Are you Cherokee? Are you the individual that has always been told that you are a Cherokee, but have no facts or records to prove it? To claim Cherokee membership means that you must prove it – you must have the facts, so toss the doubt away, get the facts, and claim what is rightfully your heritage by blood quantum. Now, are you ready to prove that you are a Cherokee? It’s not difficult if you take the time to locate the facts. Included are proven resources for tracing your family genealogy, the family tree, roots, bloodline, and for researching your ancestors to prove that you meet the blood requirements (qualifications) for Cherokee membership and tribal enrollment. Those that qualify as “American Indians are American Indians” and are entitled to the rights and benefits of the tribe! Also includes a proven “how to dos” written by the foremost expert in Cherokee history, genealogy and heritage. Cherokee membership is not like joining a gym or paying dues, it’s your blood, so claim it. Are you remotely interested in knowing that you are a “Cherokee Indian” or are you the individual that enjoys genealogy? Do you want to locate and preserve your Native American ancestry? Finding information about ancestors for genealogy and heritage is also a lot of fun. Moreover, you are preserving your own family history and heritage with your relatives and loved ones for generations and generations… Take a look at exactly what is required to locate and organize and present your information to prove that you meet the qualifications as a member of the Cherokee tribe. Cherokee Proud, by Tony McClure, is referred to as the "Bible for Cherokee Genealogy." Cherokee Proud has also been rated a SOLID FIVE STARS by every person that has read and rated it. To see if you meet the 'Cherokee qualification and requirement for membership', then look no further -- purchase Cherokee Proud. Read the reviews and see what people and organizations are saying about it.

Reviews

"Cherokee Proud is the very best book I have ever seen on tracing Cherokee genealogy." -- RICHARD PANGBURN, acclaimed author of Indian Blood, Vol. I & II found in most libraries

"McClure unabashedly loosens his journalistic standards for portions of this book which reach him too emotionally. Understood. Fascinating and enlightening."

BACK COVER: Among the people of this country are individuals in whose blood runs the proud heritage of a noble and resilient people whose ways and talents rank with the finest civilizations the world has known. They are the " Tsalagi ". . . the Cherokee. This book will help you learn if you are one of them. -- BOOK READER

"The contents of Cherokee Proud are exceptional - valuable information that can be used by so many readers and researchers who have Native American (Cherokee) ancestry." -- DON SHADBURN, Famous Georgia historian and noted author of Unhallowed Intrusion and Cherokee Planters of Georgia

"This Cherokee guide is the best yet!" -- LAWTON CONSTITUTION

About the Author: Well known and acclaimed Cherokee author Dr. Tony Mack McClure, a native of Tennessee, is a certified member of the Native American Journalists Association, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, and Committeeman for the Tennessee Chapter of the National Trail of Tears Association. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, over 250 newspapers, on all major television networks and many cable systems.

Includes numerous Cherokee Nation members which add authenticity to the production… A welcome DVD addition to personal, school, and community library Native American history collections. The Trail Of Tears: Cherokee Legacy is strongly recommended for its informative and tactful presentation of such a tragic and controversial historical occurrence in 19th century American history.

The Great Indian Wars is more than a documentary about the battles and conflicts, wars and warfare, fighting tactics and strategies, and weapons of the American Indians. You will journey with the Indians and witness how they adapted from the bow to the rifle, and view the European introduction of the horse to the Americas and how the Indians adapted and perfected it for both hunting and warfare. This fascinating documentary also reflects the migration patterns--including numerous maps--and the evolution of every major tribe, as well as the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of each tribe. Spanning nearly 4 hours and filled with spectacular paintings and photographs, this documentary is action-packed from start to finish.

Recommended Reading: The Eastern Band of Cherokees, 1819-1900, by John R. Finger. Review from University of Tennessee Press: This volume presents the story of the Eastern Band of Cherokees during the nineteenth century. This group – the tribal remnant in North Carolina that escaped removal in the 1830’s – found their fortitude and resilience continually tested as they struggled with a variety of problems, including the upheavals of the Civil War and Reconstruction, internal divisiveness, white encroachment on their lands, and a poorly defined relationship with the state and federal governments. Yet despite such stresses and a selective adaptation in the face of social and economic changes, the Eastern Cherokees retained a sense of tribal identity as they stood at the threshold of the twentieth century. Continued below…

“Most scholars, like most Cherokees, have tended to follow the Trail of Tears west with scarcely a backward glance at the more than 1,000 Indians who stayed behind in the North Carolina mountains. In this pathbreaking book, John R. Finger combs federal, state, and local archives to tell the story of these forgotten natives.”

