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1
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I have a great deal of interest in
history. I don't think that everyday
2
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Americans can
3
00:00:26,380 --> 00:00:30,240
even begin to understand our
contemporary issues without putting them
4
00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:31,240
historical context.
5
00:00:33,580 --> 00:00:38,100
A lot of people have this notion that
Indians live in teepee, and there were
6
00:00:38,100 --> 00:00:41,340
feathers, and all of them were buffalo
robes.
7
00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:46,820
Everything that seemed to portray
Indians, that's not true of our people.
8
00:00:52,220 --> 00:00:55,480
There's no such thing as dancing with
wolves in the southeast.
9
00:00:56,330 --> 00:00:58,230
Dancing with Dobermans or whatever else.
10
00:00:58,430 --> 00:01:02,290
Now, the metaphor dancing with
alligators doesn't work in the
11
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Dancing with wolves is only a recreation
of last of the Mohicans. The same
12
00:01:10,850 --> 00:01:13,030
savage and noble savage are present
there.
13
00:01:14,130 --> 00:01:20,770
You know, to a large extent, the concept
of the savage is used to justify the
14
00:01:20,770 --> 00:01:21,770
taking of the land.
15
00:01:25,290 --> 00:01:32,070
From the Plains Indian Wars, you get
spectacles of Indians, and that was
16
00:01:32,070 --> 00:01:37,130
what became part of American
consciousness about Indians.
17
00:01:40,910 --> 00:01:47,290
The experiences of the five tribes in
the Southeast were not part of that
18
00:01:47,290 --> 00:01:48,330
history at all.
19
00:02:02,730 --> 00:02:09,669
A lot of history about tribes has been
written by soldiers or by ministers or
20
00:02:09,669 --> 00:02:14,750
people external to the communities, and
so you don't get the other side.
21
00:02:16,330 --> 00:02:21,810
We must begin to develop our own
material or even our own
22
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movies, our own videos, whatever is
necessary to educate our people.
23
00:02:46,220 --> 00:02:50,500
We are the Choctaw, the Muskogee Creek,
24
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:56,860
the Seminole, the Chickasaw,
25
00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,800
and the Cherokee.
26
00:03:00,900 --> 00:03:05,600
We are the children of the mound
builders and heirs to a civilization
27
00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:10,500
followed a drifting river trade route
from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to
28
00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:11,500
Canada.
29
00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,280
The town of Tahlequah in northeastern
Oklahoma.
30
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has only a recent place in our history.
31
00:03:18,860 --> 00:03:23,960
Born from the Cherokee Trail of Tears,
but it is a symbol of our survival.
32
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:29,980
Today it is the capital of the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma, a fitting place for
33
00:03:29,980 --> 00:03:34,460
representatives of our tribes to come
together to discuss our histories and
34
00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:35,460
future.
35
00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:40,060
I'd like to talk about contemporary
issues because I don't want to have
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00:03:40,060 --> 00:03:42,720
think we're frozen in time 200 years
ago.
37
00:03:43,310 --> 00:03:47,270
And I don't like that image. People can
deal with us if we're in museums, but
38
00:03:47,270 --> 00:03:48,950
they can't deal with us today.
39
00:03:49,690 --> 00:03:52,770
Wilma Mankiller is the principal chief
of the Cherokee Nation.
40
00:03:53,810 --> 00:03:59,050
It's always been my opinion that the
true history of American Indians has
41
00:03:59,050 --> 00:04:00,050
been told.
42
00:04:01,010 --> 00:04:03,970
One reason I believe is the dynamic, it
changes.
43
00:04:04,670 --> 00:04:09,490
Our people have always been adaptive to
change, and through this process it's
44
00:04:09,490 --> 00:04:11,310
very difficult to capture.
45
00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:14,380
The true history of our people.
46
00:04:14,780 --> 00:04:18,560
Ken York lives on Choctaw tribal land in
Philadelphia, Mississippi.
47
00:04:18,940 --> 00:04:22,300
He teaches the Choctaw language at
Mississippi State University.
48
00:04:23,260 --> 00:04:27,960
I think histories, if they are to be
representative, have to develop. It's a
49
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:32,560
record of people who didn't go away,
that were still there and living
50
00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:38,080
to values and traditions that have
always been there forever.
51
00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:39,960
Alan Cook.
52
00:04:40,390 --> 00:04:43,150
is a Muscogee Creek historian from
Holdenville, Oklahoma.
53
00:04:43,530 --> 00:04:49,470
I think that if you wed a living
historical account to a living culture,
54
00:04:49,690 --> 00:04:55,910
then you're producing a narrative that
makes sense to Indian people.
55
00:04:56,450 --> 00:05:00,630
Gary Whitedear is a Choctaw artist and
historian from Ada, Oklahoma.
56
00:05:02,700 --> 00:05:05,000
In a sense, we're all consumers of
history.
57
00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:11,760
And we go to the history store and we
buy a dozen eggs of history.
58
00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:16,940
But when we get home and we open that
carton, we find that there are only ten
59
00:05:16,940 --> 00:05:23,580
eggs in there. And what happened to the
story of the Cherokees, of other Indian
60
00:05:23,580 --> 00:05:27,600
people? What happened to the stories of
women? Where are those voices?
61
00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,360
Sarah Parker is Cherokee Narragansett.
62
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:34,960
She is a professor of American Studies
at the University of California at Santa
63
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:35,960
Cruz.
64
00:05:36,860 --> 00:05:42,340
One of the things that we come up
against so frequently is the idea that
65
00:05:42,340 --> 00:05:45,080
Indian tribes, including peoples in the
Southeast...
66
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,900
were nomadic, that they moved from place
to place.
67
00:05:49,220 --> 00:05:55,080
If you look at the history of southern
Appalachia and Cherokee residency there,
68
00:05:55,200 --> 00:06:00,360
there's records of people inhabiting
that region back at least 10 ,000 years.
69
00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,320
Imagine the deep cool of a primal
forest.
70
00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:10,800
We were there.
71
00:06:12,460 --> 00:06:15,180
Imagine the wild rapids of a spring
flood.
72
00:06:15,540 --> 00:06:16,600
We were there.
