Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group

Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group

ETH 125

May 13, 2012

Journal Entry of a Subordinate Group

O Si Yo (Hello). My name is Hala which means strong and beautiful in my native language. I am a Native American. I have experienced many injustices in my life but they have made me who I am today. It is hard to speak of these distance memories with my family and friends. I have decided to begin a journal to help me come to make peace with my past.

Although, there are many tribes throughout the United States I am from the Cherokee tribe. My tribe, the Cherokee Indians are original residents of the American southeast region, particular, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee (Redish and Orrin 2011). The Cherokee tribe, with its 240,000 registered members is the second largest tribe (Kreyche 2006). We live in villages usually located near a river. Cherokee homes were made of rivercane and plaster, with thatched roofs (Redish and Orrin 2011). Our homes were strong and warm in the winter. We went to school, completed daily chores and played with other children. From a young age, Cherokee children were taught to hunt and fish. My tribe is known as a farming tribe. The women harvested crops and gathered berries, nuts and fruits. The men hunted deer, small game and fished. I loved the food my mom use to make when I was younger. If I concentrate real hard I can almost taste it.

Our ancestors and we inhabited this land for many years before the Europeans came and took it from us. Before the Europeans arrived the Native American population was estimated at about 1.8 million (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 6th Edition 2011). The Europeans brought many diseases with them to our land. Many of my family and friends died from smallpox, influenza and measles that they were exposed to us which decreased our population. We did not have any type of treatment to provide to our loved ones. The Cherokee tribe was unaware that this was the beginning...