Cherokee+Indians

Cherokee Indians

  **Cherokee Tribe** **//How do you pronounce the word "Cherokee"? What does it mean?//** It's pronounced "CHAIR-uh-kee." It comes from a [|Muskogee] word meaning 'speakers of another language.' Cherokee Indians originally called themselves //Aniyunwiya//, "the principal people," but today they accept the name Cherokee, which is spelled and pronounced //Tsalagi//in their own language. **//Where do the Cherokee Indians live?//**  The Cherokees are original residents of the American southeast region, particularly [|Georgia], [|North] and [|South Carolina], [|Virginia], [|Kentucky], and [|Tennessee]. Most Cherokees were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800's along the Trail of Tears. Descendants of the Cherokee Indians who survived this death march still live in Oklahoma today. Some Cherokees escaped the Trail of Tears by hiding in the Appalachian hills or taking shelter with sympathetic white neighbors. The descendants of these people live scattered throughout the original Cherokee Indian homelands.

**//What was the Cherokee Trail of Tears?//** //**Trail of Tears**// was the Cherokee name for what the Americans called **//Indian Removal//**. During the 1800's, the US government created an "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma and sent all the eastern Native American tribes to live there. Some tribes willingly agreed to this plan. Other tribes didn't want to go, and the American army forced them. The Cherokee tribe was one of the largest eastern tribes, and they didn't want to leave their homeland. The Cherokees were peaceful allies of the Americans, so they asked the Supreme Court for help. The judges decided the Cherokee Indians could stay in their homes. But the President, Andrew Jackson, sent the army to march the Cherokees to Oklahoma anyway. They weren't prepared for the journey, and it was wintertime. Thousands of Cherokee Indians died on the Trail of Tears. Many Native Americans from other tribes died too. It was a terrible time in history.

  **//How is the Cherokee Indian nation organized?//** <span style="color: #ea5843; display: block; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">There are three **//federally recognized//** Cherokee tribes: the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. Other Cherokee communities in Alabama, Georgia, and other states are considered unofficial by the US government. The Eastern Cherokee people live on a //**reservation**//. Indian reservations are lands that belong to Native American tribes and are under their control. The Oklahoma Cherokee people live on trust land, though many Cherokees call it a reservation anyway. The Keetowah Cherokee do not have a land base. Each Cherokee tribe has its own government, laws, police, and services, just like a small country. However, Cherokee Indians are also US citizens and must obey American law. <span style="color: #ea5843; display: block; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">

<span style="color: #ea5843; display: block; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">In the past, each Cherokee band was led by one war chief and one peace chief. Cherokee chiefs were chosen by a tribal council. Cherokee war chiefs were male, but the peace chief could be a woman. Today, Cherokee tribal councils and chiefs can be either gender and are popularly elected, like senators and governors.

<span style="color: #ea5843; display: block; font-family: 'arial black',gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 310%; text-align: left;"><span style="color: brown; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 70%;">**//What language do the Cherokees speak?//** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 50%; text-align: left;">Most Cherokee people speak English today, but 20,000 people also speak the **//Cherokee Indian language//**. Cherokee is a complex language with soft sounds. If you'd like to know a few easy [|Cherokee words], "osiyo" (pronounced oh-see-yoh) is a friendly greeting, and "wado" (pronounced wah-doh) means 'thank you.' You can hear Cherokee being spoken [|here], or read a Cherokee picture dictionary [|here]

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> Books that are in the Willis Road Library are listed below: Bruchac, Joseph, 1942- ||  || Burgan, Michael. ||  || Santella, Andrew. ||  || Sneve, Virginia Driving Hawk. ||  || Gaines, Richard, 1942- ||   || Bruchac, Joseph, 1942- ||  || Carter, Forrest. ||  || Bushyhead, Robert H., 1914- ||   || <span style="color: #ea5843; display: block; font-family: 'arial black',gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 310%; text-align: left;">
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/passthrough?image=24078/0803713312_thumbnail.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|The first strawberries : a Cherokee story] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 398.2 Bru
 * || Published 1993 ||
 * || Reading Level: 3.5 Interest Level: K-3 ||  ||
 * || Lexile: AD 320 ||  ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/line.gif height="2" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/passthrough?image=24078/0756501016_thumbnail.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|The Trail of Tears] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 973 Bur
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 973 Bur
 * || Published 2001 ||
 * || Reading Level: 5.8 Interest Level: 5-8 ||  ||
 * || Lexile: 870 ||  ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/line.gif height="2" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/passthrough?image=24078/0516273159_thumbnail.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|The Cherokee] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 975.004 San
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 975.004 San
 * || Published 2001 ||
 * || Reading Level: 3.2 Interest Level: 3-6 ||  ||
 * || Lexile: 700 ||  ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/line.gif height="2" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/spacer.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|The Cherokees] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 973 Sne
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 973 Sne
 * || Published 1996 ||
 * || Reading Level: 4.1 Interest Level: 3-6 ||  ||
 * || Lexile: 710 ||  ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/line.gif height="2" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/spacer.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|The Cherokee] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 975 G
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 975 G
 * || Published 2000 ||
 * || Reading Level: 3.2 Interest Level: K-3 ||  ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/line.gif height="2" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/passthrough?image=24078/0439121973_thumbnail.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|The journal of Jesse Smoke : a Cherokee boy] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || F Bru
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || F Bru
 * || Published 2001 ||
 * || Reading Level: 7.9 Interest Level: 5-8 ||  ||
 * || Lexile: 880 ||  ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/line.gif height="2" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/passthrough?image=24078/0826308791_thumbnail.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|The education of Little Tree] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || PB 813.54 Car
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || PB 813.54 Car
 * || Published 1986 ||
 * || Interest Level: Young Adult ||  ||
 * || Lexile: 890 ||  ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/general/line.gif height="2" align="center"]] ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/passthrough?image=24078/0761451137_thumbnail.gif align="center" caption="Cover image"]] || [|Yonder mountain : a Cherokee legend] ||||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 398.2 Bus
 * [[image:http://destinyweb.cowetaschools.net/images/icons/materialtype/book.gif width="20" height="16" align="center" caption="Book"]] || 398.2 Bus
 * || Published 2002 ||
 * || Accelerated Reader® Level: 3.8 / 0.5 pts. ||  ||