Pro-Women Culture of The Cherokee
When the missionaries and the settlers first came to America and encountered the Cherokee natives, their perspective on their culture was often biased, deeming them to be a backward people and oppressive of their women. However, this paper seeks to relay the pro-women culture of the Cherokee and how the Americans killed this culture. This paper is of interest, especially because of the modern-day feminist movements that seek to reinforce the influence of women in society. Feminism in America is more like a sad realization that the American missionaries were wrong in misunderstanding people who were comfortable with their cultures. Feminists today are a voice of the Cherokee women in the past, with the difference being feminists are willing to fight for their position globally. In contrast, the Cherokee women chose to abandon their centuries of customs, religious beliefs, and cultures.
Foremost, it is essential to understand that following the #MeToo movement’s progress, a number of women, whose number was record-breaking in America, sought office. As such, the notion of feminism is rapidly reaching a crescendo. It is a potent object relating to cultural discourses, which controversially led to a different contention because now, not everyone understands the notion of feminism, and thus, there is a wide misunderstanding of its approach in history. By the late 1960s, feminism arose when people spoke of feminism, regarding it as “…a series of waves in 1968 when a New York Times article… ran under the headline The Second Feminist Wave” (Grady). It is essential to point out that at this period in time, the ladies were primarily discriminated against by the predominantly patriarchal society that exalted white males at the expense of white women and Indians. Forbidden from getting and owning property, the Cherokee tribe empowered its women because, traditionally, both genders were industrious persons. In this case, the men are hunters in the plains and forests, looking for buffaloes and other wild animals. Also, they were responsible for protecting the tribes. Women, on the other hand, were in charge of providing food for the young ones. In essence, they were also responsible like their male counterpart in the provision for the family. Records suggest that occasionally, they joined their male to fight against their enemies in wars against other tribes. Also, men who portrayed homosexual behaviors dressed like women during the 1900s (Lyons). By saying this, it is clear that women’s empowerment was advocated for by the Cherokee tribes. According to “Indian Country Today,” the Cherokee women had equal rights to the males. Attakullakulla, a respected Cherokee leader, intended to make a trade agreement with the Governor in South Carolina in 1757 and”…was shocked to find that no white women were present. “Since the white man as well as the red was born of woman, did not the white man admit women to their council?” “Indian Country Today.” It was at this point that the Europeans were astounded upon realizing that women were equal to men, which included “… sexual freedom, could obtain divorce easily, rarely experienced rape or domestic violence, worked as producers/farmers…owned homes and fields, possessed a cosmology that contains female supernatural figures, and had significant political and economic power,” “Indian Country Today.” Clearly implying that these women had the rights that the feminists are fighting for, today. Besides, after acquiring the right to vote, the women joined hands with the Indians to advance other rights that white males had (Collins 25). As such, they were aware of Cherokee women’s freedom and used that drive to fight for their own rights that their male counterparts of their own race had and did not.
Secondly, the white missionaries, who were largely American, were responsible for the propagation of the subversion of their culture. In this case, they spoke ardently against the culture of the Cherokee, that it was a backward one that involved trances and almost naked dancing. By this, it was a confrontation with these people who strongly believed in their culture as the most potent one. However, the American missionaries were adamant and began winning over several persons to Christianity.
Lastly, without a doubt, feminism in America is a fight for what the Cherokee women had. Cherokee women, in their culture, had all freedom like their male counterparts. As such, they had the right to choose whom to be with, and as such, they had fewer to few cases of rape, unlike the Settlers who came to take over their lands. By so saying, the white culture dictated that women were below men and could not even own anything or have a say in the political spheres. When the white men came over, in their process of civilizing the natives, they raped women and sexually assaulted them, which was not a common issue in their culture (Srivastava 2). By so saying, When the feminist movement picked up, they essentially want what the Cherokee women had. They included the right to own property, sexual freedom to be with whomever they chose to be with, the right to have a say in the political spheres, and equal rights as their male counterparts, among other rights that the men had.
In conclusion, it is clear that the feminists pushed for what the Cherokee women had. As such, it is clear that the Cherokee culture that promoted women’s empowerment was not backward as purported by the missionaries and the settlers who wanted to exterminate their culture.
Works Cited
Collins-Frohlich, Jesslyn R. “Creating Domestic Dependents: Indian Removal, Cherokee Sovereignty and Women’s Rights.” (2014). https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=english_etds
Grady, C. The waves of feminism and why people keep fighting over them, explained (July 20, 2018). Retrieved from VOX: https://www. Vox. com/2018/3/20/16955588/feminism-waves-explained-first-second-third-fourth.
Indian Country Today. The Power of Cherokee Women: A tragic story of European conquest and resulting spiritual confusion. (Sep 13, 2018). https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/the-power-of-cherokee-women
Lyons, Elizabeth C. “Normal for Whom-Gender Acculturation in Native American Communities.” DePaul J. Women Gender & L. 2 (2011): 87. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/dpjwglaw2&div=6&id=&page=
Srivastava, Chelsey. Native American women and their defiance of imposed gender roles. Diss. Southern New Hampshire University, 2017. https://www.proquest.com/openview/248206fb1a80326abea1b53152f9547d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
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Question 
Thesis: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the pro-women culture of the Cherokee and how the Americans killed this culture. This paper is of interest, especially because of the modern-day feminist movements that seek to reinforce the influence of women in society. Feminism in America is more like a sad realization that the American missionaries were wrong in misunderstanding people who were comfortable with their cultures. Feminists today are a voice of the Cherokee women in the past, with the difference being feminists are willing to fight for their position in the world while the Cherokee women chose to abandon their centuries of customs, religious beliefs, and cultures.
Pro-Women Culture of The Cherokee
Outline:
Argument 1: The culture of the Cherokee tribe and their perception of women was one that was empowering and not of oppression
Argument 2: The subversion of this culture was propagated by white American missionaries
Argument 3: Feminism in America is a fight for what the Cherokee women had.