A Cherokee Woman in 1860's CE : Long before the arrival of the white man, women enjoyed a major role in family life, economy and government of Cherokee Indians. Cherokees originally lived in villages built along the rivers of western North Carolina, northwestern South Carolina, northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee. When white men visited these villages in the early 1700s, they were surprised by rights and privileges of Indian women. Perhaps most surprising to the Europeans was Cherokees’ matrilineal kinship system. In a  matrilineal kinship system, a person is related only to people on his mother’s side. His relatives are those who can be traced through a woman. In this way a child is related to his mother, and through her to his brothers and sisters. He also is related to his mother’s mother (grandmother), his mother’s brothers (uncles), and his mother’s sisters (aunts). The child is not related to father. However, most important male relative in a child’s life is his mother’s brother. Many Europeans never figured out how this kinship system worked. Those white men who married Indian women were shocked to discover that Cherokees did not consider them to be related to their own children and that mothers, not fathers, had control over the children. Europeans also were astonished that women were the heads of Cherokee households. Cherokees lived in extended families. This means that several generations (grandmother, mother, grandchildren) lived together as one family. Such a large family needed a number of different buildings. Roomy summer house was built of bark. Tiny winter house had thick clay walls and a roof, which kept in heat from a fire smoldering on a central hearth. Household also had corn cribs and storage sheds. All these buildings belonged to women in family and daughters inherited them from their mothers. A husband lived in household of his wife (and her mother and sisters). If a husband and wife did not get along and decided to separate, husband went home to his mother while any children remained with wife in her home. Family had a small garden near their houses and cultivated a particular section of the large fields which lay outside the village. Although men helped clear fields and plant the crops, women did most of farming because men were usually at war during summer. Women used stone hoes or pointed sticks to cultivate corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, and sunflowers. Old women sat on platforms in the fields and chased away any crows or raccoons that tried to raid the fields. In winter, when men traveled hundreds of miles to hunt bears, deer, turkeys, and other game, women stayed at home. They kept fires burning in winter houses, made baskets, pottery, clothing and other things family needed, cared for children, and performed chores for household. Perhaps because women were so important in the family and in the economy, they also had a voice in government. Cherokees made decisions only after they discussed an issue for a long time and agreed on what they should do. Council meetings at which decisions were made were open to everyone including women. Women participated actively. Sometimes they urged the men to go to war to avenge an earlier enemy attack. At other times they advised peace. Women occasionally even fought in battles beside the men. Cherokees called these women “War Women,” and all people respected and honored them for their bravery. By 1800s, Cherokees had lost their independence and had become dominated by white Americans. At this time white Americans did not believe that it was proper for women to fight wars, vote, speak in public, work outside the home, or even control their own children. Cherokees began to imitate whites and Cherokee women lost much of their power and prestige. In 20th Century, all women have had to struggle to acquire many of those rights which Cherokee women once freely enjoyed. © Vintage American Photographs #archaeohistories