essay

Women, men and American Indian policy: the Cherokee response to 'civilization'

negotiators of change : historical perspectives on native american womenNew York • Published In 1995 • Pages: 90-114

By: Perdue, Theda.

Abstract
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Cherokees became active in the deerskin trade introduced into the Southeast by Europeans, but by the late 1700s, Euro-Americans were more interested in land than in trading for hides. From the end of the Revolutionary War through the 1830s, the United States pressured the Cherokees to cede more of their land. As Perdue discusses, the Cherokees were at the same time subjected to a 'benevolent' effort on the part of the U.S. to 'civilize' them; that is, to remake them in its image. The Cherokees willingly accommodated certain aspects of American culture, but were still forced to cede their lands in the Southeast and to remove to Indian Territory in the winter of 1838-39. The Cherokees built a new nation in the West, in what is now Oklahoma, while a small number of Cherokees who had avoided removal also reorganized as a tribe and today have a reservation in western North Carolina (p. 90).
Subjects
Acculturation and culture contact
Domesticated animals
Tillage
Division of labor by gender
External relations
Public welfare
culture
Cherokee
HRAF PubDate
2000
Region
North America
Sub Region
Eastern Woodlands
Document Type
essay
Evaluation
Creator Type
Historian
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
Analyst
John Beierlec; 2006
Field Date
no date
Coverage Date
1789-1830
Coverage Place
North Carolina, United States
Notes
Theda Perdue
Includes bibliographical references
LCCN
94015774
LCSH
Cherokee Indians