Cherokee women harvested crops of corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. They also gathered berries, nuts and fruit to eat. Cherokee men hunted deer, wild turkeys, and small game and fished in the rivers. Cherokee foods included cornbread, soups, and stews cooked on stone hearths.

Cherokee women wore wrap around skirts and poncho-style blouses made out of woven fiber or deerskin. Cherokee men wore breechcloths and leggings. A breechcloth is a long rectangular piece of tanned deerskin, cloth, or animal fur. It is worn between the legs and tucked over a belt. The Cherokees wore moccasins on their feet.

The Cherokee Indians had an even division of power between men and women. Cherokee men were in charge of hunting, war, and diplomacy. Cherokee women were in charge of farming, property, and family. Men made political decisions for the tribe, and women made social decisions for the clans. Chiefs were men, and landowners were women. Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork and music, and traditional medicine. Today, Cherokee gender role traditions have changed. Cherokee women can be chiefs also and Cherokee men are sometimes farmers. However, modern Cherokee people still trace clan relationships through their mothers.

HISTORY

Very early, in about 10,000 b.c, the Cherokee move into what is now North Carolina. Next, they started to trade with other tribes in about 8,000 B.C. Next, in 1450, the first major city was built and was called Tugaloo Old Town. Then in 1540, where the first white man, Hernando De soto, discovered the Cherokee indians. After Hernando discovered the Cherokee, they started to trade with the english settlers in about 1629. In 1697, the smallpox disease swept through the tribe. In which many were killed. In 1711, the Tuscarora war began against the Tuscarora tribe and the Yamassee tribe ending with the Yamasee and American settlers winning. Next in 1812-1814, the Creek war began with the Cherokee helping the American forces against the Red sticks. The American forces won the war after the battle of horseshoe bend. Then years later, their biggest history event happens, the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was a journey from the southeast all the way to Oklahoma. The main causes of death were sicknesses that the tribe got and many others died in a sad death. Later after the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee built their first town in Oklahoma called Tahlequah in 1839.