73
00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:22,360
Imagine a flock of a million passenger
pigeons so large that it blackened the
74
00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,200
sky. We were there.
75
00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:27,360
Know this about the land.
76
00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,900
It was not India, and it was definitely
not empty.
77
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,580
We welcome the great floods of the
Mississippi River to restore and deepen
78
00:06:39,580 --> 00:06:41,300
agricultural lands each summer.
79
00:06:42,300 --> 00:06:47,200
And with the wealth that nature
provided, we built large cities, like
80
00:06:47,380 --> 00:06:53,320
near modern -day St. Louis, a planned
city of 10 ,000 built around 100
81
00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,280
ceremonial and burial mounds.
82
00:06:59,380 --> 00:07:06,340
All the Southeastern tribes, our old
customs were to bury our people
83
00:07:06,340 --> 00:07:10,220
in mounds, great mounds, and to also...
84
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:11,940
bury things with them.
85
00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:20,480
We all go back to where we started. And
our tradition tells us that we spend our
86
00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,960
life starting on Mother Earth. We're
born on Mother Earth. We pass on and
87
00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:26,700
our bones are reinterred in Mother
Earth.
88
00:07:26,940 --> 00:07:30,480
And so this cycle of life is really like
the cycle of the human spirit.
89
00:07:31,220 --> 00:07:36,760
The mounds and relationship to the study
of astronomy was such that the entrance
90
00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,820
of the buildings would always face the
east.
91
00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:43,980
We call that Hashi Akucha, which is
where the sun rises. And the rays, of
92
00:07:43,980 --> 00:07:44,980
course, bring warmth.
93
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:51,540
The warmth of the rays hits Mother
Earth, and plants, animals, and even
94
00:07:51,540 --> 00:07:56,420
beings begin to grow. There are people
in the South today, many of them wealthy
95
00:07:56,420 --> 00:08:02,060
folks, doctors and lawyers and even
politicians, who are in the dirty
96
00:08:02,060 --> 00:08:05,080
of digging up our Indian people.
97
00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,880
And the reason they're digging up our
Indian people is because of the things
98
00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:15,380
they were buried with, pots and
projectile points, spear points, and so
99
00:08:15,660 --> 00:08:20,480
There seems to be a growing black market
for these items, so they are dug up and
100
00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:21,480
they're being sold.
101
00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:41,179
We believe that the Earth is our mother.
And in order to recognize that, certain
102
00:08:41,179 --> 00:08:43,220
people built mounds.
103
00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,100
And they do this to recognize the
mother.
104
00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:51,880
During pregnancy, you see the mother
change.
105
00:08:52,780 --> 00:08:58,840
So in recognizing what we call Tik 'in
Hashi, the Women's Month,
106
00:08:59,140 --> 00:09:02,980
there were times when they built mounds,
and they were small mounds.
107
00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:08,760
It was more of a recognition of the
female rather than burial or ceremonial.
108
00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:17,000
For hundreds of years, scientists
refused to believe that these great
109
00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:18,360
could have been built by Indians.
110
00:09:19,060 --> 00:09:24,040
They attributed the mounds to Viking
explorers, to the lost tribes of Israel,
111
00:09:24,220 --> 00:09:28,540
even to the notion that our country had
once been populated by a race of
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00:09:28,540 --> 00:09:32,760
supermen. white men who built the mounds
before they founded the great
113
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:34,140
civilizations of Mexico.
114
00:09:36,220 --> 00:09:39,900
Scientists finally decided that the
mounds had been engineered by Native
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00:09:39,900 --> 00:09:44,540
Americans, but that the Mississippian
culture had collapsed and disappeared in
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00:09:44,540 --> 00:09:45,560
the 1500s.
117
00:09:45,980 --> 00:09:48,740
But we have always known that these were
our relations.
118
00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:52,980
Our oral histories tie us to the mound
builders and beyond.
119
00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,940
The migration to where we are now.
120
00:09:57,390 --> 00:09:59,390
perhaps to thousands of years, I'm not
sure.
121
00:09:59,610 --> 00:10:03,270
But it took a long time for our people
to get here.
122
00:10:04,510 --> 00:10:09,790
Every time they would make a stop, they
would put the sacred pole in the ground.
123
00:10:09,970 --> 00:10:15,050
But the next day, as an example, this
pole would lean towards the direction
124
00:10:15,050 --> 00:10:20,210
people are supposed to go. The pole
would give them direction, and the
125
00:10:20,210 --> 00:10:21,210
would march again.
126
00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:26,060
And people brought everything with them,
including the bones of their ancestors.
127
00:10:26,700 --> 00:10:32,300
And the feeling, the understanding that
I get from that is that they would never
128
00:10:32,300 --> 00:10:38,140
return to their place of origin as far
as the migration is concerned.
129
00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:44,340
When they reached what we now know as
the River, they planted a pole in the
130
00:10:44,340 --> 00:10:45,340
ground.
131
00:10:46,020 --> 00:10:50,760
It's our understanding that a thorn
came, a biblical proportion.
132
00:10:51,860 --> 00:10:55,300
And yet, the next day, this pole stood
straight up.
133
00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:01,920
And since that time, we've always been
where we are today, our ancestral home
134
00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:02,920
land in Mississippi.
135
00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:18,740
Our people, when they built the mound,
they put the sacred pole down and the
136
00:11:18,740 --> 00:11:22,940
spirit gave them the song. And as long
as they sing the song, the sacred pole
137
00:11:22,940 --> 00:11:24,820
would always stand straight towards the
heaven.
138
00:11:30,660 --> 00:11:34,460
The Native Americans will continue on
TBS.
139
00:11:36,180 --> 00:11:39,280
TBS presents the Environmental Media
Award.
140
00:11:39,930 --> 00:11:44,370
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and your favorite celebrities for an
141
00:11:44,370 --> 00:11:46,070
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142
00:11:46,950 --> 00:11:50,270
Celebrating the entertainment industry's
concern for our planet.
143
00:11:50,470 --> 00:11:53,310
There's so many things you can do. I'm
concerned about it all.
144
00:11:53,590 --> 00:11:54,610
I think we can do better.
145
00:11:55,150 --> 00:11:57,130
The Environmental Media Award.
146
00:11:57,570 --> 00:11:59,510
Televised for the first time ever.
