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Wayside_Wisdom Heard Along the Way
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Oklahoma became a state in 1907 and this year is celebrating the centennial of that event. Several decades later, Rodgers and Hammerstein used Oklahoma statehood as the setting for a musical – Oklahoma! – which became widely popular. We discovered, in our travels there, that the area’s past also includes some sadder chapters of history. Over sixty years before statehood, the area was known as "Indian Territory." It was the destination of the infamous "Cherokee Trail of Tears." In the late 1820's, President Andrew Jackson decided that the best way to protect the United States from foreign influences west of the Mississippi River was to create a barrier between. That barrier would be the native Americans – Indians – all moved from their homelands in the east to the unsettled territory west of Arkansas and north of Texas. There were some people in government who objected to such violation of the basic human rights of the Indians. But President Jackson was determined. In 1830, gold was discovered on the homeland of the Cherokee Indian Nation in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. This gave new motivation for the removal of the Cherokees to the western "Indian Territory." A short time later, government agents succeeded in negotiating a treaty with a small, dissident minority of the Cherokees. The treaty of New Echota gave ownership of all eastern Cherokee lands to the U.S. government in exchange for land in the "Indian Territory" west of the Mississippi River. It was signed by less than a dozen Cherokee representatives and passed the U.S. Congress by one vote. The majority of the Cherokee Nation gathered 12,000 signatures on a petition challenging the legality of the New Echota treaty. Their petition went to the Supreme Court of the United States who ruled in their favor, calling the treaty "illegal and unconstitutional." President Jackson is reported to have said, "[The Supreme Court] has made its decision. Now let them enforce it." His policy of forced removal of the eastern tribes from their homelands continued. In addition to the Cherokees, Jackson’s policy of forced removal also included the Creeks, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw and the Seminole. They were referred to, during that period, as "the five civilized tribes." Were they given the label of "civilized" because they gave their homelands up to the U.S. government? They were given no other choice. The Seminoles, in fact, fought the U.S. military every step of the way from Florida to "Indian Territory"! Some of the earlier Cherokees migrated west by way of a long "water route." Boats or canoes carried them north to the Ohio River, then west to the Mississippi and south toward "Indian Territory." The final Cherokee removals took place between October, 1838 and March, 1839. During those bitter winter months, 16,000 Cherokees were forced to make the 800 mile journey from the Carolinas to "Indian Territory" on foot with only what they could carry. One of every four persons who began that journey did not reach their western destination. Four thousand of those Cherokees died along the way of disease, starvation or exposure to the harsh winter elements. That event is remembered in Cherokee history and language as "the road on which we cried," or the Cherokee Trail of Tears. The Cherokee Nation has survived in "Indian Territory." In some ways, it has even prospered in the northeast corner to which it was assigned. Tahlequah, Oklahoma was chosen as the principal city of the Cherokee Nation and an interesting and informative Cherokee Heritage Center has been developed there. The culture of the early Cherokees – before they were influenced by Europeans – is described in a reconstructed "ancient village." Our guide there demonstrated the skills of making pottery, baskets, arrowheads, bows, and a dug-out canoe. She explained family customs and the systems of tribal government. She demonstrated the game of "stickball" and went on to explain that most of the eastern tribes – including the Cherokee – used stickball as a substitute for going to war! As statehood approached for the "Indian Territory," the name chosen was Oklahoma, a word constructed from the Choctaw words "ukla" meaning "red" and "homa" meaning "man." Today, the state is home to members of more than fifty different Native American tribes. Perhaps at last the Indian residents of Oklahoma are getting some of the long overdue respect to which they are entitled. Most of the license plates in the state now read: "Oklahoma, Native America." 5/6/07 - mshr |