The Cherokee Indians

The Trail Of Tears

The Cherokee are a very interesting group of people. They lived in the Smokey Mountains region including Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tenessee, Kentucky,and Alabama. Their language come from the Iroquois. They had three tribes: the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. Cherokee means speakers of another language.

Men and woman both had their positions and woman also had a say in the social decisions of the tribe. The Cherokee settled in villages near the river. Their houses were made of rivercane and some sort of plaster. These houses were very strong and kept the family warm. As most Indian tribes were they were a agricultural group of people. The women harvested crops of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers into baskets. The men hunted game like deer and turkey and fished in rivers. Wooden hoes were used for farming sometimes.

They also liked to craft different kinds of arts. A few included pipe carving, rivercane baskets, gourd art, and pottery. When they moved to Oklahoma they couldn't get their materials so they other crafts like beadwork and textile arts. They also created beautiful beaded bandoliar bags. They traded with other southeastern tribes so they may have got some supplies from them to. They traded pipes and pottery among each other. The Cherokee still make these traditional art today.

In the early 1800's settlers started arriving in Cherokee land. Soon there was the Indian Removal Act. The U.S. government made a territory in present-day Oklahoma and sent all eastern tribes there. Andrew Jackson the president at the time was standing many tribes out. The Cherokee call the walk to Oklahoma the Trail of Tears. Over 4,000 died on the way to their new home. This was a terrible time in history.

Descendents of the Cherokee today still live in Oklahoma today. They were a interesting group of people. They were many of the tribes that got kicked out of their land. They tired to get it back but didn't succed. Today they still do their old traditions