147
00:11:59,950 --> 00:12:01,630
Sunday night, 11 Eastern.
148
00:12:02,510 --> 00:12:03,630
Exclusively on CBS.
149
00:12:07,050 --> 00:12:09,770
Now back to the Native Americans on TVF.
150
00:12:36,650 --> 00:12:41,870
We tattooed our bodies and etched our
art into copper and seashell ornaments.
151
00:12:42,610 --> 00:12:47,210
We celebrated the relationship of our
clans to native animals in beautifully
152
00:12:47,210 --> 00:12:48,690
carved domes.
153
00:12:54,250 --> 00:12:59,310
We played a spectacular game of
stickball on huge fields near our
154
00:12:59,310 --> 00:13:01,850
grounds, the first American baseball.
155
00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:13,000
On the eve of European exploration, we
lived in stable villages, in cane and
156
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plaster or log homes.
157
00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:17,760
We had peace communities.
158
00:13:30,180 --> 00:13:35,140
We held a wide expanse of land in common
with many tribes for hunting and
159
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fishing.
160
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And this the Europeans never understood.
161
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From the beginning, they could not see
what was here and did not understand
162
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our sense of place did not end at our
porch steps.
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They brought their God and their belief
in property and their dog of war.
164
00:14:13,970 --> 00:14:18,730
Bartolome de las Casas kept a diary when
Hernando de Soto's expedition passed
165
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through the southeast in 1539.
166
00:14:22,190 --> 00:14:27,030
The Christians, with their horses,
swords, and spikes, began to carry out
167
00:14:27,030 --> 00:14:30,350
massacres and strange cruelties against
the Indians.
168
00:14:30,630 --> 00:14:35,970
They attacked towns and spared neither
children, the aged, nor pregnant women.
169
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The people were fed to dogs, skewered,
and burned alive.
170
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All this is my own eye's witness.
171
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The cries of so much spilled blood reach
all the way to heaven.
172
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The people who are descendants of the
group that lived around Oritna Mobile
173
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that they were treated very harshly by
the Spaniards, almost immediately.
174
00:15:04,100 --> 00:15:05,280
They were very demanding.
175
00:15:06,140 --> 00:15:11,800
They wanted not only food and shelter
and clothing, but also the women.
176
00:15:12,330 --> 00:15:17,890
And, of course, did not go very well
with the leadership at the time.
177
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And you have to understand, one of the
leaders in one of the villages was also
178
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woman leader.
179
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One of the chiefs that was mentioned in
the chronicles and was highly respected
180
00:15:31,930 --> 00:15:33,910
was Tuscaloosa, a black warrior.
181
00:15:34,250 --> 00:15:39,290
He somehow knew that De Soto was here
not in cause of friendship and peace.
182
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He would send runners.
183
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to other villages that they were going
to visit.
184
00:15:44,890 --> 00:15:48,830
And they prepared an attack, a surprise
attack, on Hernando de Soto's
185
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expedition.
186
00:15:52,170 --> 00:15:57,390
The Choctaws did some damage. They
injured a lot of Spaniards. Of course,
187
00:15:57,390 --> 00:15:58,770
were a lot of Choctaws that died.
188
00:16:00,190 --> 00:16:04,910
Afterwards, the Chickasaws took care of
Hernando de Soto.
189
00:16:08,170 --> 00:16:12,690
War stories often hide the more ruthless
but less documented threats to our
190
00:16:12,690 --> 00:16:13,690
survival.
191
00:16:15,670 --> 00:16:21,230
The seduction of trade and the
intermarriage of Indian women and white
192
00:16:21,230 --> 00:16:26,430
turned our world upside down long before
settlers stole our land.
193
00:16:28,010 --> 00:16:34,010
The women, especially after about 1760,
were
194
00:16:34,010 --> 00:16:37,090
squawks. They were denied.
195
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:43,440
the position and the power and the
autonomy that they held within their own
196
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:50,100
nations by these incoming whites who
simply did not understand
197
00:16:50,100 --> 00:16:53,440
a balance between male and female.
198
00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:59,200
There were many women who struggled to
retain their traditional power, even
199
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,060
after they moved into the white world.
200
00:17:01,460 --> 00:17:04,839
But their lives have become a mix of
myth and tragedy.
201
00:17:05,930 --> 00:17:10,470
For generations, American schoolchildren
have read the romanticized tale of
202
00:17:10,470 --> 00:17:15,650
Pocahontas, daughter of a powerful chief
of the Powhatan Confederacy, who
203
00:17:15,650 --> 00:17:19,490
supposedly threw herself in front of the
execution of English colonist John
204
00:17:19,490 --> 00:17:23,010
Smith and pleaded with her father to
spare his life.
205
00:17:23,490 --> 00:17:28,930
John Smith wrote and rewrote his story
many times, but no native account was
206
00:17:28,930 --> 00:17:29,930
ever reported.
207
00:17:30,630 --> 00:17:35,010
Almost no attention is paid to the role
of Pocahontas as a diplomat.
208
00:17:35,530 --> 00:17:38,550
who married the Virginia tobacco planter
John Rolfe.
209
00:17:39,490 --> 00:17:44,390
They traveled to England with a message
of peace and cooperation on behalf of
210
00:17:44,390 --> 00:17:45,390
her father.
211
00:17:45,770 --> 00:17:50,330
She dressed like an English aristocrat
and was embraced by the royal courts of
212
00:17:50,330 --> 00:17:54,810
Europe, but she was not seduced by the
wealth or glamour. She had every
213
00:17:54,810 --> 00:17:59,330
intention of returning to the rolling
hills of the Potomac with her husband
214
00:17:59,330 --> 00:18:00,330
infant son.
215
00:18:00,490 --> 00:18:05,110
But Pocahontas died of smallpox on the
day she set sail for home.
216
00:18:05,610 --> 00:18:07,190
She was only 22.
217
00:18:11,290 --> 00:18:16,810
No one life is crisscrossed with the
conflicting experiences of being an
218
00:18:16,810 --> 00:18:23,450
woman in the colonial era like that of
the Cherokee legend, Nanyayha, who we
219
00:18:23,450 --> 00:18:24,670
know as Nancy Ward.
