"Civilization" in Trail of Tears

In Review of Trail of Tears, I critiqued the storytelling aspects of the third episode of PBS's We Shall Remain series. Now I'll concentrate on the content.

For the details on the Trail of Tears story, see:

Major Ridge
Major Ridge
John Ridge
John Ridge, a Cherokee Interpreter
John Ross (Cherokee chief)
Cherokee Trail of Tears

Here are some interesting tidbits from the show:

Trail of Tears describes Major Ridge in a way that makes him sound almost noble:

Few Native leaders clung to the hope of peaceful coexistence longer. Few others invested more in the professed protections of the American legal system. Few set more stock in the promises of the American government and its Constitution.

Trail of Tears also describes the Cherokees' love of their land. Christians had been cast out of their Garden of Eden, the narrator says, but the Cherokees still lived in theirs.

The episode quotes Major Ridge saying:We obtained these lands from the living God above. I would willingly die to preserve them.Unfortunately, he proved to be unwilling to die for them.

After the Revolution, missionary organizations visited the Cherokees to teach them how to be Anglo-Americans. Among the "lessons" were to eat meals at regular times, instead of when they were hungry, and to pray in church at designated times, instead of when they were moved to.

Yeah, because that's the true mark of civilization. Not eating or praying when you feel like it but only when society tells you to. In other words, "civilization" means treating people like children who need adults to make decisions for them.

In a speech, Thomas Jefferson said Indians could become the equals of their white neighbors. Not too condescending, eh?

A remark supposedly from Major Ridge's son John after New Englanders criticized his marriage:

An Indian is almost considered accursed. The scum of the Earth are considered sacred in comparison. If an Indian is educated, yet he is an Indian, and the most stupid and illiterate white man will disdain and triumph over this worthy individual.

As everyone should know, Sequoyah invented a system of writing the Cherokee language. This revolutionized Cherokee society, which became literate in a few years.

The "civilization" pushed by missionaries began to "draw hard class distinctions that had never existed in traditional Cherokee society." The mixed-bloods imitated the Southern lifestyle and became slave-owning elites. The full-bloods lost their land and were reduced to subsistence farming. They worried that their leaders were becoming enthralled to the ways of whites.

The full-bloods trusted John Ross, Major Ridge's protéegé. Gaining a reputation for integrity, he authored a new constitution that everyone could embrace. This created a democratically elected Cherokee government.

For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.

Below:  Sequoyah and his writing system.