To the Discussion Leader
Sadness and respect are the cornerstones of The Journal of Jesse Smoke: A Cherokee Boy written by Joseph Bruchac. Jesse tells the tragic story of what it was like to be part of the Cherokee Removal — a plan by the United States government to forcibly move Native Americans from their homes in the eastern United States west to Missouri and Oklahoma. Native Americans were herded into detention camps where horrible living conditions caused the death of thousands. The forced march west became known as the "Trail of Tears" and resulted in the elimination of at least one quarter of the Cherokee nation. Politics, greed, and broken promises all played a part in the Removal and created a sad chapter in American history.
While Jesse's story is certainly sad, his journal is also filled with pride in his people and respect for their customs. The respect for the Cherokee throughout this book is the result of author Joseph Bruchac, a gifted writer and storyteller with American Indian ancestry who has spent a lifetime learning about and writing about Native Americans. About creating this book Bruchac says, "To do justice to this story I had to spend years in the process of learning with the help of many Cherokee people. That kind of learning teaches you patience. I would not have been able to write this story twenty years ago, even though I thought of doing such a novel more than once. I am glad that I waited." Young readers of this fine journal will be glad that he waited, too.
Summary
It is 1837 in Tennessee and the Cherokee Nation is on the brink of being changed forever as they face the Removal — being forcibly moved from their homes and land, in part because of a treaty signed by a group of their own people. Sixteen-year-old Jesse Smoke has been studying at the Mission School, but it has been shut down and turned into a fort for the ever-increasing number of soldiers entering the territory. Now Jesse has returned to his home to live with his widowed mother and two younger sisters. All hope lies on the Cherokee chief John Ross who is in Washington, D.C. trying to delay the Removal. As the people await word on their future, Jesse goes about doing the chores on the farm from building fences to hunting for meat to dealing with his stubborn mule Napoleyan. He also plays stickball and other games with his friends. Jesse writes, "We try to live our lives in an every day fashion. But we are worried. Only the very young, like my little sisters, seem unaware of what it all means. The forts have grown in number, we are quite surrounded like hostages in our own land."
Then, one night in May, family members are suddenly awakened, dragged from their homes, and forced at gunpoint to run through the darkness to a stockade camp. Jesse is separated from his family, and when he tries to return to his home to retrieve his missing journal, a soldier brutally strikes him in the face with the butt of his rifle. For days he lies sick and in pain until his mother and sisters are able to find and care for him. Camp Cherokee is "not a good place." The food is poor and strange to the Cherokee. The sun burns down on them. What little water is available, is far away. Many are sick and each day people die. As the days drag into weeks, Jesse strikes up an acquaintance with a young Tennessee soldier whom he calls White Will. Jesse helps Will, who cannot read or write, to send a letter to his parents, and Will, in return, gives Jesse information about the camps and plans for the Removal. As summer goes on, the Cherokee must deal with swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies, poor sanitation, and diseases like measles and whooping cough. Jesse writes, "Each day more are carried out to be placed in the earth in shallow graves. No Cherokee can own any of this land except in death, and it is so often the very young and the very old. If we survive, we may be a Nation without children or elders." Spirits are low and Jesse admits, "It is hard not to lose myself in sorrow and give up, as have some of our people. My pen is like a lifeline that I must have lest I too be washed away."
Plans are made for the relocation to lands in the west, and the Cherokee are allowed to organize their departure. Wagons, horses, oxen and supplies are gathered, but the journey must wait until fall when weather conditions are better. Jesse and his family are one of the last groups to leave Camp Cherokee. Since he speaks English, Jesse is given the task of assistant interpreter and courier. He observes, "my education has made me useful." Riding his mule, Napoleyan, Jesse goes back and forth between the thirteen parties of his people. The journey is a massive undertaking: crossing rivers and mountains, dealing with torrential rain and broken wagon axles, and "every day, at least one person does not rise from their blankets, and a grave must be dug by the roadside."
As winter approaches, it becomes bitterly cold, and ice forms on the rivers making them impossible to cross. The parties must wait a month until the ice is gone. During that time, drunkenness, brought on by whites supplying liquor to the Cherokee, becomes a major problem, prompting Jesse to say, "I vow I shall never drink." Finally, after more than four months on the trail, they reach the last campsite. Though he feels deep resentment for what his people have endured, Jesse resolves to "cast anger and hatred out of my heart. If we must build a new nation in the west, we must do it together."
