LECTURES SATURDAY TO DISCUSS CHEROKEE GROUPS IN ARKANSAS, MISSOURI

The Northern Cherokee Nation of the Louisiana Territory, which has an office in Cape Girardeau, shares at least one goal with the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri.

Both are trying to win recognition from the federal government.

Anthropologist Dr. Timothy W. Jones, who is recording the history of the Western Cherokee Nation, is doing work he hopes will reunite the 56 Cherokee groups in the Midwest he has identified so far. He is careful not to make any claims that would reflect on any other group's, but says, "We need to organize everybody together."

Information about the Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri will be presented in two lectures Saturday. The first lecture will be given at 11 a.m. Saturday at the University Center Ballroom. The second lecture will be given at 3 p.m. at the Visitors Center at Trail of Tears State Park.

Jones has been gathering information about the tribe and recording its history. He works in the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. Also appearing Saturday will be Principal Chief Lola Scholl and Deputy Chief Larry Turman.

The Northern Cherokee Nation traces its roots to 600 families who migrated west in bitter opposition to a treaty the Cherokee signed with the Carolina Colony in 1721. The Western Cherokee Nation claims prehistoric roots in this region but also points to 1721 as one of many migrations that brought members of the tribe here.

Jones said many lived along Crowley's Ridge, which the Cherokee called the Devil's Backbone.

The federal government gave the Western Cherokee lands between the White and Arkansas rivers in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri in 1810, Jones says. They retained the land until 1828, when a delegation of Cherokee gave up their rights to land in the Southeastern U.S. and in Arkansas, an agreement that led to the infamous Trail of Tears march wes.

But many Cherokee did not go, Jones said, changing their way of dress and their names to blend into the white culture while retaining their own culture.

He thinks as many as 50,000 Cherokee remained. Some counties in Arkansas and Missouri today are 60-70 percent Western Cherokee, Jones says.

He contends that most people who are Western Cherokee don't know it. They think everyone lives in a matrilineal culture and have beliefs about journeying into the spirit world that most Americans would consider bizarre, Jones said. "These people think this is everyday stuff."

He knows because he is Cherokee himself. "I was raised that way"

The Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri membership roll now stands at 19,300 people, of which 5,000 are presumed to be dead.

Jones faces an arduous job of seeking acknowledgment from the federal government because much of the past he must document is based on oral histories. Other information is available only through primary documents. He expects the task to take many years.

The Western Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri is seeking state and federal recognition as a tribe and is taking enrollment applications. For information about enrollment, phone the tribal office in Paragould, Ark., at (870) 239-5174.