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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 15 page discussion of the problems which confronted the Cherokee people during the turbulent years leading up to the Trail of Tears. This paper suggests that while many Cherokee had converted to Christianity, their native religion undoubtedly continued to serve an important role in Cherokee culture and the way they coped with the growing white tide of those that would eventually force them from their homelands at gun point. Bibliography lists 12 sources.
Page Count:
15 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPnaCRlg.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
A considerable amount of attention has been devoted to the employment of religion as a coping mechanism. This employment occurs in times of great physiological or emotional stress.
Little attention has been given in the literature, however, to the manner in which indigenous cultures sometimes abandon, or seemingly abandon, their own native religions to rely on a
newly acquired religion as a coping mechanism in times of great physiological or emotional stress. The Cherokee Indians of North America offer an excellent opportunity for such an investigation.
The Cherokee are one of several hundred extant groups of Native Americans. Their culture is an ancient one and one
which, like most cultures, has changed over time. Today the Cherokee, in many ways, are little different from mainstream While culture in the United States. They have, in
fact, assimilated almost completely into that culture. At the time of contact with non-Natives, however, there were often substantial differences between Cherokee and White culture. These differences translated
into rocky relationships between the Cherokee and the United States government, relationships which eventually resulted in the forced removal of most of the Cherokee from their homelands, the establishment of
a government reservation for the people, and the ultimate separation of the nation into two distinctly different political units. Prior to contact with
European cultures, Cherokees had their own distinctive religion. Within just a few generations of contact, however, many Cherokees had apparently abandoned their native religion in favor of Christianity.
That new faith would soon be subjected to the ultimate test as to how deeply it had become ingrained in the Cherokee psyche and belief system. That test would
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