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You call me chief: Impressions of the life of Chief Dan George

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Dan George was educated in a Catholic school and was not allowed to speak his native language. He spent many years at hard labor as a longshoreman before he formed "Dan George and His Indian Entertainers" which played one-night stands at hundreds of locations. He appeared in television shows in the '60s and was cast to be a Chief in LITTLE BIG MAN which starred Dustin Hoffman.

He went on to make other movies, 'Alien Thunder,' 'Shadow of the Hawk,' 'The Bears and I,' 'The Esctasy of Rita Joe,' and 'The Education of Phisistine,' among others. There are two photo sections in this book by his friend Hilda Mortimer, including one of him and eldest son, Bob, with his mother. One shows his grandson, Lennie, with his white wife Susan, and another has Dan George with his youngest grandson, Rueben.

On the border of Tennessee/North Carolina, the Cherokees lived until a tragic event happened when Andrew Johnson, a Tennessean, was President. It was called The Trail of Tears, as our natives were forced to move to Oklahoma to provide their holdings to political friends of the government for homesteading.

The Trail of Tears is an ugly part of our history - the U.S. government forced the removal of more than 15,000 Cherokees in 1838-1839 to designated Indian territory that became Oklahoma. Thousands died along the way. About 1,000 Cherokee hid in the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina during the roundup, and their descendants, headquartered around Cherokee, N.C., have formed the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.

"We celebrate our history, good and bad, as a motivation to seek a better way of life," and "The value of the Trail of Tears is to teach and remind us of the lessons of history that will prevent such travesty of justice, sham of public policy, disdain for human dignity and political integrity as was inflicted upon the Cherokee during the forced removal" were comments made by the ruling leaders of the East and West groups.

Congress voted in 1987 to designate what was then known as the Trail of Tears as a national historic trail of the National Park Service. The trail extends through Tennessee and six other states. Research since then has documented additional trail routes and holding stations. The information has come from military journals, diaries of witnesses, payment vouchers, newspaper accounts from the time, oral history and period maps. The House bill would add North Carolina and Georgia and extra routes in other states to the national trail, more than doubling the original designation of the trail.

The bill requires the Interior Department to study documentation within one fiscal year and add additional areas to the trail that are feasible and suitable. "The Trail of Tears is a tragic story but it is very much an integral part of American history. We need to document it better make it a much more significant part of American history and therefore allow our citizens to learn the lessons to never repeat the injustices that took place."

While injustice is the major part of the Trail of Tears, there also are stories of human courage and dignity displayed by those being transported across the trail that have come to light through further study and will continue to emerge with even more attention. Unfortunately, injustice is part of America's history.(N-S)

The Trail of Tears is as much a part of Tennessee's history as it is a part of the history of the Cherokee Indian Nation. The government is proposing to add to the 2,000 miles of the national historic areas of the trail.

He contributed greatly to the Indian heritage by his entertainment value and showed us the good side of his people. Most of us grew up watching cowboy and Indian movies, and he and Tonto were the best to emulate.