Beyond Land Acknowledgement - history by James Bradley

Notes from "Beyond Land Acknowledgement: Toward Reparations and Healing"

Sept 30, 2023, Asheville, NC

These are my own comments and photos on this blog, except the photos of his power point presentation, those are James Bradley's

James Bradley, Former Education Secretary of Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians gave a detailed (though of course brief 90 minutes) presentation of the history of Tribal peoples in North America.

His presentation did focus in on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI)

A wonderful power point presentation.

A lot of people took notes as he showed the masks representing the 7 clans of the Cherokee

A map showing the territory in which the Cherokee were established (Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia and more) before colonial powers and treaties (which were never kept by the white people).

I learned that all the histories which said the Cherokee had mainly been sent on the Trail of Tears but some hid in the mountains who became the ancestors of the present Tribe - was WRONG. (Though yes, 11,000 did go to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears, and a quarter of them died on the way.) 

Actually the following quotes are from a Wikipedia article which says much the same but sort of includes the truth. (Remember who writes history - the winners of wars.)

Some of the Cherokee were able to evade the initial removal and hide in the Great Smoky Mountains, some were free to stay on their lands due to earlier treaties, but the majority of the Cherokee people were removed from the land. This was when the main struggle for land at what became the Qualla Boundary began. (NC GenWeb Project)

Here's the truth as given by James, as well as other sources:

"The tribe purchased this land in the 1870s, and it was subsequently placed under federal protective trust; it is not a reservation created by the government. Individuals can buy, own, and sell the land, provided they are enrolled members of the Tribe of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. (from Wikipedia)

So Qualla Boundary is actually a "territory held as a land trust by the United States government for the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians."  

This purchase of land occurred with the help of a white man (who had the title to it, and sold it to the Tribes. William Holland Thomas had lived and worked among the Cherokee people for a good portion of his life. He had a knowledge of their traditions and language, and was close friends with some members of the tribe. The Cherokee valued and respected Thomas; he had studied law and was adopted into the tribe and named as successor by its hereditary chief. He is the only European American to have served as chief in their history.  

(from Culture, History and Development on Qualla Boundary)

Audience member asking questions of James

A audience member (also Tribal) asking questions.

More to follow on this blog.

And here are the sponsors of this program. All Indigenous People were admitted free.

Beyond Land Acknowledgement: Toward Reparations and Healing