throughout the region. This larger context within which to view the Cherokees is superbly depicted in Charles Hudson’s The Southeastern Indians (University of Tennessee Press, 1976). Hudson, an archaeologist at the University of Georgia, is generally considered to be the leading authority in Southern Indian studies. His book is a delightful must read for anyone interested in the topic.

Tribes of the Southern Woodlands (Time-Life Books, 1994) is also worthwhile in this regard. And if Southern Indian arts and crafts are an interest, a wonderful book by Emma Lila Fundaburk and Mary Douglas Foreman, once out of print, is available again: Sun Circles and Human Hands: The Southeastern Indians Art and Industries (Southern Publications, 1968).

Anyone desiring a concise and accurate overview of Cherokee culture from the earliest times into the last decades of the 21st century should consult Theda Perdue’s The Cherokee (Chelsea House Publishers, 1989). Perdue’s book is the text I use when teaching classes devoted to Cherokee history. It’s the starting point for anyone interested in the subject. I am not a big fan of The Cherokee People: The Story of the Cherokees From Earliest Times to Contemporary Times (Council Oaks Books, 1992) by Thomas Mails. His primary focus is on the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Relying on informants, he failed to visit with Eastern Band members himself, and his depiction of them is somewhat condescending in tone.

I am told that Eastern Band member Lynne Harlan, former Cultural Affairs director for the Eastern Band, and former principal chief Joyce Dugan, have recently published an overview of her peoples’ history and lore, but I have not as yet had a chance to obtain or read the book. It should make a considerable contribution to Cherokee studies.

The richest and most diverse ongoing source of information covering the full spectrum of Cherokee history and culture is the Journal of Cherokee Studies, which was initiated in 1976. It is published by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in conjunction with the Cherokee Historical Association. Back copies for most issues are available at the museum. Numerous issues are devoted to specific topics and provide a storehouse of information (i.e., James Mooney, Removal and Trail of Tears documents, Tsali, etc.).

Given the level of interest in Cherokee matters, it’s somewhat surprising that the state of Eastern Band of Cherokee studies was rather disorganized until about 20 years ago. That’s when University of Tennessee historian John R. Finger appeared on the scene with The Eastern Band of Cherokees, 1819-1900 (University of Tennessee Press, 1984), which he followed up with Cherokee Americans: The Eastern Band of Cherokees in the Twentieth Century (University of Nebraska Press, 1991). Before Finger, many basic facts behind the origins of the Eastern Band dating back to treaties signed in 1817-19, the 1838 Removal (especially the Tsali incident), the gradual solidification of tribal lands, the ever-evolving legal status, and similar concerns had never been clearly put forth. Although somewhat dry in places, Finger’s work laid the much-needed historical foundation for future studies.

There’s also a 57-minute video entitled “Cherokee: The Principal People — The History and Culture of the Eastern Band of Cherokee” (Significance Communications) produced and directed by Ron Ruehl, which covers the whole story in a vivid manner.

Sharlotte Neely’s Snowbird Cherokees: People of Persistence (University of Georgia Press, 1991) is an account of Eastern Band members living in Graham County near Robbinsville. The book deals less with the origins and past history of the Snowbird Cherokees (so-called because they reside in the Snowbird Mountains) than with more recent socio-economic developments. I have not as yet been able to locate a well-researched account of the origins and history of either the Snowbird Cherokees or the Tomatla, who reside in Cherokee County near Murphy.

William Holland Thomas was a white orphan who was adopted into the tribe before the removal west took place in 1838. He played a large role in Cherokee affairs at that time, during the Civil War, and afterwards. Two books are devoted to that topic: E. Stanly Godbolt Jr. and Mattie U. Russell’s Confederate Colonel and Cherokee Chief: The Life of William Holland Thomas (University of Tennessee Press, 1990) and Vernon H. Crow’s Storm in the Mountains: Thomas’ Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers (Press of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, 1982). I read a press release earlier this summer that Charles Frazier, author of the best-selling novel Cold Mountain, has signed a contract for eight or so million dollars to write a historical novel based on Thomas’ life.

The anthropologist James Mooney, who lived in the Big Cove on the Qualla Boundary during the late 1880s, utilized Cherokee informants to put together his Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees and Myths of the Cherokees (respectively published as monographs in Bureau of American Ethnology volumes in 1891 and 1900). A one-volume reprint edition of these two titles has been available for years. In 1992 the two volumes were again reissued as James Mooney’s History, Myths and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (Historical Images) with a lengthy biographical-critical introduction by this writer. Mooney’s work is one of the cornerstones of Cherokee studies in regard to their spiritual views as embodied in their myths and sacred formulas (songs and chants). In many ways, as Mooney acknowledges, the book is actually the work of a traditionalist Cherokee medicine man named Swimmer, his primary informant. Charles Hudson observed that without Mooney’s (and thereby Swimmer’s) work, readers “would know next to nothing about the world view of the southeastern Indians.”

Barbara Duncan edited the excellent Living Stories of the Cherokees (University of North Carolina Press, 1998), which is more or less a sequel to Mooney’s work. Two other titles that I consult in regard to legends and rituals are Douglas Rossman’s Where Legends Live: A Pictorial Guide to Cherokee Mythic (Cherokee Publications, 1988) and Frank G. Speck and Leonard Bloom’s Cherokee Dance and Drama (University of Oklahoma Press, 1951).

For Cherokee lore and uses of plants and animals go to Paul B. Hamel and Mary U. Chiltoskey’s Cherokee Plants: Their Uses — A 400 Year History (Herald Publishing Co., 1975) and Arlene Fradkin’s Cherokee Folk Zoology: The Animal World of a Native American People, 1700-1838 (Garland Publishing Co., 1990).

And finally, if you want to locate and visit specific places associated with the Cherokees there is Vicki Rozema’s Footsteps of the Cherokees: A Guide to the Eastern Homelands of the Cherokee Nation (John F. Blair, 1995).

Many of these title are available at either the Museum of the Cherokee Indian or the native-owned Talking Leaves bookstore in Cherokee.

George Ellison is a writer who lives in Bryson City. He wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Readers can contact him at P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, N.C. 28713, or at ellisongeorge@cs.com