Cherokee Fires

The traditional homelands of the Cherokee Nation are in what is now the southeastern United States, particularly the mountainous regions of Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Alabama, and the Virginias. Cherokee oral traditions include origin accounts that place the birthplace of the People in the southern Appalachians, although there are some stories that point to a northern origin of the Cherokees--who, in these accounts, were driven southward by their Iroquois kin--or for a Mesoamerican or South American origin, in which the Cherokees originated on a now-lost island. Whatever the birthplace of the Nation, today's Cherokees generally consider the Southeast to be the crucible of Cherokee culture. Today there are three federally recognized groups of Cherokees in the United States: the Cherokee Nation, the largest Cherokee community and the second largest tribal nation in the U.S. (with nearly 250,000 citizens), with its capital in Tahlequah, Oklahoma; the Eastern Band of Cherokees of the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina; and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the most accurate information about Cherokee culture, politics, and history, and for information relating to both historical and contemporary Cherokee concerns, go to the official tribal websites, or contact the tribes themselves.

Recommended Sources for Cherokee Studies
(some sources appear in more than one category)

General Nonfiction

Pat Alderman, Nancy Ward: Cherokee Chieftainess and Dragging Canoe: Cherokee-Chickamauga War Chief (Johnson City, TN: Overmountain, 1978)
W. David Baird, "Are There 'Real' Indians in Oklahoma": Historical Perceptions of the Five Civilized Tribes," Chronicles of Oklahoma 68.1 (Spring 1990): pp. 4-23.
Mary C. Churchill, Walking the "White Path": Toward a Cherokee-Centric Hermeneutic for Interpreting Cherokee Literatures, dissertation (UC Santa Barbara, 1997; Ann Arbor: UMI, 1997)
Robert J. Conley (text) and David G. Fitzgerald (photographs), Cherokee (Portland: Graphic Arts Center Pub., 2002)
Angie Debo, And Still the Waters Run: The Betrayal of the Five Civilized Tribes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton U P, 1940)
Eva Marie Garroutte, Real Indians: Identity and the Survival of Native America (Berkeley: U of California P, 2003)
Janey B. Hendrix, "Redbird Smith and the Nighthawk Keetoowahs," Journal of Cherokee Studies VIII.2 (Fall 1983): pp. 73-85.
Maureen Konkle, Writing Indian Nations: Native Intellectuals and the Politics of Historiography, 1827-1863 (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2004)
Georgia Rae Leeds, The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (New York: Peter Lang, 1996)
Howard Meredith and Virginia Milam Sobral, editors, Cherokee Vision of Elohi, translated by Wesley Proctor (Oklahoma City: Noksi, 1997)
William G. McLoughlin, After the Trail of Tears: The Cherokees' Struggle for Sovereignty, 1839-1880 (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1993)
---. The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870: Essays on Acculturation and Cultural Persistence (Athens: U of Georgia P, 1994)
Wilma Mankiller, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People (New York: St. Martin's, 1993; rev. ed. 2000)
James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee (1900. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1995)
Theda Perdue, The Cherokee (New York: Chelsea House, 1989); "Mixed Blood" Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South (Athens and London: U of Georgia P, 2003); and Nations Remembered: An Oral History of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles in Oklahoma, 1865-1907 (Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1993)
John Ross, The Papers of Chief John Ross, two volumes, edited by Gary E. Moulton (Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1985)
Emmet Starr, History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore (1921. Millwood, NY: Klaus Reprint Company, 1977)
Rennard Strickland, Fire and the Spirits: Cherokee Law from Clan to Court (Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1975) and "In Search of Cherokee History: A Bibliographical Foreword to the Second Printing," in A Political History of the Cherokee Nation, 1838-1907 by Morris L. Wardell (Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1977)
Circe Sturm, Blood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (Berkeley: U of California P, 2002)
Russell Thornton, The Cherokees: A Population History (Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1990)
Erik M. Zissu, Blood Matters: The Five Civilized Tribes and the Search for Unity in the Twentieth Century (New York: Routledge, 2001)
Virginia Moore Carney, Eastern Band Cherokee Women: Cultural Persistence in Their Letters and Speeches (Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 2005)
Robert J. Conley, The Cherokee Nation: A History (Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 2005)
Andrew Denson, Demanding the Cherokee Nation: Indian Autonomy and American Culture, 1830-1900 (Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2004)

Cherokee Women

Virginia Moore Carney, Eastern Band Cherokee Women: Cultural Persistence in Their Letters and Speeches (Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 2005)
Sarah H. Hill, Weaving New Worlds: Southeastern Cherokee Women and Their Basketry (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1997)
Wilma Mankiller, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People (New York: St. Martin's, 1993; rev. ed. 2000)
Theda Perdue, Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change (Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1998)

