They Took The Whole Cherokee Nation

As the then growing United States continued its westward expansion according to "Manifest Destiny," the American Indians, who were already branded as heathens and savages, were simply an obstacle to be overcome.

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Of course, the idea that American Indians were some sort of inferior race and therefore not entitled to the same rights as everyone else is as appalling as any form of racism.

Contrary to the notion that American Indians were uncivilized, through the time of the Civil War, the literacy rate of the Cherokee nation was higher than that of the white South.

In 1835, the gold which was long sought after by Hernando De Soto, would be discovered on Cherokee lands in Georgia. Its discovery would spawn a new era of "Native American Displacement."

Congress had already passed the "Indian Removal Act" of 1830, which was promptly signed into law by President Andrew Jackson. In 1832, the Supreme Court overturned the law, which had been challenged by the Cherokee Nation. Many Americans had been against the act from the beginning, including Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett.

Still, the Treaty Of Echota was ratified in 1835 despite outspoken opposition by Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. For the Cherokee, Major Ridge, his son John, and Elias Boudinot were advocates of the treaty and removal to Oklahoma as a viable solution to the problem of white encroachment.

With the ratification of the treaty, the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation began.

Over the next 116 days, 16,000 Cherokee would be forcibly removed from their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia to "Indian Territory" by the U.S. Army. The route they would follow would become known as "The Trail Of Tears." Frigid weather, inadequate food supplies and mistreatment by the escorting troops would factor into the over 4,000 Cherokee lives lost during the 1,000 mile journey.

Within six months, Major Ridge, his son John, and Elias Boudinot would be killed for the betrayal of their people.

Today, of the roughly 250,000 tribal citizens of the Cherokee Nation, approximately 90,000 of these tribal citizens reside within 7,000 square miles in northeastern Oklahoma.

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It All Started Two Thanksgivings Ago...

"This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's Restaurant."

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So began the twenty year old Arlo Guthrie at the Newport Folk Festival in 1967.

And so he would go, not being proud, or tired, for the next 18 minutes talking about all sorts of mean, nasty, horrible things as he protested the draft and the Vietnam War.

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Give Her A Feather, She's A Cherokee

Mary Dean wrote the lyrics to Halfbreed, a story of the girl with a Cherokee mother and a white father, specifically for Cher.

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Though Cher's mother was only 1/16 Cherokee, her father was Armenian, which helps to account for her dark features and common misconception that she is half Cherokee, as is the girl in the song.

There are quite a number of celebrities who are reported to have Cherokee blood. Among them, Ava Gardner, Burt Reynolds, Val Kilmer, Tina Turner, Loretta Lynn, James Earl Jones and Elvis Presley.

Presley, who himself was 1/16 Cherokee from his mother's side, also played the part of a mixed-blood Indian in what is considered to be one of his better movies, "Flaming Star" (1960).

Halfbreed reached the number one position on the Billboard charts in October, 1973.

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Someday I'll Make A Trip Back To That Cherokee Strip

After the discovery of gold in Georgia, the treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation that preserved the rights of the Cherokee to their homeland was declared null and void.

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Hernando De Soto long suspected the gold was there, but was never able to find it.

With the signing of the Treaty Of Echota in 1835, the Cherokee Nation was relocated to land known as the Cherokee Outlet in Oklahoma. The intent was to provide assurance to the Cherokee Nation of a "perpetual outlet west." The Cherokee Outlet, which ran west from the 96th meridian, 226 miles to the 100th meridian, 58 miles along the northen border, 2.46 miles north of the 37th parallel, was about 13,000,000 acres in all.

When Kansas became a state, its southern border was defined as the 37th parallel and thus included a portion of Cherokee land within its boundaries. The Cherokees raised the issue and requested that the boundary be corrected, but in 1861 Kansas was admitted as a state with the southern boundary at the 37th parallel.

This disputed land of approximately 435,096 acres became known as the "Cherokee Strip."

By the treaty of July 19, 1866, the Cherokee Strip was usurped as part of the state of Kansas and sold. Proceeds from the sale, which was advertised as being on the behalf of the Cherokee, averaged at about $1.27 an acre.

In 1963, as a form of retribution for another bum deal, the United States paid an additional $12,000,000 to Cherokees and their descendants who had occupied the Cherokee Strip when it was unjustly taken from them.

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Cherokees Are After Me

Tales of the expansion of settlers into the frontier are never complete without harrowing accounts of attacks on covered wagons.

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As the then growing United States continued its westward expansion according to "Manifest Destiny," the American Indians, who were already branded as heathens and savages, were simply an obstacle to be overcome.

Initially, the American Indians got along well with the arriving Europeans, but as the numbers of settlers increased, they began to encroach on Indian lands in the West.

The American Indians were pushed further from their homelands to designated areas through a series of bloody wars, known as the Indian Wars.

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson got his wish and the "Indian Removal Act" was signed into law, though it was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1832. Then, with the signing of the Treaty Of Echota in 1835 began the forced removal of the entire Cherokee Nation to northeast Oklahoma along the "Trail Of Tears."

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