Two Homelands

The Cherokee who make their home in the West are centered at Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Some of the western Cherokee have made money from oil and other minerals found on their lands. A famous American humorist by the name of Will Rogers was a western Cherokee. He gained a wide audience in the 1920s and 1930s through radio, movies, books, and newspapers. He was called the “cowboy philosopher.”

Cherokee still live in the East too, in North Carolina, descendants of those who hid out in the mountains during the relocation period. They presently hold rights to the picturesque Cherokee Reservation in the Great Smoky Mountains in the western part of the state. The eastern Cherokee operate a cooperative artists’ and craftspeoples’ organization known as Qualla; its members make crafts sold in stores all over North America. The Cherokee also run a lumber business, motels, and shops and programs for tourists. The Cherokee lease some of these businesses to whites.

In 1984, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokees held a joint council for the first time in almost 150 years. The groups now meet in council every two years.

In 1985, after having served as deputy chief, Wilma Mankiller became the first modern-day woman to become principal chief of a major Native American tribe, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, when Ross Swimmer resigned. She completed the remaining two years of his term, then won reelection in 1987 and again in 1991. Mankiller since has become a spokesperson and author on both Native American and women’s issues. She wrote Mankiller: A Chief and Her People (with Michael Wallis; 1993), and she coedited The Reader’s Companion to the History of Women in America (1998). Because of health problems, Mankiller decided not to run for reelection in 1995. In September 2005, the Cherokee Nation hosted the State of Sequoyah Centennial History Conference at the Cherokee Casino and Resort in Catoosa, Oklahoma. Wilma Mankiller was one of the five commissioners hosting the event.

Numerous other Cherokee groups maintaining tribal identity are located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, and Oregon.