Travels With The WPA State Guides: The Cherokee Removal

                           

The American Guide Series, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project, is one of the most well-known WPA projects. Written as a collection of travel guides, the series included suggested tour routes as well as essays on the history and culture of each U.S. state and territory. Major U.S. cities and several regions were also given their own separate guidebooks.  

The state guides give a fascinating snapshot of American life in the 1930s. Written in a lively and approachable style, they detail and celebrate the rich diversity that our country displayed at that time. The writers’ enthusiasm is infectious and their guide is as much fun to read today as it must have been for travelers in the 1930s.  

Several historians have written about the American Guide Series over the past 80 years, but no one, to my knowledge, has used them as current-day travel guides. That is just what I set out to do. I am an American historian, art photographer, and enthusiastic traveler. I have read each of these guides. I love them for their wonderful enthusiasm and their curiosity about every aspect of regional life—from food, to linguistics, to folklore, to statistics, to geography, to environment, to history—and especially for their liberal attitudes and respect for diversity. In this series, I will be posting photo essays and articles based upon tours recommended in the guides.

Fern L. Nesson




One of the most shameful episodes in our history was the Cherokee Removal in 1838. The original homelands of the Cherokee consisted of 10 million acres of land in eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia and Alabama.  The Cherokee were highly sophisticated, educated, able to read and write in their own language and had a representative form of government which was based in part on the United States Constitution. The Cherokee National Assembly met in New Echota, in northern Georgia, the capital of the Cherokee Nation.The National Assembly consisted of a council and a national committee which was empowered to elect a president. As of the end of the 18th Century, the Cherokee were economically thriving on their fertile small farms. 

After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, cotton farming on a large scale became feasible. Inevitably, white Americans began to covet Cherokee farmlands, envisioning the prospect of establishing large cotton plantations on them. Making matters even worse, gold was discovered on Cherokee land in Georgia in 1828.  

Whites began a concerted campaign of harassment, often violent, in an attempt to oust the Cherokee. In Georgia, the campaign was led by the state legislature:

“Georgia passed a law in 1828 extending its jurisdiction over the Cherokee Country and revoking recognition of Indian self-government within the state. [After] gold was discovered in north Georgia in 1828, the Georgia legislature enacted a law prohibiting any Indian from bringing suit or testifying against a white man in state court.  [Prospectors then] seized Cherokee lands. Indians who resisted were forcibly removed or even killed. 

In 1832, the state arbitrarily divided the territory into lots and sold them … to homesteaders. In the same year, a law was passed forbidding the Cherokee to hold public meetings, thereby forestalling any organized move toward the defense of their property.”

Georgia State Guide  p. 45-46

Not satisfied until the last Native American claim to the land was permanently revoked, Georgia then called on the federal government to evict the remaining Native Americans.  Andrew Jackson, our first “Western” President, and a compliant Congress were happy to oblige.

In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, giving the federal government the power to exchange native-held land east of the Mississippi for land in Oklahoma. Although the law required the government to negotiate removal treaties, in practice, coercion ruled the day. The first tribes forced to leave were those who had the least power to resist. In 1831, under threat of invasion by the U.S. Army, the Choctaw left for Oklahoma. Forced to march in winter without adequate food or supplies, thousands of Choctaw died along the way. This pattern was repeated with the Creek nation with the same tragic results. The route of march was aptly named “The Trail of Tears.”

At this point, guns were squarely trained on the Cherokee. Wealthy and relatively powerful, the Cherokee resisted removal. Their first move was to sue the state of Georgia in the United States Supreme Court, challenging its law that purported to deprive them of their sovereignty and property.

Georgia lost the suit—resoundingly. Writing for the Court, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that dispossession of the Cherokee would violate their treaty rights under the US Constitution:

“The Treaty of Holston, negotiated with the Cherokees in July, 1791, explicitly recognis[es] the national character of the Cherokees and their right of self-government, thus guaranteeing their lands, assuming the duty of protection, and of course pledging the faith of the United States for that protection. [It] has been frequently renewed, and is now in full force. [Specific pledges] restrain the citizens of the United States from encroachments on the Cherokee country, and provide for the punishment of intruders.

… The Indian nations have always been considered as distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights as undisputed possessors of the soil, from time immemorial…. The very term “nation,” so generally applied to them, means “a people distinct from others.” The Constitution, by declaring treaties already made, as well as those to be made, to be the supreme law of the land, has adopted and sanctioned the previous treaties with the Indian nations, and consequently admits their rank among the powers who are capable of making treaties.

… The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves, or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress. The whole intercourse between the United States and this nation is, by our Constitution and laws, vested in the Government of the United States.

The act of the State of Georgia under which the plaintiff in error was prosecuted is consequently void, and the judgment a nullity.”

Worcester v. Georgia, 1832, (emphasis added).

Jackson was undeterred. He famously said: “John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.”Of course, as all law students learn in their first year of law school, the Supreme Court has no power to enforce its decisions. For that, it must rely on the cooperation of the President. Only he can call out the National Guard. As Jackson well knew, Justice Marshall could not prevent the Cherokee removal.

The next move was made by the Congress in 1835. It sent representatives to attempt to negotiate a new treaty with the Cherokee government council. Finding the council and the great majority of Cherokee tribal members intractable to concession, the representatives negotiated the Treaty of New Echota with a small splinter group of Cherokee and submitted it to Congress for formal approval. This treaty committed the Cherokee nation to leave for Oklahoma in exchange for $5 million, a vast underestimate of the worth of their land.

