ECHOTA CHEROKEE TRIBE OF ALABAMA INCORPORATED

MISSION STATEMENT :

To encourage and promote socioeconomic development aimed at tribal and individual self-sufficiency.

To support the preservation of traditional Cherokee, culture, language and values.

To improve education and training

opportunities for tribal members.

To seek improved health care for our people with particular emphasis on children and elders.

To encourage our people to develop, as individuals, their talents as craftsmen, dancers, artists, musicians, and writers.

To continuously strive to maintain the dignity of the American Indian by always treating others with the utmost respect and courtesy.

There are seven Clan's within our Tribe.

Each Clan has their own agenda as far as

their activities are concerned.

The Governing Body of the Tribe consists

of a Principal Chief, a Tribal Chairman, a Recording Secretary, a Record's Keeper, a Treasurer and a five member Tribal Council.

The Mission Goal's of our Tribe are the

education of our people, the preservation

of our culture and the protection of the

environment. We are the keeper's of the

seven generation's. This has been the

Cherokee belief throughout history.

Women in the Cherokee society were equal to men. They could earn the title of War Women and sit in councils as equals. This privilege led an Irishman named Adair who traded with the Cherokee from 1736-1743 to accuse the Cherokee of having a "petticoat government". Clan kinship followed the mother's side of the family. The children grew up in the mother's house, and it was the duty of an uncle on the mother's side to teach the boys how to hunt, fish, and perform certain tribal duties. The women owned the houses and their furnishings. Marriages were carefully negotiated, but if a woman decided to divorce her spouse, she simply placed his belongings outside the house. Cherokee women also worked hard. They cared for the children, cooked, tended the house, tanned skins, wove baskets, and cultivated the fields. Men helped with some household chores like sewing, but they spent most of their time hunting.

Nancy Ward, or Nan'yehi(nan yay hee), is the most famous Cherokee Beloved Woman. The role of Beloved Woman, Ghigau(Ghee gah oo), was the highest a Cherokee woman could aspire to.