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Cherokee Indian Life

Cherokee Indian Life

Nicole Ferrari
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Cherokee Indian Life

Introduction:
Do you know the difference between how Cherokee Indians lived before and after the
settlers came to America? This paper with provide readers with tribal life; how they lived and
how their homes were made, Legends and spirits that the tribe looked up to, and the last topic
will be covering the most horrific trial the Indians went through, the trail of tears. This lesson can
be taught with fourth and fifth grade standards 4.H.1.1 and 5.H.1.1. Many questions that could
be asked during the lesson are What did the Indians wear?, Do you think the trail of tears was
a good or bad for the Indians and what was it?, what are legends and spirits?. This will allow
the students to learn about a new culture and what they were like. This teaches cultural and
global awareness because the students are learning about different people, like what they went
through in their lives and how it affected where they live today.
Like many other tribes the Cherokee Indians were thought to live in tee pees and be
limited on clothing styles. Lets first begin by covering how the Cherokees lived. There are very
few things that people know about the Cherokee tribe. For starters they were the largest tribe in
five that settled in the southeast part of the country. The tribe was originally from the great lakes
area until them moved closer to the cost. Beyond contrast the tribe lived in cabins made of logs.
In 1828, gold was discovered on the Cherokees land, this prompted the overtaking of their
homes, and they were forced out. This is the origin for the historically popular Trail of Tears,
where men, women and children had to pack up their belongings and find new homes, marching
a span of thousands of miles (Indians.org, n.d). Just like everyone else the Cherokee have much
pride in their heritage. Georgias state flower is the rose of the Cherokees. Today, the largest
population of Cherokee Indians live in the state of Oklahoma, where there they are federally
recognized Cherokee communities with thousands of residents (Indians.org, n.d). On special

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occasions there would be a sacred dance preformed around the fire that was built. These
evenings were just about every night except the entire tribe would participate by gathering
around the fire to eat, sing and dance, it was a time to celebrate anything and everything.
Cherokee Clothing:
Even though there have been many styles of clothing the one that has remained vogue the
tear dress for women and the ribbon shirt for men. The tear dress is believed to be the style of
dress from the trail of tears era, when most women no longer had excess to scissors due to the
removals (Cherokee Nation, n.d). This clothing was torn from larger material to make the
clothing. The name is equally proper whether pronounced tear, as in trail of tears, or tear, as
in being torn fabric (Cherokee Nation, n.d). The most amazing fact about their clothing is that
the pattern mostly had diamonds but some of the women added triangles, circle and even adding
the seven sided star of the Cherokee. The dress worn during the trail of tears was short enough
to carry on with normal duties. The women also had a skirt that came down to mid length so it
would not get dirty while walking. The interesting part is that the seamstresses made tops for the
mothers that were breastfeeding, and that the little girls dresses were tied together in the back. In
todays time now the dresses are modified to floor length, however, when stomp dance shell
shakers dance they wear mid-calf dresses for the shells. The mens ribbon shirt is made from
calico fabric and had designs on the back and front and the traditional turban that is still worn by
the men in our current time and is made of calico as well.
Cherokee Legends:
With as much as the Cherokee tribe has endured they never stopped believing in their
legends and spirits. Cherokee legends were and are stories that are still being told. There are so
many legends in the Cherokee tribe that are told to the children. Each story of legends has a

Cherokee Indian Life

specific meaning and purpose to also teach children and others in the tribe. In the book Cherokee
legends and the Trail of Tears there is a legend called Why The Possums Trail Is Bare on page 10
in the book. This story tells about a possum that had a bushy tail that he loved and every morning
her would wake up and sing about it and rub it in others faces and one day when he was getting
ready for the dance the hair cutter put a ribbon around his tail to make it look really good for the
dance. When it came time for the dance the possum got ready and went to start dancing on the
dance floor and then prepared to reveal his tail, once he unraveled the ribbon he saw everyone at
the dance started to laugh at him and the possum became embarrassed, the lesson that is taught
through the story is that no one should be embarrassed to be who they are and to be grateful to
for what they have. This book holds nine meaningful legend stories that are the most popularly
told in the tribe, then the book ends with the removal of the Indians known as The Trail of Tears.
Cherokee Spirits:
The book The Way of The Spirit is about all the sacred traditions and ways of Native
American peoples. Within this Circle, The Spiritual Power of Place, Facing a Spiritual Quest,
The Sacred Power of Ceremony, Where Spirits Dwell and The Eternal Cycle are the writings
topics that are contained in the book and they are very powerful and beautiful to read. Knowing
what the tribes believe in and create as stepping stones but even cherish and make events
honorable in Natives lives. This book contains pictures old and new so that readers may see what
is was like and in some cases is like today. Even though the Indians have been through a rough
time they always found ways to carry on with their traditions and stories. Not only are there
sacred stories to tell but there are writings about to take a wife or poems about a mans pathway,
prayers for a girls puberty ceremony, those are all in the section of the book that wrote about the
introduction to life. This book also explains spiritual areas on earth, totems of ceremony and