220
00:18:25,370 --> 00:18:32,210
In the Cherokees' battle against the
Creeks at Talawa in 1755, her husband
221
00:18:32,210 --> 00:18:37,690
slain during that battle, and Ward
picked up his gun and fought in his
222
00:18:37,690 --> 00:18:40,450
apparently spurred the Cherokees on to
victory.
223
00:18:40,690 --> 00:18:45,530
Years later, she married a white
settler, and when the Revolutionary War
224
00:18:45,530 --> 00:18:50,530
out, she played an important role as
peacekeeper between the colonists, the
225
00:18:50,530 --> 00:18:51,910
British, and the Cherokee.
226
00:18:54,440 --> 00:19:00,860
During a bitter cold winter, 1780 -1781,
Ward fed and
227
00:19:00,860 --> 00:19:06,800
clothed General Washington's troops who
had gotten lost over yonder in the
228
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:13,280
forest. She had provided an awful lot of
corn and other food to the settlers
229
00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:19,460
over the years and was repaid for her
kindnesses by having her
230
00:19:19,460 --> 00:19:22,780
home and her town burned to the ground.
231
00:19:24,910 --> 00:19:30,050
Like many Cherokee of her generation,
Nancy Ward was trapped between two
232
00:19:30,050 --> 00:19:33,110
cultures and often chose European ways.
233
00:19:33,790 --> 00:19:38,790
She built a large corn and cotton
plantation and was among the first of
234
00:19:38,790 --> 00:19:41,830
successful Cherokee planters to own
African slaves.
235
00:19:43,430 --> 00:19:48,850
Ever since our contact with DeSoto, I
think there's been a battle, a struggle
236
00:19:48,850 --> 00:19:53,670
within the Cherokee Nation, the Cherokee
people, over whether we should totally
237
00:19:53,670 --> 00:19:57,980
assimilate. and whether that was the
best route for our people, or whether we
238
00:19:57,980 --> 00:20:02,160
should partially assimilate, or whether
we should retain our culture and sense
239
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,160
of who we are.
240
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:13,060
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries,
a handful of families in each tribe
241
00:20:13,060 --> 00:20:15,460
intermarried and traded comfortably with
Europeans.
242
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,840
They abandoned tradition and were more
comfortable speaking English than their
243
00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:21,840
native languages.
244
00:20:22,300 --> 00:20:26,800
They owned plantations and slaves and
sent their children to school in Paris,
245
00:20:27,060 --> 00:20:28,560
London, or Charleston.
246
00:20:29,020 --> 00:20:34,340
In the upside -down history of the time,
they emerged as leaders of our tribes
247
00:20:34,340 --> 00:20:38,660
because they could speak English and
were comfortable in the halls of
248
00:20:39,420 --> 00:20:45,870
But in 1812, with tribal lands overrun
by settlers, A movement for the defense
249
00:20:45,870 --> 00:20:50,670
of land and culture caught fire among
the thousands of Muskogee Creek who had
250
00:20:50,670 --> 00:20:52,670
continued to live traditional lives.
251
00:20:53,550 --> 00:20:58,750
Led by Red Eagle and Manawi, the
movement came to be known as the Red
252
00:20:58,750 --> 00:21:01,530
because of the crimson paint on their
war clubs.
253
00:21:02,070 --> 00:21:06,590
The Red Sticks banned the use of guns
for hunting because the commercial
254
00:21:06,590 --> 00:21:09,050
in Deer Heights had destroyed the native
hunting grounds.
255
00:21:09,870 --> 00:21:14,170
They also opposed slavery and sheltered
runaway slaves from plantations
256
00:21:14,170 --> 00:21:15,170
throughout the South.
257
00:21:16,170 --> 00:21:18,450
They waged war on frontier settlements.
258
00:21:18,850 --> 00:21:24,170
In the spring of 1814, General Andrew
Jackson led an army against them at
259
00:21:24,170 --> 00:21:26,710
Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River
in Alabama.
260
00:21:31,810 --> 00:21:36,510
Using clubs and bows and arrows against
Jackson's well -armed troops, they were
261
00:21:36,510 --> 00:21:37,510
wiped out.
262
00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:43,840
To count the dead Creeks, Jackson
soldiers cut off their noses, collecting
263
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:45,760
pile of 557.
264
00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,240
The Red Stick movement had been crushed.
265
00:21:49,580 --> 00:21:54,800
The Muscogee Creek Nation was forced to
open the last of its ancestral lands to
266
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:55,800
white settlement.
267
00:21:57,100 --> 00:22:02,140
Over and over during the decades after
the Revolution, our people moved west,
268
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,400
away from their oldest towns in search
of peace.
269
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:11,060
Even though the leaders of the new
United States repeatedly assured us that
270
00:22:11,060 --> 00:22:15,480
homes were safe and that we had a
sovereign claim to the land of our
271
00:22:16,780 --> 00:22:21,400
Both Congress and the Supreme Court
described the tribes of the Southeast as
272
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,500
distinct, independent political
communities.
273
00:22:24,980 --> 00:22:30,200
It may be regarded as certain that not a
foot of land will ever be taken from
274
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,260
the Indians without their consent.
275
00:22:33,290 --> 00:22:37,110
The sacredness of their rights is felt
by all thinking persons in America.
276
00:22:37,870 --> 00:22:38,970
Thomas Jefferson.
277
00:22:40,050 --> 00:22:46,030
The Indians, wrote Secretary of War
Henry Knox, being the prior occupants,
278
00:22:46,030 --> 00:22:47,350
possess the right of soil.
279
00:22:47,870 --> 00:22:52,830
It cannot be taken from them unless by
their free consent or by right of
280
00:22:52,830 --> 00:22:54,970
conquest in case of a just war.
281
00:23:02,540 --> 00:23:07,440
But along the western edges of American
settlement, a very different reality was
282
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:08,440
in the making.
283
00:23:12,220 --> 00:23:18,200
As the Revolutionary War progressed, the
Continental Army had no money. They
284
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:20,380
were absolutely flat broke.
285
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,720
They had no way to pay their soldiers.
286
00:23:23,020 --> 00:23:28,840
So they promised recruits in the
Continental Army portions of land.
