Nations Remembered An Oral History of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles in Oklahoma

This book became my introduction to a disagreement with the common label of “Five Civilized Tribes”. His research through interviews led the author to indicate the adaptation or culture changes of these groups was “neither rapid nor as complete as earlier observes had thought”.
This book contains excerpts from those interviews.This explains the “Oral History” noted in the book’s title.
He does not include political events and controversies. Because his subjects were usually elderly and had confused memories at times, his historical sources with corrections are noted.
Here is a sample:
“Our household furniture was all homemade by father. He earned some of our living by making chairs for other Indians less crafty. They paid father by laboring on our farm or paying him in meat of some kind or skins of wild fur-bearing animals, such as wolf or fox. My father would not accept poultry, eggs, and pork because such things had no market value. Eggs sold for five cents a dozen, large hogs for two dollars and a half apiece.” Cherokee. page 50
Another quote:
“The Indians usually wore moccasins… made from hides and furs.Later they would make shoes. We had no shoe tacks, and we would have to whittle shoe pegs usually out of ash or maple. We would take a cowhide and tan it with bark. If the hair did not come off easily…we would take ashes and grease and make a kind of soap or lye and throw it on the hide and let it stay there overnight. Then the hair would scrape off easily in the morning. We used hog bristles and squirrel skins cut into threads to sew the shoes.” Cherokee. page 51

This book is interesting and informative, helpful for my research for writing. Nine pages of Bibliography and eleven Index pages are beneficial also. Black and white illustrations include maps and photos.

 

MyraSaidIt

The Cherokees a Population History

This 239 page paperback book is filled with historical information and stories about the Cherokee people. Twelve pages of illustrations – photos and maps are provided. Seven pages of chapter notes are included as well as eighteen pages of references for evidence of completed research and opportunity for further reading. Seven Index pages add to the value of this fine book. There is also a helpful list of books titled “In the Indians of the Southeast series”.

I purchased this book for research and found it to be very useful. I recommend this book for those with similar interests. It is not a complicated text, presented in an interesting, easy-to-read format.

 

MyraSaidIt

BOOK REVIEW: Beyond the Cabin

Do you think you know what a cult is? Think again. Before you point a crooked finger read this novel by Jared Nathan Garrett. He knows.  He was born and grew up in a cult, a splinter off Scientology. He left when he was seventeen after a childhood of living with “upwards of twenty kids”. He had two brothers with one mother.

He said he wanted his story to be about “love, family, hope, and the power of choice – a positive story.” That must have been a challenge when none of those existed for him. Discipline and the resulting punishments were harsh, even abusive.

In his novel, the children were told they must show respect for the adults. It really meant respecting the power they held over them.

Some of the adults were labeled “beggars”. They begged in the cities under the pretense the money was for animal protection efforts. There were pets, but nothing more.

The group made the neighbors and legal community believe they were upright and honest, lovingly caring for the children, the youngest being four-year-olds. They had weekly trips to the library. The children were able to check out up to ten books. This led the outsiders to believe all was well.

Josh, the main character, always took home his quota. He became a fast reader. He was always ready for more books when he went again.

He and an older brother, Malachi, questioned the differences between what they read about families and what they lived with in the cult. They were clothed well enough and had plenty of food, but no love and affection. Adults never gave the children smiles nor hugs.

They had “home school” with teachers who often didn’t know their subject well enough to teach it. The children had extreme cleanliness and “spiritual” instructions. They were  brain-washed into believing the outside world, including the government, was evil. They were not allowed to have friends outside the cult.

Atmosphere inside the very large home didn’t encourage friendships, not even among siblings. The parents weren’t called mother or father. The kids didn’t even know who both parents their were. They were being reared by the group of adults who seemed to have equal authority.

Josh and Malachi planned their escape while building a log cabin far into the wilderness. It was too far for anyone to notice the noise of their work. The adults weren’t paying attention anyway. The brothers used old and rusty tools found in a dilapidated building near the house.

Malachi got anxious and left without him. He promised to return and get Josh. It didn’t happen. Mal died in a bad drug deal.

Josh learned his oldest brother, Aaron, had known about the cabin. The first time Josh became aware of it was when Aaron showed up and surprised him. Josh was frightened. Aaron began helping him with the window Josh was trying to cut out. As they worked and cried together, they developed a relationship as brothers that was new and strange. The cabin was their secret.

Josh learned the hard way that escape required much preparation. He tried without food, water, extra clothes, everything. When he was caught, he suffered physical and mental punishment. He came to realize he had the ability to help the other children and  refused to be afraid of the power-driven adults. Josh became their protector. Life changed somewhat for him as he gained independence and freedom of thought.