Cherokee Indian Life

about demons and gods. Whether the spiritual power is Mother Earth, Father Sky, or spirits
residing in plant, animal, or insect, each has a voice in the workings of the natural world. These
spirits empower all Native Americans- from the Algonquian of the Atlantic Coast, to the Navajo
and Apache of the American Southwest; from the Inuit in the colds of Alaska, to the Seminole of
the Florida Everglades- all believe that if they act in accordance with sacred tradition, they
maintain spiritual harmony between humans and other elements of the natural world (The way
of The Spirits, 1997). These stories, poems and spiritual places were held close to the tribes
heart during their long journey called The Trail of Tears. Another book Mystical Legends of the
Shamans Explains stories that go along with the Cherokees gods and spirits. This books contains
not only writings but some pages show pictures of what the Indians thought the spirits looked
like and a short description of who and what they are to the tribe. For example, in the book
Mystical legends of the Shamans there is a god named Yohewah, this god is the one who raises
the grasses and the green, growing things, Yohewah is known as a she. There are many gods and
spirits like the Thunder spirit, the transformer, the symbol to ward off bad spirits and most
important to the tribe was the symbol to represent the first spirit being who came before humans.
The Trail of Tears Was also known as the Removal of The Cherokees. The trail was
started from a law that forced Indians to be removed from their land so that the white men could
settle and look for gold. The trail consisted of seven states, starting in North Carolina through
Tennessee then up to Kentucky over to Illinois continues through Missouri down to Arkansas and
ended in Oklahoma. On page twenty of the book Cherokee Legends and the Trail of Tears is a
map showing where the tribe walked. The Indian Removal Act took place from the year 1838
throughout 1839, this time presented a genocidal period for the Indians. In the same book there is
a story from an American Soldier that was part of the Cherokee Removal Act. His name was

Cherokee Indian Life

John Burnett and he tells his story about being the Natives friend when they needed one and how
they still recognize him as the good solder. He ends part of his story with this powerful quote to
teach other how strong decisions can be hurtful. John wrote Murder is murder and somebody
must answer, somebody must explain the streams of blood that flowed in the Indian country in
the summer of 1838. Somebody must explain the four-thousand silent graves that mark the Trail
of the Cherokees to their exile. I wish I could forget it all, but the picture of six- hundred and
forty- five wagons lumbering over the frozen ground with their Cargo of suffering humanity still
lingers in my memory (Cherokee Legends and the Trail of Tears, 1956). This terrifying and
heart breaking removal forced tens of thousands of Indians off their land. Many Indians stayed to
fight for their land but lost their lives due to the lack of weapon development that they had. The
settlers came with guns which were no match for the tribe when they fought. When the act was
being seen through the solders took belongings from the Indians like household materials they
used to make clothing, to cook with and much more. The Indians took very little to nothing with
them. However, the women, children and some men that left their homes out of force was
around 15,000 Indians. On the way to Oklahoma 5,000 of the 15,000 Cherokees that started the
horrific journey had passed away from sickness or from weakness. Many children and elderly
Indians passed away leaving loved ones grieving, thus creating a new name from the tribe called
the Trail of Tears and Death. The history website for the Trail of Tears states They made the
journey to Indian territory on foot (some bound in chains and marched double file, one
historian writes) and without any food, supplies or other help from the government. Thousands
of people died along the way. (History channel Trail of Tears, n.d). To this day many Cherokee
Indians and other tribes have not and never will forgive the white men for what they have done
to their people. The Indians that live on reservations or Federal territories do not allow outsiders

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to come in, but, some tribes do because it allows them to teach their way of living and show who
they really are and how the act has really and still is effecting them.
Taking the time to learn about anothers way of life can be very powerful and emotional.
I personally have family members that went through the Trail of Tears and it is very
heartbreaking. I have my tribal card that shows I am part of their life style and am welcomed to
their reservation, however, that does not mean that everyone there is welcoming because even
though I have my card I do not look Indian, to them I look like a white man. Having students
know anothers cultural ways helps them stay open and have acceptance of others as they grow
up and meet new people that may not always be like them. This paper provides a deep
understanding of how the Cherokee tribe lived, what they wore, what spirits and legends they
believed in. Most of all the paper explains the Trail of Tears and what the Indians went through
and how they were forced out of their homes all the way to how many Indians died on their way
to what was said to be better for them.

Cherokee Indian Life

References
(2016). Cherokee Clothing. Retrieved February 27, 2016, from
http://www.cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/Culture/CherokeeArts/CherokeeClothing.aspx
(2009). Trail of Tears. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from http://www.history.com/topics/nativeamerican-history/trail-of-tears
(1995). Cherokee Indians. Retrieved February 25, 2016, from
http://indians.org/articles/cherokee-indians.html
Steiger, B., Steiger, S. H., & Emerson, E. R. (1991). Mystical legends of the shamans. New
Brunswick, NJ: Inner Light.
The way of the spirit. (1997). Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books.
Underwood, T. B., Crowe, A., & Burnett, J. G. (1956). Cherokee legends and the trail of tears:
From the nineteenth annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. North Carolina:
Cherokee Publications.