287
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,760
Neither the new settlers nor the newly
formed states cared for the lofty words
288
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:37,760
of the founding fathers.
289
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:42,860
They became a battering ram in our
forests and inflamed the divisions
290
00:23:42,860 --> 00:23:43,860
our people.
291
00:23:44,580 --> 00:23:51,500
Into this world of turmoil, a great
leader emerged, a fiery red star,
292
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:57,040
a Shawnee warrior born in the Ohio
Valley, but comfortable in the
293
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:58,040
the Great Lakes.
294
00:23:58,140 --> 00:24:02,480
Cherokee councils in Tennessee, or the
Muskogee camps of the Red Sticks.
295
00:24:03,740 --> 00:24:08,580
Tecumseh and his brother, known as the
Prophet, traveled throughout our nations
296
00:24:08,580 --> 00:24:13,340
at the beginning of the 19th century,
arguing that the great forests and river
297
00:24:13,340 --> 00:24:18,660
valleys were the common estate of all
Native Americans, not any single tribe.
298
00:24:20,380 --> 00:24:25,220
The way, the only way to stop this evil
is for all red men to unite.
299
00:24:25,660 --> 00:24:30,640
in claiming a common and equal right in
the land, as it was at first and should
300
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:31,379
be now.
301
00:24:31,380 --> 00:24:34,820
For it was never divided, but belongs to
all.
302
00:24:35,340 --> 00:24:41,280
No tribe has the right to sell, even to
each other, much less to strangers, who
303
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,020
demand all and will take no less.
304
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:44,800
Sell a country.
305
00:24:45,100 --> 00:24:50,080
Why not sell the air, the clouds, the
great sea, as well as the earth?
306
00:24:51,460 --> 00:24:52,460
Tecumseh.
307
00:24:55,950 --> 00:25:01,570
The last hope of a unified Indian nation
collapsed when Tecumseh died in battle,
308
00:25:01,750 --> 00:25:04,970
fighting the United States in the War of
1812.
309
00:25:06,550 --> 00:25:12,050
Each of our tribes was left to face an
expanding America alone.
310
00:25:13,750 --> 00:25:20,210
One of my very favorite stories in
Cherokee history is the time in 1811,
311
00:25:20,390 --> 00:25:21,950
1812, around that time.
312
00:25:22,670 --> 00:25:28,770
when a prophet supposedly came to the
Cherokees and told the Cherokees that if
313
00:25:28,770 --> 00:25:35,530
they didn't give up white ways and go
back to the old Cherokee ways, that
314
00:25:35,530 --> 00:25:37,850
they would die.
315
00:25:38,810 --> 00:25:42,970
And of course, no one died.
316
00:25:43,450 --> 00:25:48,210
And so that the people began to think
that the prophet...
317
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:53,920
uh was you know not truthful he lost
lost favor with the tribe what they
318
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,660
realize and i think what we realized
from this distance is he was talking
319
00:25:57,660 --> 00:26:00,600
death of the spirit rather than physical
death
320
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,300
The Native Americans will continue on
TBL.
321
00:26:34,380 --> 00:26:37,180
Now back to the Native Americans on TBL.
322
00:26:42,140 --> 00:26:48,460
This house was probably a very, very bad
place to be on the morning of May
323
00:26:48,460 --> 00:26:50,000
24th of 1838.
324
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:56,180
On that day, there was a knock at the
front door, and as... The people who
325
00:26:56,180 --> 00:27:01,320
in this home opened the door. They saw U
.S. soldiers standing outside the front
326
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:07,240
door with guns pointed at them, saying,
out, you, walk to a stockade, which had
327
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:08,680
been built just over the hill here.
328
00:27:09,380 --> 00:27:13,540
And so with no time to take any of their
possessions, any of their blankets, any
329
00:27:13,540 --> 00:27:18,300
food, any of their personal mementos
with them, they were marched out with
330
00:27:18,300 --> 00:27:22,900
whatever they happened to have on at
that moment and walked several miles to
331
00:27:22,900 --> 00:27:26,300
stockade. Something you would put pigs
in, cows in.
332
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,840
Jess Bushyhead's great -great -great
-grandfather was one of those routed
333
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,720
day. The U .S.
334
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:39,900
Army commander gave specific orders that
if the troops were to arrive at a home
335
00:27:39,900 --> 00:27:44,720
like this and the children were home but
the parents were out in the fields, to
336
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,220
take the children, kidnap the children,
and that way they would force the
337
00:27:48,220 --> 00:27:49,220
parents to come in.
338
00:27:49,610 --> 00:27:54,790
The idea of forcing us from our homeland
and removing us west of the Mississippi
339
00:27:54,790 --> 00:27:57,210
River was not a new idea.
340
00:27:57,890 --> 00:28:00,610
It had been simmering since before the
Revolution.
341
00:28:01,410 --> 00:28:03,150
But it was our land.
342
00:28:03,830 --> 00:28:07,410
And we were, they told us, the civilized
tribe.
343
00:28:17,900 --> 00:28:23,200
The principal chief of the Cherokee
Nation in the early 1830s and later was
344
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,340
man named John Roth.
345
00:28:24,580 --> 00:28:27,460
He was 1 -8 Cherokee. He had blue eyes.
346
00:28:27,700 --> 00:28:32,700
He was obviously very fluent in English.
He owned a large plantation just south
347
00:28:32,700 --> 00:28:38,000
of Chattanooga. John Roth very firmly
believed in the American judicial
348
00:28:38,100 --> 00:28:44,500
He looked at the founding documents and
believed that the U .S. actually would,
349
00:28:44,580 --> 00:28:45,580
you know...
350
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,060
pay attention to ideas about justice.
351
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:56,020
But Georgia also strongly opposed having
the Cherokee Nation a sovereign
352
00:28:56,020 --> 00:29:00,300
nation within the boundaries of what
became the state of Georgia, which is
353
00:29:00,300 --> 00:29:05,500
interesting because these states grew up
around the Cherokee Nation and the
354
00:29:05,500 --> 00:29:09,860
other southeastern tribes, and then they
bitterly resented having a separate
355
00:29:09,860 --> 00:29:11,820
sovereign entity within the state.
