About the Author: Caron Caswell Lazar
Carôn Caswell Lazar began her career at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. During her career she has studied art; taught art, art history and history; created art; sold art; helped to plan and build two repositories for art; written art programs; published art; and designed art catalogues and installations. She taught interdisciplinary studies accredited in the International Baccalaureate program and was part of the 1977 team for IB program development. Carôn taught both middle and high school at Daycroft, a private co-educational boarding school in Greenwich, CT. A student of and intern to Dr. Joseph Campbell, she has traveled, studied and lived extensively in the third world focusing on art, culture, mythologies and religion. She is the author of books and CDs on Character through Art, Classics and Culture as well as Museographs, a monographic series focusing on world culture and history. Mrs. Lazar is a frequent speaker, seminar and workshop leader and continues to write and teach about the world and the people who make it what it is.
Grounded in the maintenance of balance and the pursuit of peace, the Cherokee Nation has always had a difficult task. In The Cherokee accompany these Principle People on their quest — from the first 1,000 years of harmony preceding conflict with DeSoto in 1540 to the present-day resurgence of tribal unity.
The Cherokee's pre-contact world was peaceful and often unrecognized or misrepresented by American history books. It encompassed a deep reverence for nature and commitment to equality between men and women that acknowledged certain strengths and weaknesses of the sexes, but was devoid of shame. The systems of war, religion, and justice encouraged prudent thought and action and frowned upon carelessness and waste.
The approach of whites threw a wrench into their peaceful balance and forced the Cherokee into a series of never-ending land disputes, a battery of inhumane and unjust treatment, and a process of decision-making that would profoundly impact the next several hundred years of their history.
After undergoing a long period of suffering culminating in The Trail of Tears of 1839, certain Cherokee, known as 'the Progressives,' made a conscious decision to embrace white culture. These Cherokee were able to remain in the East while most of their brethren were marched West to the wastelands of Oklahoma. In the short term, this sparked a period of achievement called the Renaissance, where the Eastern Cherokee attained literacy, saw economic prosperity, clung to a portion of their ancestral lands, and forged a much needed strength and nationalism.
In the long term the choice would show them to be an exceedingly adaptable and flexible union. Faced with complete tribal bifurcation at the hands of "the Traditionalists" who opposed the decision, and with elimination due to removal and disease, the Cherokee persevered. Empowered by pride and fueled with a desire to restore harmony again, they regrouped and fought for the signing at Red Clay. It is here that a common Cherokee culture was reinstated and harmony and balance restored — at least for now.