He finally had to decide if he should escape or stay for their benefit.

MyraSaidIt

 

BOOK REVIEW: Jim Bridger Mountain Man

This is his biography written by Stanley Vestal. The photo above appears on Wikipedia and inside this book. It contains a bibliography, chapter notes and index, filling 33 pages in the paperback I read from the public library.

His parents died young leaving him and little sister. She went to live with an uncle and aunt. He was 18 and felt responsible for providing for her expenses.

He became a mountain-man man and explorer. It was a dangerous profession, constantly facing waring Indians from several tribes. As a beaver hunter he also met with opposing groups of tough men doing the same work. He became so successful when he created his own group of beaver hunters that his competitors followed him around to learn what he knew.

He had grown a  lot from his experiences as a shy and cautious youngster while learning the trade from his superiors. “He had learned the hardest way that a man’s wisest plan is to follow duty, not selfish interest; for every man knows where his duty lies.”

All his life he looked out for the men who depended on him, as well as his young sister. His nickname, “Old Gabe”, came to symbolize courage, unselfishness and generosity. This was the result of his guilt over his failure to watch out for a fellow worker when he was injured by a grizzly bear.

He loved the earth and its creatures, including respect for the “pesky Injun” because they lived so close to it.

As an explorer, he discovered the South Pass and opened an easy road over the Continental Divide. This trail was well-used by hosts of immigrants who made their way west.

After a few years of beaver harvesting, the interest in their hides diminished and were replaced by silk for hats. He had to find another way to earn a living and provide for his sister’s future college needs.

He built Fort Bridger and a ferry to accommodate immigrants.

The ideals of Bridger and Brigham were at odds. The Mormons had developed a distrust of others after their life-taking experiences. Brigham was teaching his people to be self-sufficient and Jim shared what he had with one and all. Brigham was suspicious.

While Jim and other mountain men flaunted their wealth, Brigham taught his followers to beware of wealth.

They both tried to befriend the Indians. Rumors started that Jim was leading the Indians to attack the Mormons. It was all-round confusion.

It seems like the author wanted to present an unbiased description of their conflicts. On the one hand he claims Brigham wanted to be the “big buck at the lick”. At the same time he reports “The Missourians had run them out – and Bridger was a Missourian and had a farm than might well have been Mormon Land.”

After being in the wilderness all his life, he became handicapped by rheumatism and then the loss of sight. He said, “I wish I war back thar among the mountains agin. A man kin see so much farther in that country.” By 1875 he was totally blind. He had to be led around by his daughter, Virginia.

She often saddled his horse Ruff so he could ride around the farm.  His faithful dog, Sultan, went along. Sometimes Bridger would give the wrong signal to Ruff and they would get lost. Sultan raced home to sound the alarm and the family would go looking for Jim and his horse.

Jim left this world in 1881, about 77 years old, after enjoying most of it in his loved mountains.

MyraSaidIt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK REVIEW-My Several Worlds

A Personal Record by Pearl S. Buck

Her 407 page book is filled with history and cultural information about various places in China where she lived much of her life. Her parents were dedicated Presbyterian missionaries.

She became so accustomed to war battles that she began ignoring gunshots as they were nothing more than firecrackers.

Her family was accepted by the Chinese more than the usual white Americans, because they were always doing services for them without any expectations of return.

When she returned to the US for college, she had trouble assimilating because she had become a combination of the Chinese culture and American and didn’t seem to fit. When she started dressing in American fashions her situation improved. By her junior year she had become sufficiently American to be elected class president.

In 1938 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. It was a serious challenge. Her feelings were confused because she didn’t feel she deserved it. She was not alone in those thoughts. Her fellow writers, mostly men, thought there were others that should have been considered over her, men. They said only Willa Cather deserved the Prize, as a female writer.  She didn’t deserve it because she was too young and had written too many note-worthy books. She wanted to decline the Prize but decided it would cause too much trouble.

The Chinese culture was unique and often hard to understand. Her mother took her to a hairdresser when she was a young child. Another mother was there with her daughters. The mother commented about how clean her hair was, “Never have I seen the hair long and thick, so, but without the insects!”

“I was too shy to declare that we never had insects.”

In this book she told about the political confusion in China. The people were so naïve and passive they were constantly become overcome by those with fake promises and power. Revolutionist declared, “It might be a good thing if Japan came in and cleaned China up.”

