Indians of North Carolina, II a new 24-page booklet describing the life or the 5,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living today in the Tarheel state, has just been published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Richard S. Bodman announced today. Bodman has administrative control of all Indian operations for Interior.
"About 5,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians live today in North Carolina, most of them on the 56,500 acre Cherokee Reservation in the western part of the state," Bodman explained. "Their reservation is a well-governed Indian community that welcomes tourists --its principal source of income," he said.
"We hope this booklet will tell all Americans more about their Indian neighbors and encourage those who live near the Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina or travel in that vicinity to visit the "First Americans" there,” he said.
The booklet points out that the Cherokee had the mightiest empire of all the southeastern Indian tribes before the white man entered the New World. They built villages on the banks of streams in what are now parts of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.
It discusses the exodus of' the majority of' Cherokee along the "Trail of' Tears" in 1935, recognition and protection of' the North Carolina Cherokee which began in 1948, the Cherokee economy, school system, housing, and health of' today, as well as tourist attractions available on their North Carolina reservation.
The booklet is one in a series that describes Indian tribes with a Federal relationship. Others are "Indians of The Eastern Seaboard," "Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts of Alaska," "Indians of Arizona," "Indians of California," "Indians of the Central Plains, II "Indians of the Dakotas,." "Indians of the Great Lakes," "Indians of the lower Plateau," "Indians of the Gulf Coast," "Indians of Montana-Wyoming," "Indians of New Mexico," "Indians of the Northwest," and "Indians of Oklahoma."
All are 15 cents except "Indians of the Great Lakes," "Indians of the Gulf Coast," "Indians of New Mexico," and "Indians of North Carolina," which are 20 cents. All are available from the Superintendent of Document Washington, D.C. 20402.
