ABSTRACT
In the following message by respected Cherokee leader Nancy Ward (c. 1783-1822) presented on May 2, 1817, to the Cherokee Nation, she urges the tribe members not to give up the land that has sustained their Cherokee Nation for generations. The Cherokee Nation always had great respect and admiration for their women, and Native American women have enjoyed substantial rights and freedoms. Many Native American tribes were traditionally matrilineal in nature; women controlled agricultural production, made economic decisions, and enjoyed property rights (tribal lands were traditionally passed on from mothers to daughters). The white settlers, who began imposing their social and cultural mores and values on the Native Americans’ lives, profoundly affected Native American society, including family structure, political and economic traditions, and spiritual ways. The white settlers began forcibly overtaking Native American lands and pushing the tribes farther and farther away from what had been their homelands and into new, unfamiliar, and increasingly confining areas.