They were affected by the Chinese marriage traditions, where marriages were the result of parent match-making. Her father was willing to match her to a fine young Chinese gentleman he knew. It would not have been accepted by the Chinese parents.

Her mother had developed serious health problems and Pearl decided to move her to a summer resort away from the area prone to tropical illnesses. They spent the summer months there where her mother experienced some improvement. Between planting and harvesting the stayed in a little stone house in the mountains.

In China, the value of a daughter was not respected. She was a problem for poor families. When a family was acquiring too many, the midwife would conveniently kill the newborn girl. Tears came from what was considered the “necessity she felt to do it”.

Another difficult tradition concerned females. Binding their feet. Tiny feet were supposed to be more attractive. Supposedly, a small-footed girl could get an old-fashioned husband. A big-footed girl, if educated, could get a new-fashioned husband.

A daughter-in-law became a servant in the household of her husband’s mother. At mealtimes she was busy managing everything. “She joined conversation, but never sat down with the family.”

Another tradition among the Chinese involved a person who fell into danger. “If a person fell into danger, as for example if he fell into water and would be drowned if not pulled out, no other Chinese would stretch out his hand to the drowning one. The Buddhist belief was that the one who saved him from death thaw was supposed to happen would always be responsible for taking care of the person and maybe his entire family.”

She was a prolific writer. The most popular were The Good Earth, The Big Wave, The Three Daughters of Madame Liang, Pavilion of Women, and Peony. These titles witness the effects of China on her writing.

Even though this book is considered her biography, the title lets a reader know that it is as much about other people, places and events as it is about her as a person. The books she wrote and her writing career got less attention,

MyraSaidIt

 

 

 

BOOK REVIEW: Clover Adams

A GILDED and HEARTBREAKING LIFE, by Natalie Dykstra

Clover led a life that most of us would never dream nor desire. Her friends were all political and/or high society. Vacations were frequent, to foreign countries.

She didn’t cook meals nor clean house. Even riding a horse was done in sophisticated style. Her days were filled with social life and responsibilities. Afternoons were regulated by teas at her home or the homes of others. Her evenings were consumed by dinners, theaters, concerts, and speeches. She had little private time.

She was married to Henry Adams, a prolific American historian. Clover didn’t write books, but she was an avid letter writer, mostly a weekly, every Sunday, letter to her widowed father. No matter where their hectic life sent them to live in temporary homes, Sunday found her at her desk, pen in hand.

She would never understand a “dull moment”. There was no time to sit back and relax. Even the books she loved to read, didn’t bring her any peace of mind. They were read with education in mind.

We take pictures with our portable cameras or i phones and share them in messages and email. She took photos with a large camera on a tripod, which took several minutes. Then she developed them in her dark room. Her skill was in demand by friends and acquaintances who sat for their own photos to be made.

Perhaps a few “dull” moments might have created a calm and restorative perspective to her life and settled her out-of-order emotions. She took her own life using the very chemicals she used to develop her photos.

Her husband, Henry, loved her dearly and was heart-broken at her death. After a while he turned to a woman who had been their friend for years. That never developed into a romantic relationship, from her perspective. She married someone else and their friendship diminished.

MyraSaidIt

 

 

BOOK REVIEW: The Story of My Life

An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky, by Farah Ahmedi

In 2005, ABC News’s Good Morning America asked viewers to write essays describing true-life experiences.  This book was voted “America’s #1 Story.

She was 19 when she wrote her story of survival after becoming severely injured and disabled when she stepped on a landmine on her was to school. She spent years in a German hospital before receiving a prosthetic leg.

When bombs struck her neighborhood she lost her home and entire family besides her mother. She was just a young child at the time, but it became her responsibility to watch over her mother who became distraught and unable to care for herself. It was up to her to make all decisions and assist her mother in escaping the war-torn country.

With help, she was able to reach the American consulate and come to America. Adjusting to this new culture was a difficult challenge made more difficult because her mother had become fearful and withdrawn. Mother and daughter had traded places with an emotionally disabled parent depending on her child who was having to grow up in an unnatural speed.

An American couple took charge and made all the difference by taking Farah to school, shopping and everywhere she needed to go. They even made sure her worn-out prosthetic leg, which never fit in the beginning, replaced.

This story reads like that written by a young girl as she tells her story in a simple yet compelling manner.

I am writing this review on 9-11, the anniversary of the terrorist attack on our country 17 years ago. No one should ever take our freedoms for granted. Reading the story of a girl who survived a loss of freedoms should make us grateful for all those who work so diligently to protect freedom around the world.

MyraSaidIt