356
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:18,180
The southern states hated the fact that
Indian nations had become a refuge for
357
00:29:18,180 --> 00:29:23,140
runaway slaves, but at the root of their
hostility was a lust for land.
358
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,860
The place where we're standing is the
hilltop overlooking Rattlesnake Springs.
359
00:29:30,300 --> 00:29:34,600
This is where, in the summer of 1838,
the United States Army and the Georgia
360
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,200
troops involved in the Roundup
collected...
361
00:29:37,740 --> 00:29:42,200
what at one point amounted to almost 13
,000 Cherokee. They were living out here
362
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:46,040
without any shelter, without any regular
supplies of food.
363
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,760
There were horses, cows, dogs, chickens.
It was just a big mess.
364
00:29:50,540 --> 00:29:52,180
It was a concentration camp.
365
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:59,160
In and out of court for five years, John
Roth and our lawyers were convinced
366
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:03,700
that our sovereignty would be upheld and
a way would be found to stall the
367
00:30:03,700 --> 00:30:04,700
removal policy.
368
00:30:06,030 --> 00:30:11,190
Part of our tribal people, I think, sort
of felt very strongly that we should
369
00:30:11,190 --> 00:30:16,430
stay in the southeast and fight to the
death for the right to remain in the
370
00:30:16,430 --> 00:30:21,010
southeast. And part of our people felt
that we should participate in removal
371
00:30:21,010 --> 00:30:24,090
accept a removal policy and move on to
Indian Territory.
372
00:30:25,550 --> 00:30:29,690
The Cherokee leadership in Washington
was sending letters and messages back,
373
00:30:29,910 --> 00:30:33,990
don't worry, we're going to be able to
stop this, we have friends in Congress,
374
00:30:34,250 --> 00:30:37,370
we have friends in the U .S. Senate,
we're going to be able to overturn this,
375
00:30:37,450 --> 00:30:41,030
we'll be able to stop it and prevent the
soldiers from doing it.
376
00:30:41,270 --> 00:30:47,870
And then as dawn broke on May 24th of
1838, they found out the reality was
377
00:30:48,010 --> 00:30:49,010
very, very different.
378
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:55,460
The Supreme Court finally ruled that we
could not be forced from our lands.
379
00:30:55,900 --> 00:31:00,320
But President Andrew Jackson simply
turned his back on the court.
380
00:31:00,540 --> 00:31:05,340
He had built his reputation as an Indian
fighter and an advocate of forced
381
00:31:05,340 --> 00:31:08,080
removal. He did not hesitate.
382
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:17,100
This is Blythe's Ferry in 1838. This is
the way the Cherokees got across
383
00:31:17,100 --> 00:31:18,640
the Tennessee River.
384
00:31:19,230 --> 00:31:23,010
My great -great -great -grandfather was
one of the conductors. There were 13
385
00:31:23,010 --> 00:31:27,410
conductors, each one responsible for
keeping alive 1 ,000 Cherokees.
386
00:31:28,010 --> 00:31:33,050
In 1838, it was a wooden boat, steam
-powered most probably. It was a little
387
00:31:33,050 --> 00:31:38,070
smaller then, and they were able to
cross in small groups, family by family,
388
00:31:38,070 --> 00:31:43,010
person by person, wagon by wagon, horse
by horse, sometimes almost sinking the
389
00:31:43,010 --> 00:31:46,130
ferry with the weight of the oxes and
the horses.
390
00:31:48,590 --> 00:31:52,070
Their spirits were also sinking, too,
because as they're crossing the river,
391
00:31:52,150 --> 00:31:58,550
they're realizing that that is the
Cherokee Nation, and they're leaving it
392
00:31:58,550 --> 00:31:59,550
the last time.
393
00:31:59,830 --> 00:32:03,950
They'll never see the homeland that they
were born in again. They'll never see
394
00:32:03,950 --> 00:32:05,570
the land where their fathers were
buried.
395
00:32:06,070 --> 00:32:12,610
And all they have to look forward ahead
of them is an 800 -mile trek over
396
00:32:12,610 --> 00:32:15,970
land to the Indian Territory.
397
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:22,720
this trip became known as the Trail of
Tears. And so this ferry is the actual
398
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:24,820
beginning of the Trail of Tears.
399
00:32:36,910 --> 00:32:41,770
By the time the last contingent of
Cherokees arrived in Indian Territory in
400
00:32:41,770 --> 00:32:48,330
1839, April of 1839, only one -fourth of
our entire tribe had died, either while
401
00:32:48,330 --> 00:32:51,710
being held on the stockades or during
the removal itself.
402
00:32:52,170 --> 00:32:56,170
And the net effect is that we ended up
in Indian Territory, what is now
403
00:32:56,170 --> 00:33:01,790
Oklahoma, with many people dead, with
the tribes bitterly divided politically
404
00:33:01,790 --> 00:33:03,330
over the issue of removal.
405
00:33:04,170 --> 00:33:10,330
of all of our economic system, our
social system, our cultural system,
406
00:33:10,490 --> 00:33:12,350
everything we'd ever known had been left
behind.
407
00:33:12,790 --> 00:33:15,190
And so our people were devastated.
408
00:33:23,690 --> 00:33:29,170
What has always amazed me, however, is
how our people dealt with that, rather
409
00:33:29,170 --> 00:33:32,490
than sitting around and wringing our
hands over our situation.
410
00:33:33,930 --> 00:33:39,790
By the mid -1840s, we began to rebuild
again and rebuild our families, rebuild
411
00:33:39,790 --> 00:33:44,470
our community, and rebuild a tribe and
rebuild a nation here in Indian
412
00:33:44,470 --> 00:33:45,470
Territory.
413
00:33:59,950 --> 00:34:02,990
The Native Americans will continue on
TBL.
414
00:34:05,770 --> 00:34:08,370
Now back to the Native Americans on TBS.
415
00:34:47,270 --> 00:34:50,070
Thank you.
416
00:35:04,910 --> 00:35:06,930
We built the first towns in Oklahoma.
417
00:35:09,190 --> 00:35:11,690
We revived our schools and newspapers.
418
00:35:19,090 --> 00:35:22,030
We built new farms and began to thrive.
419
00:35:24,370 --> 00:35:29,270
These were not our ancestral lands, but
Andrew Jackson had promised.