John Ross, the President of the Cherokee Council, protested by petition to Congress: “The instrument in question is not the act of our nation. We are not parties to its covenants; it has not received the sanction of our people.” 16,000 Cherokees signed Ross’s petition,  but Congress approved the treaty anyway:

“The treaty of removal was itself unfair. The Senate had hurriedly ratified an agreement which although signed by some of the Cherokee headmen, had never been accepted by the majority of the tribe.”

Alabama State Guide p. 306.

By 1838, fewer than 2,000 Cherokees had left for Oklahoma. President Van Buren then sent General Winfield Scott and 4,000 soldiers to expedite the removal. 4000 local whites joined them as volunteers. “Forts were built and Indians herded into them.

“In October, the Indians were assembled at Rattlesnake Springs .. divided into thirteen detachments … and the great removal began.” 

Tennessee Guide p. 42.

The Cherokee were forced to march over 1,200 miles to the Oklahoma Indian Territory. Whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera and starvation were epidemic along the way. More than 5,000 (of 13,000) perished during the journey.

In the process of removal, some of the Cherokee escaped and fled eastward into the Smoky Mountains. General Scott’s pursuit of the escapees was greatly hampered by the terrain and approximately 1000 Cherokee managed to elude him. Using money from the Treaty of New Echota, the government set up a reservation for them in Cherokee, North Carolina. Now know as the Eastern Cherokee, their descendants still live there to this day.

The Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia guides are refreshingly honest about the injustice done to the Cherokee by their persecution and removal. They recommend dozens of historic markers and town sites that may be visited related to the events. The most interesting of these is the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina.  In 1930s, there were 3300 descendants of the Cherokee living on the reservation. The North Carolina Guide describes the reservation as it was then:

“The reservation comprises [63,000] acres. The Oconaluftee River flows through the reservation lands, which are mostly mountainous, though coves provide arable land. The mountains are forested with hardwoods and evergreens.

This is largest organized Indian reservation east of Wisconsin. The lands are held in common for the tribe under the supervision of the Office of Indian Affairs. Domestic matters are administered by a chief.. and a tribal council of 12 , all of whom are elected. Tracts are assigned to family groups who may erect improvements …. Most of the Cherokee are members of the Baptist or Methodist Churches. Nevertheless, traces of their past are evidenced by the 15 or more practising medicine men and women and the survival of conjuring societies.

Modern brick buildings [in the town of Cherokee] contain the administrative offices, hospital, school and dormitories. Approximately 600 Cherokee children are instructed in the central boarding school and in five outlying community day schools. One half day is devoted to training in industries and crafts, [including] basketry and pottery. Emphasis is placed on farming, dairying, and forestry.

A large athletic field [is the site] of the annual Cherokee Indian Fair. (1st wk in Oct; adm. 50 cents), a tribal gathering and exhibition of handicrafts and agricultural products. Archery, blowgun contests, and dances are presented. One of these, the Green-Corn dance, an ancient ceremonial celebrating the coming of the harvest, is the Indian Thanksgiving. A feature of the the fair is the game of Cherokee Indian ball, similar to lacrosse, but much older. A purification rite lasts the entire night before the game.

In and about the reservation the .. Indians go about their everyday pursuits. They have for the most part adopted modern attire, though tribal dress is used on festive occasions. Many of the women still wear the .. red bandanna head covering and carry their children in slings on their backs and some of the men wear long hair and a bandanna neckerchief.”

North Carolina Guide p. 455-6

Life may have been pretty quiet in the town of Cherokee when the Guide was written but it is a totally different story today. The town’s website, https://visitcherokeenc.com/# , boasts that it is now a premier tourist destination in Western North Carolina. Anchored by two main sites, Harrah’s Casino and the Museum of the Cherokee, it offers cultural experiences, craft and gift shops, restaurants, and sports like trout fishing, hiking, blow gun shooting, and golf on the Sequoyah National Golf Course. You can attend outdoor performances of the historical play, “Unto These Hills,”  or you can gamble 24 hours day at Harrah’s, the Holiday Inn Cherokee Casino, the Tribal Casino or the Cherokee Grand Hotel.

Thankfully, outside of the town center, the reservation remains peaceful and unspoiled. Just as the Guide describes, the backroads wind through forests and across streams, passing only occasional small cabins and trading posts. All of the signs are bilingual in English and Cherokee. The mountain vistas are stunning. It is a beautiful place to visit.

January, 2022


Fern L. Nesson is a graduate of Harvard Law School and received an MA in American History from Brandeis and an M.F.A in Photography from the Maine Media College. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She practiced law in Boston for twenty years and subsequently taught American History and Mathematics at the Cambridge School of Weston and the Commonwealth School in Boston. Fern wrote Great Waters: A History of Boston’s Water Supply (1982), Signet of Eternity (2017) and Word (2020). She is currently working on a combined history and photography book on the WPA’s American Guide Series. Nesson's photographs have been shown internationally at the Politecnico University in Torino, Italy, Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, France, Ph21 Gallery in Budapest, Hungary and at The University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. In the United States, Fern has had solo exhibitions at the Grifffin Museum of Photography, MIT Museum, The MetaLab at Harvard, the Beacon Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, the Pascal Gallery in Rockport, and Maine, and Through This Lens Gallery in Durham, NC. Additionally, her work has been selected for numerous juried exhibitions in the U.S., Barcelona, Rome and Budapest. Her photobooks, Signet of Eternity and WORD, won the 10th and the 12th Annual Photobooks Award from the Davis-Orton Gallery. Nesson’s photography work can be found at fernlnesson.com.

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