News from lncji^n Country
Page 9
Spilygy Tymoo
May 8, 2 0 0 8
Papers shed light on Cherokee relocation, genealogy
. C H A T T A N O O G A , T enn.
(AP)—-Jamie Russell reverently
runs his finger dow n page after
ph o to co p ied page, looking at
names, seeking special ones.
H e can’t stop smiling. Like
everyone who looks at the words
fro m th e lo n g -fo rg o tten and
nearly 200-year-old p ap ers —
d o c u m e n ts th a t sh o w h o w
C herokee Indians lived while
stockaded in Chattanooga just
b efo re th e infam ous Trail o f
Tears— he understands the value
these pages hold for finding fam
ily and local history.
“ S om e o f th e s e n am es—
families— are still prom inent in
the Cherokee society today,” says
Russell, w ho is Cherokee. “This
is a very valuable thing to have
here.”
Recorded by A lbert S. Lenoir,
a federal Indian comm issioner
during the Cherokee and Creek
rem o v al fro m 1836 to 1838,
the papers list nam es such as
S o n g sh ell, R aincrow , C alvin
W olf,
Ave j V an n
and
Chugualookee. They show that,
over time in the encam pm ent at
N ew E chota, a Cherokee capi
tal just north o f Calhoun, Ga.,
Songshell and others had chang
ing num bers o f people in their
family unit— usually decreasing
num bers. A nd they show that
the rations— corn, beef, bacon
and salt— also were varied but
m ost often were sparse.
T h e p a p e rs , te c h n ic a lly
know n as Army ration papers,
w ere d o n ated to th e C h atta
nooga-H am ilton County Public
L ib rary in th e 1940s by th e
Z eboim C artter Patten family,
descendants o f the soldier w ho •
recorded the ration distributions
at N ew Echota. Lenoir, the re
corder, was the grandfather o f
Zeboim Cartter Patten’s wife.
Only in recent m onths, after
a visit from C herokee expert
D r. D u an e K ing, did anyone
realize w hat the ration books
represent for Chattanooga, the
beginning point o f the Trail o f
Tears. A bout 4,000 Cherokees
died o n the forced m arch o f
about 15,000 Cherokees from
their homes in Georgia to res
ervations fin Oklahoma.
K ing said the papers gives
historians another way to look
at the removal.
“The m ost im portant thing is
they p u t names with the num
bers, in that we can now know
a b o u t h o w m any C h ero k ees
were forced to remove, and we
(can) know when they were re
m oved and how they Were re
moved,” King said.
The papers also proxfide infor
mation on the first regional home
areas o f Cherokees east o f the
Mississippi, something not really
available before, he said.
“T he value o f these d o cu
ments will continue to increase
over time, simply because o f their
age. And as our understanding o f
them begins to increase, their im
portance will be even more ap
preciated,” King said.
The books were cataloged and
stored am ong boxes o f o th er
Patten papers, said Mary Helms,
head o f the Ebrary’s local history
and genealogy department.
“Dr. King said these papers are
priceless,” she said. “H e handled
them with gloves and helped us
understand their importance.”
N ow the photocopied pages
are available for perusal in the
local history section o f the li
brary,- Helms said. The originals
are in safekeeping.
Soon archivists hope to be
able to index the pages, she said.
American Indian villages and
farm s were rich and plentiful
along the rivers and streams o f
the Tennessee Valley w hen the
S p an ish e x p lo re r H e rn a n d o
D eSoto came here in 1540.
B ut by the time the Amerfi
can Revolution ended in 1783j
many Cherokees had assimilated
into norm al E uro p ean settle^
fife, interm arrying and carrying
on ordinary pioneer Eves.
However, President Andrew
Jackson, an Indian fighter in the
early 1800s, w anted them gone.
U nder the Indian Removal Act
o f 1830, he ordered the removal
o f Cherokees from the eastern
half o f the country.
Panel addresses violence
against Native women
A N C H O R A G E , A laska
(AP)— A three-day co n fer
ence was held in Anchorage
to look at the issue o f vio
lence against Alaska Native
women.
T h e p a n el, w h ich c o n
cluded Wednesday, included
so m e o f th e s ta te ’s m o s t
prom inent Alaskans and top
law e n fo rc e m e n t officials.
The m em bers o f the Alaska
R ural Justice and Law E n
forcem ent C om m ission in
cluded U.S. A ttorney N elson
Cohen, state A ttorney G en
eral TaEs Colberg, and Pub-
Ec Safety Comm issioner Walt
Monegan.
T h e c o n fe re n c e , called
“Building M om entum ,’’ wa®
put on by the Alaska Native
Justice Center w ith funding
from the U.S. Justice D epart
m en t, O ffice o n V iolence
Against Women.
A separate panel o f four
w om en w ho had been raped
or physically abused spoke
out about their experiences.
A m ong them was U.S. H ouse
candidate D iane Benson. She
told the crowd that she was
repeatedly sexuaUy abused in
foster care.
Benson has talked pubEcly
about her experiences for a
dozen years.
She told the crowd gathered
at a dow ntow n hotel that w hen
sh e w e n t to th e p o lic e , a
K e tc h ik a n o ffic e r n o t o n ly
didn’t pursue charges b u t said
he Wanted to get in on it. She
said she was. raped three times
by age 20. She didn’t even try
to report those, she said.
T he panel asked tough ques
tions about inadequacies in the
system that is supposed to re
spond to the violence. Members
o f th e p an el o n ru ral justice
admitted they didn’t always have
good answers.
B en so n , a D e m o c ra t, has
talked pubEcly about her expe
riences for a dozen years at vic
tim c o n fe re n c e s around)? th e
country, though the rapes might
be news to people in Alaska.
I t ’s n o t th e kind o f th in g
she’d bring up as a campaign
strategy, she said. She talks about
the w o rst times o f her fife to
offer hope to other women, she
said.
“I f I can be a person w ho
can get out there and do w hat I
do, after this violent, neglectful
and abusive kind o f history and
still demand my dignity, find my
self-respect, after all o f it, so can
som ebody else,” Benson said.
Lisa Frank, a board mem ber
o f th e A lask a N a tiv e
W omen’s CoaEtion who Eves
in Arctic ViUage, said she was
raped 12 years ago Outside
and was able to com e home
to heal. B ut think o f all those
assaulted by someone in their
village, w ho may have to see
the perso n w ho h u rt them
every day, she said.
“W e’re com ing to g eth er
a n d w e ’re ta lk in g ,” said
D enise Morris, president o f
th e A laska N ativ e Ju stic e
Center.
Audience members stood
one after the other to ask the
panel questions.
W hy has g o v e rn m e n t
funding for substance abuse
treatm ent dropped when ev
eryone know s th a t’s a big
n eed ? W hy are v ictim s
tre a te d p o o rly by certain
prosecutors and law enforce
m ent officers? Shouldn’t of
ficers be required to use the
specially trained Sexual A s
sault Response Teams when
ever possible?
As to the last question, the
answer for troopers is defi
nitely yes, M onegan said. The
teams help gather evidence,
identify suspects and begin
the heaEng process for vic
tims, he said.
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