close reading #2

"The Cherokee saw the chains and went away. When they returned each carried a handful of small axes."(132) This quote describes how a tribe of Cherokee natives helped Paul D and other escaped slaves out of their chains after escaping a prison in Alfred, Georgia. Historically, the Cherokee tribe owned slaves. In fact, they owned more slaves than any other native american community. By 1860, the Cherokee tribe owned 4,600 slaves. This quote seems to contradict the historical facts towards the relationship between native american tribes and African slaves. These facts may show that this particular scene in beloved could be considered historically inaccurate. This kind of situation may have happened during that time in history, since both Africans and native Americans have been historically oppressed by Europeans. This means that the two groups could be sympathetic towards each other and help like in the book Beloved. However, from a historical viewpoint, this situation seems unlikely. Like I said before, The Cherokee tribe owned the most slaves out of all native american communities. This event in the book would have to take place after the end of the civil war, when slavery was abolished. "what they found was a camp of sick Cherokee for whom a rose was named" (131) When Europeans began to settle in America, they carried many non-native illnesses that native Americans were not immune to and became sick very easily. This happened very often when the original colonies were being formed. This quote shows that diseases were still spreading through native american tribes during and after the civil war in the 1800's when this scene in beloved takes place. These two quotes are relative to my historical lens as it shows the impact the civil war, slavery, and non-native people in general have on native american tribes, like the Cherokee.