Native American Poetry Class Jan-Mar 09

Lesson 2 - 847 wds

Lesson 2- 847 words (body only, not incl. the questions)

Assignment: Read the lesson provided. Write a essay or book report on it. This report must be 500 words or more, include word count please.
The paragraphs were written in the following order: (3-4 swapped)
1. Tell me what you found about this story lesson interesting.
2. Were you familiar with this tribe? Or the subject of the article ?
4.Did you feel a connection to the tribe in this article? 
3. After reading this article do you find this tribe similar to the cultures and ethics we follow today? (2 Paragr)
Conclusion



After reading the history of the Cherokee, one thing that interested me was reading about where the small pox epidemic undermined the spiritual beliefs and leaders b/c they couldn't stop the epidemic.  I wonder if this vacancy in spiritual beliefs led to the influx of fundamentalist religions that gripped my great grandfather's generation.  His father's family (John Oden ) is rumored to be Cherokee as is his mother's family (Wacaser is the last name-- believed has a connection to Cherokee (I found Wah-kah-che and similar names in one of the rolls and wondered if this is the same family.  I wonder, too, if some of the rules of their religion (no shaving, no cutting hair for women, no dancing, etc) had any bearing either from keeping some Native customs or completely rejecting them. 

I have ancestors that lived on the James River in Va. though they were white and I now live near DeSoto Falls in Talladega County. The Creek war was faught partly in the town where I work. I actually feel history just in the town square.)  I live on the Coosa river (lake offshoot but on one of the creeks (Chocolocca) that was once populated by the Cherokee). Just knowing this makes this history so much more interesting. 

I have always felt a connection with this tribe, though, due to rumors about my family having some Cherokee blood and just looking at myself in the mirror and much of my family-it seems evident that we were something other than just European in descent.  Also, others have always asked me if I had some Native American ancestry.  The only time another ancestry was brought up, was when I was in Italy and they thought I was Italian til I opened my mouth.  Then they knew that wasn't true.  I've been in Alabama since birth.  Though I would love to hear more about the non-war parts like family customs.  War did shape the where and when of areas being populated. 

I was thinking of the arms race when I read this.  I still am amazed how such a little country as England managed to have such an inflated sense of themselves to think they had a God given right to rule the world. (Gee, sounds like the US now lately, doesn't it). Also, it seemed that the treaties and the arms for land, the lies and the "populating" of an area by another people to gain "squatters rights"  is also happening in the Middle East (Isreal/Palestine) and the settlements.  I also recently read a book (fiction but based on historical event) that talked of thousands of children orphaned in the UK being shipped to Australia and other "colonies" without doing due diligence to find their families and this was a country's idea of "populating" an area with Brits. 

Man has been playing the power game so long there can be no record of the beginning of this practice.  My husband is of Scottish descent and the English did the same thing to the Highlanders-denying them the right to speak their language, fly their clan colors, or even save a one inch swatch of their family tartan, for that could have gotten them imprisoned or shot.  Sound familiar? I mourn the loss of all the wisdom  beaten out of children in the Indian schools, and its no wonder that the grown up children and grandchildren have not been taught.  This is like generational Culturacide what they did all those years ago.  Now, I think that anyone who shows an interest in the old ways should stand up and seek to learn, we can't afford to be picky about who has what amount of blood.  I bet the blood count thing was an English idea too.  Did the Native Americans obcess of what percentage of a child was Deer clan or Wolf clan, as long as their parents weren't from the same one? 

On the eve of a historic event, the Inauguration of the first "black" president, do we really care what percentage of black, Barack Obama is, or what percentage of white?  Frankly, I'm just glad this whole country cared enough to look into who this guy was, beyond his color.  I would assume if we only looked at race, he'd probably not be black enough for some and too black for others.  But his race didn't win, his ability to dream won him the presidency.  I know this is slightly off topic but if you think of the racial environment fifty or sixty years ago, who would have guessed it would be cool to claim Native American heritage, have a woman and a black man running for president/vice president (both parties), have Jewish and Irish and female and homosexual polititians, mayors, priests and Bishops?  Back then, Kennedy was pretty groundbreaking for being Irish AND Catholic.  As we sometimes say, "Who'd a thunk it?"  So, perhaps this year in history is what Black Elk and other Native American visionaries dreamed would be the return of the White Buffalo?  Not white in color, but white as in "peace". 

Brandy/SWPoet



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