Since starting out on this odyssey in late October 2010 we have travelled 17,000 miles in the RV and have no idea of how many miles in “bluebug”. Oklahoma is state number 39 visited of the lower 48 and believe or not we are still enjoying ourselves, experiencing the vastness and diversity of America, learning lots, meeting wonderfully interesting people and literally lucking out, big time in some of the places we had not known of before receiving a recommendation from a new acquaintance. Our first stop was at Sallisaw, just over the border from Arkansas, in a small but nice KOA RV Park - with a pool – an absolute must in the heat we’re experiencing. Thankfully, the nights cool down sufficiently to allow us take a mile walk after dinner; we enjoyed being able to do that.
Sallisaw is in the historical Indian Territory and from
there we drove to Muskogee to visit the Five Civilized Tribes Museum; the
tribes were Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole. These people who
lived in southeastern US had taken on the Colonial lifestyle, owned their homes,
had beautiful furniture, some even owned plantations and had slaves; generally they
enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle. Over time, wishing to be good citizens and
assimilate into the colonial culture, they negotiated several treaties with the
government but were tricked by the politicians of the day…nothing changes! When
the Europeans originally came to the “new world” there were an estimated 12.5
million Native Americans, by the end of the 19th century there were
a little more than 250,000. Disease(s), some deliberately introduced – think
smallpox – almost decimated them; others were killed in wars and many died in
various “relocations”. Similar to many older civilizations their history was
passed on orally which meant that they did not read or write and had no
alphabet of their own, so were easily tricked. A genius named Sequoyah (yes the
tree is called after him) took twelve years to develop an alphabet of 86
letters that would have all the diphthongs of the various Indian dialects. In
1907 Miss Indian Territories married Mr. Cowboy Oklahoma to form the State of
Oklahoma.
The Curator at the Muskogee museum recommended that we
should visit the Cherokee National Museum in Tahlequah
which
was only a 20 mile drive away. Which we did to discover a beautiful new museum built
on the grounds of a Native American girl’s boarding school. The museum entrance
included a guided tour of a Cherokee village; our guide a Cherokee man, with
hair to his waist and wearing traditional hide pants and vest. This was a
fascinating experience as each family had a summer house (with plenty of
ventilation) and right next door, a winter house (where hardly a breeze could
get in the door) the houses were constructed of wattle and mud with bamboo and
grass roofs. On a playing field there was a group of boys and girls playing
stick ball; so similar to Lacrosse that one wonders if this is where lacrosse
originated. We also watched a man instructing younger men in the making of
flint arrow heads and a lady making baskets, all were dressed in the traditional
way. In the center of the village is the meeting house from where the elders of
the tribe (male and female) govern, they meet each evening. Similar to a number
of ancient civilizations the Cherokees is a matriarchal tribe, with the blood
line going through the mother. Another interesting societal issue we learned is
that the mother’s clan is responsible for the rearing of the children. The
medicine man was a very important member of the village as he had cures for
many ailments; some native cures looked like they would be much safer than the
snake oil and potions being sold by quacks to the white man.
Inside the museum there’s a very good exhibit detailing
the "Trail of Tears" - the forced relocation of the Five Civilized
Tribes to lands west of the Mississippi during one of the coldest winters on
record. The people were not allowed bring any possessions with them – this was in
effect a forced march, they had no extra clothing and soldiers on horseback pushed
them forward all the time. Many (some
estimates are as high as 25%) died on the trail; of starvation, the cold but
mostly of heartbreak. These poor people were now so isolated, far from their
ancestral lands, their burial grounds and their ancestors for most this was the
greatest sorrow. Not an inspiring story of the early settler, yet all part of
the fabric of US history. Then when they had settled down in “The Indian
Territory” their children were taken from them at age three and sent to
boarding schools for the next thirteen years ((with no vacations) to be
educated in the white man’s traditions and teach them a trade; afterwards they
could decide if they wanted to return to their tribe or join the white man’s
world. Native Americans had a highly developed society, laws and a democratic
form of government, and where self-sufficient. They could not understand the
concept of owning the land as man is only here on earth for such a short time,
they believed that we must protect and respect the land, rivers, skies, birds,
fish and animals – surely the first environmentalists!
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