Thinking About the Book
1. What surprised you most as you read Jesse's journal and learned about his experiences on "The Trail of Tears?"
2. Why do Jesse's friends call him "Mission Boy?" What does that mean to them? What does the mission education mean to Jesse?
3. What role do women play in the Cherokee culture? Find examples in Jesse's journal that support his observation that, "In our Cherokee way, it is the women who are the real heads of our households."
4. Who is the Feeler? In what ways is he important to Jesse?
5. What does Jesse mean in the following statement? "The land must be cleansed of us like soil washed from a pale hand."
6. What is the most memorable scene in The Journal of Jesse Smoke? Explain your answer.
7. Identify each of the following and explain their importance in Jesse's journal.
Treaty of New Echota
Chief John Ross
Sequoyah
Rev. Jesse Bushyhead
Tahlequah
8. If you could choose only one word to describe Jesse Smoke, what would that word be? Why?
9. Jesse tries to explain to White Will why there was a division among the Cherokee people over the signing of the Treaty of New Echota. Jesse writes, "I then explained to him that by signing away our lands, their lives were forfeit. They knew that when they signed they might also be signing their own death warrants." What happened to the men who signed that treaty?
Student Activities
1. Jesse writes (p. 17) about Sequoyah, the Cherokee who
gave his people a written language. Look up Sequoyah at http://ngeorgia.com/people/sequoyah.html
and read more about him. What things do you learn about this influential
leader?
2. Look at a map of the Trail of Tears at http://rosecity.net/tears/trail/map.html
According to Jesse's journal, which route did they follow? Which
seems the longest? Which might have the most dangers? Why do you
think so?
3.In the old west people branded their livestock to show ownership. Each owner's brand was different from any other. The Cherokee were to brand their animals with CN (for Cherokee Nation). Look up brands and see some of the many designs that have been used. Create and draw your own brand using your initials or other distinguishing mark.
4. Imagine that you were with Chief John Ross as he tried to persuade the officials in our nation's capital to halt or postpone the Removal. Write a speech that could convince the President to stop this forced migration.
5. Joseph Bruchac is the author of Jesse's journal. To find out more
about his background or to ask him a question about The Journal
of Jesse Smoke, visit his website at http://www.josephbruchac.com/.
An Interview with Joseph Bruchac
Richard F. Abrahamson, Ph.D. & Eleanore S. Tyson, Ed.D.: About writing Jesse Smoke, you have said, "I would not have been able to write this story twenty years ago, even though I thought of doing such a novel more than once. I am glad that I waited." Why do you feel this way?
Joseph Bruchac: One of the things I've been taught by Native American elders is the importance of patience, of waiting to do things when the time is right. As an Onondaga friend put it to me, "you can't pick berries until the berries are ripe." Twenty years ago I knew many of the facts concerning the Trail of Tears. Knowledge, however, is easy to come by. Understanding what you know takes much longer. Through travel, meeting and spending time with Cherokee friends over the years, and thinking a great deal about what the Cherokee experience means in terms of larger issues, I was able to come to the sort of understanding that made me feel I was ready to do this book.
RFA & EST: The Journal of Jesse Smoke is your first book for the My Name Is America series. What challenges did you encounter writing a book in journal format?
JB: A journal is a very personal thing. As far as possible, to write this sort of book you need to know and feel your character as a person and then put yourself into that person's mind, place and time. Trying to stay in that person, place and time is a challenge when surrounded by this very different world of the 21st century. However, whenever I was finally deeply into the act of writing this book, I did not feel as if I was Joe Bruchac writing a book, but instead I was Joe Bruchac taking dictation from a very real person named Jesse Smoke.
RFA & EST: The character Jesse Smoke is strong, sensitive, and well educated. Was there a real person who was your inspiration for Jesse?
JB: I have to say that Jesse Smoke was inspired by the strength, sensitivity and intelligence of a number of very real contemporary Cherokee people I've been fortunate enough to know, as well as certain young men who were extremely well-educated Cherokees of the period when the fictitious Jesse "lived." Reading the things they wrote were an inspiration to me. No one person was Jesse Smoke, but there were elements of such 19th century Cherokee people as David Brown (mentioned in the October 14, 1837 entry), the young Elias Boudinot and other Brainerd students.
RFA & EST:You state that you walked the Trail of Tears, beginning at Kituwa in North Carolina. How far did you travel? Please tell us about your journey and what the whole experience meant to you.