-- Journal of Southern History

“This work is a significant contribution to the literature on this long-ignored group….Finger works [his] sources well and out of them has produced a narrative that is readable and that puts the Eastern Band of Cherokees as a tribal entity into a clear, historical perspective.”

-- American Historical Review

John R. Finger is professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Recommended Reading: History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folklore (680 pages). Midwest Book Review: Originally published in 1921, History of the Cherokee Indians reprints a reference originally created "for the purpose of perpetuating some of the facts relative to the Cherokee tribe, that might otherwise be lost," in the words of author Emmet Starr. The result is a straightforward history of the Cherokee tribe with especial attention upon the 1800's, an assortment of primary source writings, and thoroughly extensive genealogies of old Cherokee families. Continued below…

Recommended Reading: A Student's Guide to Native American Genealogy (Oryx American Family Tree Series) (Hardcover). Description:  This major contribution to young adult genealogy studies helps create ethnic pride, self-esteem, and awareness of the extraordinary accomplishments each ethnic group has brought to the American experience. Designed for use in grades 6-12, this important new series explores the creation of the American people while promoting the use and understanding of solid research techniques. Oryx American Family Tree Series enhances the social studies curriculum--especially the thematic strands in the New Curriculum Standards for Social Studies-- culture, time, continuity, and change; people, places and environment; individual development and identity; individuals, groups, and institutions; power, authority, and governance; global connections. Continued below...

While using the volumes in this series, young adults experience a uniquely personalized opportunity to practice the historians craft as they learn how to collect data, obtain and evaluate documents and sources, use the latest electronic tools for researching, and conduct and record eyewitness accounts of historical events in family life. The volumes carefully describe the challenges unique to researching each ethnic group or region. Also explained are the "why" and "how" of tracing their roots if users are adopted or come from nontraditional families. Also, each book in the series provides basic historical and cultural background information. As young adults explore their cultural heritage, they gain self-esteem, personal identity, and ethnic pride. Each volume in the Oryx American Family Tree Series is packed with hundreds of annotated bibliographic references for print, electronic, and media sources, as well as many helpful organizations. Every book is lavishly illustrated with 4-color and black and white photographs throughout and features a glossary and an index. The series is published in sturdy 6" x 9" casebound volumes of approximately 200 pages printed on acid-free paper.

About the Author

E. Barrie Kavasch is a research associate at the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, CT. She has written and lectured extensively on Native American foods and healing plants. Her other publications include the highly acclaimed book Native Harvests. Of Creek, Cherokee, and Powhatan descent, Ms. Kavasch can trace her own ancestry to the famous daughter of Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas.

Reviews

A Student's Guide To Native American Genealogy gives young people the tools to discover their Native American roots, while giving their teachers an easy way to enhance the curriculum -- whether it be social studies, history, or geography. Middle and High school students learn how to collect data, obtain and evaluate documents and sources, use the latest electronic tools for researching, conduct interviews, and record eyewitness accounts of historical events in family life. A Student's Guide To Native American Genealogy lists annotated bibliographic references for print, electronic, and media sources, as well as many helpful organizations. Barrie Kavasch provides historical and cultural Native American background and there are full color and b/w illustrative photographs throughout. -- Midwest Book Review

“The work is nicely done and appears to offer useful advice to the person wishing to explore this interesting aspect in the field of genealogy.”–ARBA

“...gives young people the tools to discover their Native American roots, while giving their teachers an easy way to enhance the curriculum - whether it be social studies, history or, geography.”–Children's Bookwatch

“Each volume provides an easy to understand overview of the history of immigration and culture in the U.S. for the particular ethnic group....Where these books shine, for the student and adult genealogist, is in the resource listings....For students, these books provide a great way of getting started in geneology and learning about the life and heritage of their ancestors. For adult researchers these books provide excellent resources to move beyond the genealogical books into learning about the history, culture and experience of their ancestors.”–FGS Forum

“Librarians will drool over the rich lode of resources identified in this book, and students will appreciate the straightforward, practical advice in tracing genealogical roots....this book is a "must buy" if your library serves a Native-American population of any size....This title will be useful for history or social studies classes and as a resource for librarians. If the other titles in this series prove as useful and informative as this title, consider purchasing other ethnic groups as needed.”–Tena Natale Litherland Head Librarian, Webb School Knoxville, Tennessee

Recommended Reading: Cherokee Connections, by Myra Vanderpool Gormley. Description: Cherokee Connections is an introduction to genealogical sources pertaining to the Cherokee nation, and it is designed specifically for researchers who are trying to prove their heritage for tribal membership as well as for those who are simply interested in investigating family legends about Cherokee ancestry. Continued below...

