Cherokee Women In Crisis: Trail of Tears, Civil War, and Allotment, 1838-1907

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152 / Conclusion persist, as has the Cherokees' belief in their political sovereignty as a nation. The struggle to be recognized by the u.s. government has been ongoing, and only with the Wheeler-Howard Act (Indian Reorganization Act) of 1934 was the allotment policy reversed and tribal organization again encouraged for many tribes.5 Identities were contested and fragmented as a result of adaptations to economic and political changes, formal statehood, and presumed citizenship in the United States. Still, by 1907 gender was an appropriate category of analysis for Cherokee history: gender was contested and fragmented by class, education, religious beliefs , and race. In many ways, contemporary gender roles within the Cherokee Nation, as represented by Wilma Mankiller and Joyce Conseen Dugan, reflect the ways in which gender meanings are reconstituted into a new synthesis of traditional and diverse gender roles: mother, wife, producer, professional, and political leader. These women bring traditional values to the position of chief, previously held by men. They rose to prominence through their work within the communities. A major insight into gender history in the 1980s and 1990s revolved around both the impossibility of grouping all women together and a growing sensitivity to women's differences: race, class, and ethnicity. The Cherokee case reveals further complexity and variation within a single tribe. This does not mean that women, by virtue of their sex, did not share experiences such as marriage, motherhood, and political and economic discrimination . Sometimes being Cherokee was more determinative than being female. In other cases, gender might eclipse ethnicity as more determinative in a particular situation. Through the experience of three crises, the Cherokee people redefined what it meant to be a Cherokee woman. Remarkably, although they adapted to white society, they preserved their language, traditions, dances, and ceremonies. Approximately 10 percent of the tribe at the time of removal was highly acculturated ; these people were often intermarried with white Americans and converts to Christianity. Yet adoption of European dress and language did not necessarily imply loss of Cherokee identity and culture. Often, their perceptions were that survival itself as a Nation hinged on selective acculturation and the appearance of civilization. Removal and the Civil War reinforced older Cherokee values and beliefs, whereas allotment dealt a serious blow to Cherokee women's power and tribal sovereignty. Equality, complementarity of gender relationships , and communal land ownership were crucial to maintaining equilibrium within the Cherokee Nation. However, even after extensive intermarriage , the allotment of Cherokee land, and a significant number of conversions Conclusion / 153 Fig. 27. Joyce Dugan, chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokees, 1995-99. (Courtesy Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Cherokee, North Carolina) to Christianity, many Cherokees continue to speak their own language and observe ancient ceremonies and rituals. In her autobiography, Mankiller spoke of her personal challenges in trying to maintain a Cherokee approach to life. The Cherokee elders called it "being of good mind:' As she explains, it means one has to think positively and turn all that is handed out into a better path. For example, at the beginning of some Cherokee traditional prayers and healing ceremonies, everyone is asked to remove all negative things from their minds and to have a pure mind and heart.6 Mankiller contended that the strategy of adopting white culture backfired. An appeasement policy failed to satisfy anyone. She wrote: ''As a result, the strength of our people diminished especially given the increased influence of the mixed blood population, which also greatly changed the status of Cherokee women. The clan system and time-honored practice of descent through maternallines began to erode. The Cherokee Constitution further limited women's rights by excluding them from government offices and prohibiting them from voting. Cherokee women were expected to become subservient and domesticated like white women who were home oriented:'7 In the areas of production 154 / Conclusion Fig. 28. Wilma Mankiller, chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Tahlequah, Okla., October 12, 1991, C. R. Cowen Collection, no. 19687.IN.FC.I.l.l1. (Courtesy Archives and Manuscripts Division, Oklahoma Historical Society) and reproduction Cherokee women adapted to challenges from white society, the government, and missionaries, and cultural persistence outweighed the loss of Cherokee identity during the period from 1838 to 1907. Nevertheless, meanings of gender changed and were contested. Only in the late twentieth century, with a return to Cherokee women's original position of visibility at negotiations, have we seen...