420
00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:34,660
that finally this land would be forever
secured and guaranteed to us.
421
00:35:35,340 --> 00:35:40,260
No political communities can be formed
in that extensive region except those
422
00:35:40,260 --> 00:35:42,640
which are established by the Indians
themselves.
423
00:35:43,220 --> 00:35:48,140
A barrier has thus been raised for their
protection against the encroachment of
424
00:35:48,140 --> 00:35:49,140
our citizens.
425
00:35:49,580 --> 00:35:50,760
Andrew Jackson.
426
00:35:53,620 --> 00:35:58,700
People are shocked that in the 1840s
that most of these tribes were running
427
00:35:58,700 --> 00:36:03,140
own school systems, not only for men,
but school systems for the education of
428
00:36:03,140 --> 00:36:04,140
women.
429
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:08,440
And we were printing our own newspapers
in Cherokee and in English.
430
00:36:09,220 --> 00:36:14,480
And in the 1840s, there were still
people in this country debating the
431
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,620
whether we had souls or whether we were
human.
432
00:36:28,750 --> 00:36:31,890
We should have known that there was no
security on the prairie.
433
00:36:32,590 --> 00:36:34,930
Eventually, the settlers caught up with
us.
434
00:36:35,190 --> 00:36:41,450
In 1887, just 50 years after the Trail
of Tears, the most well -meaning
435
00:36:41,450 --> 00:36:47,850
humanitarians and the most crass land
speculators created an unholy alliance
436
00:36:47,850 --> 00:36:52,810
steal our new nations and destroy, once
and for all, our tribal identities.
437
00:36:53,570 --> 00:36:56,710
It came to be known as the Allotment
Act.
438
00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:01,840
The idea was painfully simple.
439
00:37:02,860 --> 00:37:09,140
Subdivide our tribal lands into small
parcels of 40 to 160 acres and assign
440
00:37:09,140 --> 00:37:10,300
parcel to each family.
441
00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:16,640
Put the rest of the lands, tens of
millions of acres which we held in
442
00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:19,520
the market and open them up for white
settlement.
443
00:37:20,020 --> 00:37:22,300
The Oklahoma land rush was on.
444
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:30,350
In one brief, blinding flash, tribes
throughout the United States lost their
445
00:37:30,350 --> 00:37:31,350
land.
446
00:37:33,670 --> 00:37:38,870
The Indian must be imbued with the
exalting egotism of American
447
00:37:38,870 --> 00:37:44,090
that he will say I instead of we, and
this is mine instead of this is ours.
448
00:37:44,810 --> 00:37:47,450
J .D .C. Atkins, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs.
449
00:37:53,110 --> 00:37:56,410
What happened to us at the turn of the
century and the loss of land?
450
00:37:57,180 --> 00:38:02,380
when our land was divided out and
individual allotments had a profound,
451
00:38:02,580 --> 00:38:09,020
irreversible effect on our people, more
profound than the closing of schools or
452
00:38:09,020 --> 00:38:15,060
courthouses or anything. When we stopped
viewing land ownership in common and
453
00:38:15,060 --> 00:38:20,200
viewing ourselves in relation to owning
the land in common, it profoundly
454
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,900
altered our sense of community.
455
00:38:23,630 --> 00:38:29,150
and our social structure, and so that
had a tremendous impact on our people,
456
00:38:29,150 --> 00:38:30,150
we can never go back.
457
00:38:33,270 --> 00:38:38,650
The central component of the traditional
order, the ceremonial ground, was not
458
00:38:38,650 --> 00:38:43,590
protected from the allotment process, so
that today you have probably at least
459
00:38:43,590 --> 00:38:49,010
30 ceremonial grounds that are out there
on private land generally.
460
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:59,000
Alone and spread out on the land,
without citizenship or the protection of
461
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,140
treaties, we had almost no chance of
survival.
462
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:08,820
In fact, the whole idea was to strip
away our tribal identities and remold us
463
00:39:08,820 --> 00:39:10,380
into small family farmers.
464
00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:15,980
I remember my grandfather saying one
time that the Indians wanted to maintain
465
00:39:15,980 --> 00:39:19,980
the tribal domain, but to his
perception, it was all lost anyway. It
466
00:39:19,980 --> 00:39:22,580
have done any good. They were corrupted
by a mentality.
467
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,400
that the white people finally, or the
federal policies and the white social
468
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:32,640
pressures and so on, finally created in
them that they took away this regard
469
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:37,680
that the Skokie people had for the
group, and they were on the road to
470
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:38,700
individualists.
471
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:46,460
It must have been the case, even in our
classic late Mississippian periods,
472
00:39:46,620 --> 00:39:51,860
when we were all running around with
copper air spools, supposedly, that
473
00:39:51,860 --> 00:39:57,920
was... Probably only about 10%, a core
group anyway, that you would call or
474
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:04,540
to call culture bearers, folks that
really had the spirit of that
475
00:40:04,540 --> 00:40:06,220
mindset that I'm talking about.
476
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:11,200
And the other 90%, I happen to believe,
in varying ways, waiting for fast food
477
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:13,240
industry to hit America.
478
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:20,880
Today, when our elders die, we lose
precious links to our past which can
479
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:21,880
be regained.
480
00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:26,740
But we have a strong will to survive,
and there are flickers of revival.
481
00:40:27,580 --> 00:40:34,300
The landscape has been transformed, but
it still lives in the memory of the
482
00:40:34,300 --> 00:40:41,100
people, and it still inhabits our minds
and I think our hearts, too. And
483
00:40:41,100 --> 00:40:47,820
it's so important to understand how
place resonates
484
00:40:47,820 --> 00:40:50,920
in Native American cultures.
485
00:40:53,900 --> 00:40:58,500
This is my grandfather's allotted land,
and there's a lot of history here. I can
486
00:40:58,500 --> 00:41:04,020
go sit on the porch and look across the
road there and see flowers that bloomed
487
00:41:04,020 --> 00:41:05,220
in my grandfather's yard.
488
00:41:05,620 --> 00:41:11,340
And so history is not something distant
from me. It's a part of who I am and a
489
00:41:11,340 --> 00:41:16,740
part of my everyday life. Many of the
great events in Cherokee history happen
490
00:41:16,740 --> 00:41:17,740
not far from here.
