Subordinate_Group_Member

Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group Member I am a Native American Indian from the Cherokee tribe, have been here since pre-historic times. There are a number of Native American Indians living in West Virginia. One group that lived here was the Mound Builders, or Adena people, lived in an area along what in now the Ohio River. The Mound Builders were agriculture people, skilled in clay and copper working. They also knew how to weave plant and animal fibers into cloth. The Native American in West Virginia shared a common hunting ground and was peaceful. The area was rich in deer, wild turkey, buffalo, and other wild game. “How the Adena people got the name “Mound Builders” is because they buried their dead in mounds. After the cremating a body, the ashes were buried in log tombs with items that would be important to the spirit in afterlife. The logs were then covered with dirt in small mounds; mounds grew after several burials in one area. Two of the most visited mounds are the Grave Creek Mounds and the South Charleston Mound (in still located in Charleston). The town near Grave Creek was named Moundsville in honor of the buried mound.” (Native Americans of West Virginia, February 2004) When the first settlers came to West Virginia, they found different tribes in certain areas. The Tuscarora along the Potomac River, Shawnees at the mouth of the Kanawha, Cherokee in the East near the Ohio River, and Delaware in the Northern Panhandle. Most of the natives were friendly and helpful. The Shawnee were a hostile tribe and often at war with the Iroquois of Virginia who caused problems for the new settlers. The Indians fought alongside the British against the frontiers during the Revolutionary War. The Treaty that was agreed and signed was taken from us on May 26, 1838. The soldiers came and took us by force; some of us did manage to escape to the mountains but not many. We were put in stockades so we could not escape by the army’s soldiers, the army gave us rations but nothing we was use to and we became sick and our immune system was low and unable to fight off the aliments that we were exposed to. (Storm ,Grace 1-31-01) By the early nineteenth century, most of northeastern tribes forced to sell their lands and during 1830s and 1840s, they were moved to new territory west of the Mississippi. Today many of their descendants live in Oklahoma where they have continued the acculturation process. Others (Senecas, Chippewas , Menominees) remain on reservations or tribal land within their homelands, where many retain many of their cultures. The southeastern tribes were more dependent on agriculture, and many was influenced by the Mississippian culture, a complex, culture wide religious organizations, large burial mounds, and relatively large population centers. The southwestern tribes remained sedentary village people held through network or primarily matrilineal clans. Although many southeastern people (Creeks, Cherokees, and Choctaws) participated in the British deerskin trade, their adherence to agriculture and later herding (Choctaws) made them less dependent than the northeastern tribes upon the Anglo-Americans. By the 1800, intermarriage between white traders and members of the Five Solution, or “Civilized” tribes (Cherokees, Chickasaws Creeks, and Seminoles- called “civilized” by whites because they had adopted many white culture patterns) had produced mixed-blood leaders who championed further acculturation. By 1820 may of the mixed-blood, Cherokee were raising cotton or other cash crops on large farms or plantations worked by black slaves. The Cherokees had a tribal government modeled after the federal system, with a bicameral council, elected chief, and tribal courts. Sequoyah, a Cherokee living in Arkansas, had developed a Cherokee syllabary, and the tribe published a newspaper and books in the language. Although other southern tribes not acculturated than the Cherokees, they too had adopted many facets of white culture. Indians (1991) My ancestors were Native American Indians from the Apache and Cherokee tribes. My grandmother was half Apache Indian and my great grandfather was a Cherokee Indian. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Native American has been estimate of 2,419,895, percentage of 0.8 a margin of errors +/-14,633 in the United States. References: Native Americans of West Virginia, Monkeyshine and American, February 2004 West Virginia Issue p.7-8 Indians (1991) Readers Companion to American History