Recommended Reading: A Cherokee Encyclopedia (Hardcover). Description: A Cherokee Encyclopedia is a quick reference guide for many of the people, places, and things connected to the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, as well as for the other officially recognized Cherokee groups, the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokees. Continued below...

From A Cherokee Encyclopedia: "Crowe, Amanda: Amanda Crowe was born in 1928 in the Qualla Cherokee community in North Carolina. She was drawing and carving at the age of 4 and selling her work at age 8. She received her MFA from the Chicago Arts Institute in 1952 and then studied in Mexico at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel under a John Quincy Adams fellowship. She had been away from home for 12 years when the Cherokee Historical Association invited her back to teach art and woodcarving at the Cherokee High School. . . ."

"Fields, Richard: Richard Fields was Chief of the Texas Cherokees from 1821 until his death in 1827. Assisted by Bowl and others, he spent much time in Mexico City, first with the Spanish government and later with the government of Mexico, trying to acquire a clear title to their land. They also had to contend with rumors started by white Texans regarding their intended alliances with Comanches, Tawakonis, and other Indian tribes to attack San Antonio. . . ."

About the Author: Robert J. Conley is the author of over seventy books. The Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers named him Wordcrafter of the Year for 1997. He has won numerous Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America and was presented with the Cherokee Medal of Honor in 2000. An enrolled member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, Conley lives with his wife, Evelyn, in Norman, Oklahoma.

Recommended Reading: Atlas of the North American Indian. Description: This unique resource covers the entire history, culture, tribal locations, languages, and lifeways of Native American groups across the United States, Canada, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Thoroughly updated, Atlas of the North American Indian combines clear and informative text with newly drawn maps to provide the most up-to-date political and cultural developments in Indian affairs, as well as the latest archaeological research findings on prehistoric peoples. The new edition features several revised and updated sections, such as "Self-Determination," "The Federal and Indian Trust Relationship and the Reservation System," "Urban Indians," "Indian Social Conditions," and "Indian Cultural Renewal." Continued below...

Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates is necessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretation and precise scientific measurements that often end up being radically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before. Includes outstanding photos and maps.

Recommended Reading: James Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (768 pages). Description: This incredible volume collects the works of the early anthropologist James Mooney who did extensive studies of the Eastern Cherokee Nation (those who remained in Appalachia) at the turn of the century. The introduction is by Mooney's biographer and gives a nice overview of both Mooney and the Cherokee Nation, as well as notes on Mooney's sources. It then goes straight into the first book "Myths of the Cherokee", which starts with a history of the Cherokee Nation. Continued below...

As he and other Cherokee leaders grappled with the issue of moving, the land-hungry Georgia legislators, with the aid of Jackson, succeeded in ousting the Cherokee from their land, forcing them to make the arduous journey West on the infamous "Trail of Tears." ...A treasured addition for the individual remotely interested in American Indian history as well as general American history.

In addition to being easily understood, a principal strength of the book is that the author questions some traditional beliefs and sources about the Cherokee past without appearing to be a revisionist or an individual with an agenda in his writing. One such example is when Conley tells the story of Alexander Cuming, an Englishman who took seven Cherokee men with him to England in 1730. One of the Cherokee, Oukanekah, is recorded as having said to the King of England: "We look upon the Great King George as the Sun, and as our Father, and upon ourselves as his children. For though we are red, and you are white our hands and hearts are joined together..." Conley wonders if Oukanekah actually said those words and points out that the only version we have of this story is the English version. There is nothing to indicate if Oukanekah spoke in English or Cherokee, or if his words were recorded at the time they were spoken or were written down later. Conley also points out that in Cherokee culture, the Sun was considered female, so it is curious that King George would be looked upon as the Sun. The "redness" of Native American skin was a European perception. The Cherokee would have described themselves as brown. But Conley does not overly dwell on these things. He continues to tell the story using the sources available. The skill of Conley in communicating his ideas never diminishes. This book is highly recommended as a good place to start the study of Cherokee history. It serves as excellent reference material and belongs in the library of anyone serious about the study of Native Americans.