491
00:41:18,270 --> 00:41:23,810
And I can walk to the spring any day
when I'm a little bit troubled by some
492
00:41:23,810 --> 00:41:29,330
major event or problem. I can walk to
the spring where my grandfather walked
493
00:41:29,330 --> 00:41:33,490
to make turkey medicine or where I
walked to when I was a child to gather
494
00:41:33,490 --> 00:41:35,250
for household use.
495
00:41:35,470 --> 00:41:40,570
And so there's a lot of history about
this place. I'm very tied to this land
496
00:41:40,570 --> 00:41:43,770
to this place. It's very much who I am.
497
00:41:44,810 --> 00:41:50,230
All the songs and dances in Oklahoma
that had been put to sleep in my general
498
00:41:50,230 --> 00:41:54,330
area, called put to sleep, for 30 or 35
years started coming back.
499
00:41:55,030 --> 00:42:00,270
The Choctaw songs and Chickasaw songs
and so forth, for a long time they had
500
00:42:00,270 --> 00:42:04,950
gone away or gone underground because of
religious persecution.
501
00:42:06,170 --> 00:42:12,230
So we started hearing these songs again
and seeing these dances again as they
502
00:42:12,230 --> 00:42:13,270
started coming out.
503
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:29,160
I kept an ear out for these things and
got to a point to where now people rely
504
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:32,280
on me to an extent to know those songs
and know those dances.
505
00:42:53,180 --> 00:42:59,040
What they call, I guess in English, like
a chanter to an extent that I'm able to
506
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,060
help carry these things on.
507
00:43:03,820 --> 00:43:07,460
A lot of our Southeastern dances, too,
you will notice.
508
00:43:07,820 --> 00:43:12,020
There's a locking of arms and elbows, a
holding of hands.
509
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:14,640
Our people dance as a group together.
510
00:43:15,780 --> 00:43:22,760
That community of spirit, that
communalism, that desire to be part of a
511
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:28,320
whole, taking your identity and cues
from your traditional
512
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,040
community.
513
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:36,480
that's very much in evidence in our
songs and dances, and even in our
514
00:43:39,860 --> 00:43:44,920
There's been a recent interest in
revival of our stickball games.
515
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:52,340
The settlers, when they first came,
thought that the game was too brutal,
516
00:43:52,340 --> 00:43:57,820
course people died in those games, so
the missionaries especially tried to...
517
00:43:58,830 --> 00:44:02,450
Get the Choctaws from playing the game.
This is an Indian form of baseball.
518
00:44:02,710 --> 00:44:03,710
This thing right here.
519
00:44:04,490 --> 00:44:06,410
This is our form of baseball.
520
00:44:06,630 --> 00:44:11,150
You know, they say baseball is an
American sport. This is our form.
521
00:44:11,150 --> 00:44:13,830
lot of other tribes still playing this
game.
522
00:44:14,030 --> 00:44:16,790
In the southeast, all these tribes have
this game.
523
00:44:17,610 --> 00:44:22,410
And Cherokee people and Chickasaw people
and Creek and Seminole and Choctaw, we
524
00:44:22,410 --> 00:44:23,850
all have this in common.
525
00:44:24,150 --> 00:44:27,810
Once you play it one time, you get
hooked on it. I mean, I love this game.
526
00:44:46,460 --> 00:44:48,480
Thank you.
527
00:45:23,530 --> 00:45:29,030
I am absolutely convinced that we've
survived because we've managed to hang
528
00:45:29,030 --> 00:45:32,970
to language and we've managed to hang on
to ceremonies that we've had since the
529
00:45:32,970 --> 00:45:33,970
beginning of time.
530
00:45:43,890 --> 00:45:50,010
What we need to do to affirm ourselves
as Native people is to take some of the
531
00:45:50,010 --> 00:45:52,370
values, the values of interdependence.
532
00:45:52,810 --> 00:45:57,890
caring for other people, even though
it's hard to do that in a society that
533
00:45:57,890 --> 00:45:58,970
just care about yourself.
534
00:45:59,270 --> 00:46:04,030
Take care of yourself, build your own
house, and don't worry about anybody
535
00:46:04,170 --> 00:46:08,890
Take the old value of interdependence or
the values of making sure that
536
00:46:08,890 --> 00:46:14,430
spirituality and the truest sense of the
word is incorporated into every aspect
537
00:46:14,430 --> 00:46:15,430
of your life.
538
00:46:17,190 --> 00:46:21,650
And I think it's that spirit that the
only thing we really have to rely on has
539
00:46:21,650 --> 00:46:27,610
been handed to us like a live and
precious coal that each generation has
540
00:46:27,610 --> 00:46:31,270
that decision. Do they want to blow on
that coal and keep it alive, or do they
541
00:46:31,270 --> 00:46:32,270
want to throw it away?
542
00:46:32,330 --> 00:46:37,330
To me, and it's not just the Southeast,
but all Indian culture, but maybe using
543
00:46:37,330 --> 00:46:41,650
that metaphor for the Southeast as a
fire, our cultures, our languages, our
544
00:46:41,650 --> 00:46:45,610
histories. It's like a big ceremonial
fire that was kicked and stomped and
545
00:46:45,610 --> 00:46:46,610
scattered.
546
00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:50,960
And then this 200, 300 year night
followed that. But out in the darkness,
547
00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:52,080
see these coals glowing.
548
00:46:52,780 --> 00:46:56,680
And I think our role in our generation,
whether it's in tribal government or
549
00:46:56,680 --> 00:47:02,180
wherever we find ourselves, and
Chickasaw people, Cherokee people, Creek
550
00:47:02,380 --> 00:47:08,580
Seminole people, Choctaw people, is to
be coal gatherers, to gather those coals
551
00:47:08,580 --> 00:47:11,960
back up together and assemble them again
at one point.
552
00:47:12,620 --> 00:47:18,140
And breathe on them again that we might
be able to spark a flame around which we
553
00:47:18,140 --> 00:47:19,140
might warm ourselves.
554
00:47:52,620 --> 00:47:55,320
The Native Americans will continue on
TBS.
50693
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