JB: I did not walk every step of the Trail of Tears at one time. Instead, over the last 20 years I have walked various segments of it in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. My most recent journey was two years ago when I was writing a book for The National Geographic Society called Trails of Tears, Paths of Beauty. I was able to spend a number of days in Cherokee, North Carolina and in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. In both places I walked parts of the Trail in the company of such Cherokee friends as Robert Conley and Tom Belt. It was deeply moving to stand, for example, at the top of Clingman's Dome in North Carolina with Tom Belt, a mountain where it is said the bear people held their council long ago and decided to allow themselves to be hunted by humans. As we stood there, Tom pointed out the valleys below where the trail passed, where certain forts were built to hold the people, as well as the place to the west where, he said, they could no longer see their beloved mountains when they looked back. Both of us had tears in our eyes. Although the Trail of Tears happened over 160 years ago, it is as if it happened yesterday when you stand in a place such as that with a Cherokee.
RFA & EST: You mention your own Native American ancestry. Would you tell us a little about it and how it has shaped your life as a writer?
JB: My family is Abenaki Indian on my mother's side. My father's side of the family is Slovak and we also have some English ancestry. I was not brought up in a native community or with even much mention about Indian heritage as a child. My mother's parents were the ones who raised me. That early lack of information about my Indian roots actually made me more curious about it, especially because my Grandfather Jesse Bowman looked so typically Abenaki and was so connected to the natural world —taking me into the forest and treating me with great love and respect. I think that connection to nature, the gentle strength of my grandfather, and that hidden heritage all led me to take the path I'm on. (Plus my grandmother loved to read and kept our house full of books!) From my teenage years on, I sought out Native elders from many tribal nations and listened to their words. I also started a small press, The Greenfield Review Press, and became very involved with publishing the work of other American Indian authors, especially books of poetry. I finally wrote an autobiography about my upbringing and about how I searched out and learned what I now know about our Abenaki background — as well as connecting with the modern Abenaki community in the United States and Canada. That book, Bowman's Store, was just brought out in a paperback edition by Lee & Low Books.
RFA & EST: If your readers wish to learn more about the Trail of Tears, what book or books would you recommend?
JB: Let me suggest three books. Night of the Cruel Moon by Stanley Hoig is published by Facts on File Press. It is one of the most thorough books on the Trail of Tears and is especially good for junior high and young adult readers. The Cherokees by Grace Steele Woodward published by University of Oklahoma is still regarded by many Cherokees as one of the best books about their people. And finally there is Trails of Tears, Paths of Beauty by Joseph Bruchac and published by National Geographic. This is about both the Cherokees and the Navajos and features beautiful photos and illustrations.
RFA & EST: In Jesse's journal there is speculation on what the motivation was for some Cherokees to approve the Cherokee Removal. Why do you think the twenty Cherokee men signed the infamous Treaty of Echota?
JB: To be honest, I don't think those 20 men signed the Treaty for their own benefit. Most of them knew it was like signing their own death warrants. I think they felt it was the best deal the Cherokee could get. Some contemporary Cherokees have told me that they really sympathize with those men because of that. The problem, though, is that they had no right to do this. Other Cherokees tell me that they can never forgive those men for ignoring the laws of their own nation in that way.
RFA & EST: We know that in addition to being a writer and storyteller, you also perform and record music with a group known as the Dawn Land Singers who are trying to preserve the rich Native American heritage. If teachers or librarians wished to purchase your recordings to share with children, how could they go about doing that?
JB: A list of my books and recordings is on my website at http://www.josephbruchac.com/. You can find my recordings on the website http://www.nativeauthors.com/. They can also be ordered by calling the North American Native Authors Catalog at (518) 583-1440 or faxing to (518) 583-9741.
RFA & EST: What is one thing you would want your readers to take with them after reading The Journal of Jesse Smoke?
JB: The understanding that native people such as the Cherokees are just as human and complex and real as they are, and that our nation needs to respect American Indian cultures and traditions.
RFA & EST: If you could ask young readers of Jesse's journal one question after they finished reading your book, what would that question be?
JB: Perhaps something along the line of what lessons they learned from this story? Or, more personally, what would they have done if they were in Jesse's place? Or even, could something like the Trail of Tears happen today?
Discussion Guide written by Richard F. Abrahamson, Ph.D., Professor of Literature for Children and Young Adults, University of Houston and Eleanore S. Tyson, Ed.D., Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Houston, Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Houston, Texas.
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