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Oct 13, 2019DorisWaggoner rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Joy Harjo, named American Poet Laureate in 2019, has been an enrolled Creek Indian, living in Oklahoma. The tribe's oral and written history goes back to the Trail of Tears, when Pres. Andrew Jackson unconstitutionally expelled the civilized tribes from their native lands, sending them to Oklahoma and giving their land to, mostly, uncivilized whites. Ironically, the native civilized Civilized Tribes were literate, early users of the printing press, which probably had to do with why Jackson wanted them gone. The whites who replaced them were primarily illiterate, and also not particularly good farmers. Many of the Native peoples died on the forced march to OK, where the land was poor. but they made good lives for themselves. Until, that is, the whites tried to forcefully separate the children from their culture by sending them to boarding school and keeping them from speaking their native languages. Some had hidden in the lush wilderness of Georgia and Alabama where they tried to keep their culture and language intact. In Harjo's day, some, including herself, went back for a family reunion. It was "coming home," and she knew where she belonged. Beautifully written. 9-20-2019 117 pgs 2019