Cherokee Religion and Belief

Janet Campbell and Archie Sam, "The Primal Fire Lingers," Chronicles of Oklahoma LIII.4 (Winter 1975-76): pp. 463-475.
Robert Conley, Cherokee Medicine Man: The Life and Work of a Modern-Day Healer (Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2005)
Alan Kilpatrick, The Night Has a Naked Soul: Witchcraft and Sorcery among the Western Cherokee (Syracuse: Syracuse U P, 1997)
Jack and Anna Kilpatrick, Friends of Thunder: Folktales of the Oklahoma Cherokees (1964. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1995); Run Toward the Nightland: Magic of the Oklahoma Cherokees (Dallas: Southern Methodist U P, 1967); and Walk in Your Soul: Love Incantations of the Oklahoma Cherokees (Dallas: Southern Methodist U P, 1965)
William G. McLoughlin, The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870: Essays on Acculturation and Cultural Persistence (Athens: U of Georgia P, 1994)
Howard Meredith and Virginia Milam Sobral, editors, Cherokee Vision of Elohi, translated by Wesley Proctor (Oklahoma City: Noksi, 1997)
James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee (1900. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1995)

General Creative

Caroll Arnett/Gogisgi, Night Perimeter (Greenfield Center, NY: Greenfield Review P, 1991)
Marilou Awiakta, Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother's Wisdom (Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 1993)
Robert Conley, Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears (Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1992); any of the Real People series, particularly Cherokee Dragon and War Woman (available in St. Martin’s or U of Oklahoma P editions); and Ned Christie's War (New York: St. Martin's, 1990)
Diane Glancy, Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1996)
Geary Hobson, Last of the Ofos (Tucson: U of Arizona P, 2000)
Thomas King, Truth & Bright Water (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 1999)
Lynn Riggs, The Cherokee Night and Other Plays (Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2003)
William Sanders, Are We Having Fun Yet?: American Indian Fantasy Stories by William Sanders (Holicong, PA: Wildside Press, 2002)

A Bit About Me

My mom's family has lived in the Cripple Creek-Victor gold camp since the early twentieth century; I'm the third generation to have been raised there. My dad grew up on the plains of eastern Colorado, in and around the small town of Ordway; his folks came from Oklahoma in the years following statehood. I'm an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and currently associate professor of Aboriginal literatures in the Department of English and affiliate faculty member of the Aboriginal Studies Program at the University of Toronto. I live with my partner and our three dogs in a cabin near the shores of southern Georgian Bay, in the traditional homeland of the Huron-Wendat confederacy.

All postal inquiries can be sent to: Daniel Heath Justice, Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives, North Borden Building, 563 Spadina, Room 225, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 2J7 CANADA.
E-mail: mail@danielheathjustice.com.

Victor, Colorado--The World's Greatest Gold Camp

Like my dad says, once you've lived in the mountains, you just can't be happy anywhere else. Victor is nestled in the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, not far southwest of Pike's Peak. It sits in the traditional homelands of the Mouache band of Ute Indians, who constitute much of today's Southern Ute Indian Tribe. At nearly ten thousand feet in elevation, the area is a beautiful mix of pine and aspen forests, sweeping mountain peaks, historical mining structures, contemporary mining operations, limited stakes gambling in nearby Cripple Creek, and plenty of opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, and solitude.

For all it’s beauty, the district is also a place struggling to define itself in an ever-changing world. For five rather difficult years, my mother fought against the entrenched and prevailing attitude of apathy as mayor of Victor, and in that time helped bring fiscal accountability and a functional and stable infrastructure to a town long divided between those with a community vision of sustainable growth and responsible development and those with a “me-first” attitude that looks to personal gain instead of community health and continuity.

Now that she’s out of office, Mom has found a new way to continue her work in making the community stronger, though she's found a new way to effect change: political satire! Her satirical animal fable, Home Place, or The Crass Menagerie, is a sharp, inspired allegory of small-town politics, told with sharp insight, wry wit, and tongue firmly in-cheek. It's the story of the Accountables (who believe that the rules apply to all people all the time, not just some people some of the time), and their attempt to wrestle Home Place away from the selfish machinations of the Specials (who believe that the rules only apply to everyone else), the apathy of the Separates (who only get involved when something affects them directly), and the obstructions of the Outsiders (who give nothing to the community but expect access to all its resources). Though inspired by my mother’s experiences in small town politics, it’s a story that’s equally applicable to any community, from small towns to metropolitan cities, businesses and offices, universities, clubs, churches, and any other place people have to deal with one another. Funny, infuriating, illuminating: Home Place, or The Crass Menagerie is a non-partisan call-to-action for civic engagement. Check out the website: www.schmodetoad.com for more information, a sample page, and ordering information.