Cherokee princesses and other myths
“My grandma was a Cherokee princess.”
Make that statement at a Cherokee gathering and there will be Indians laughing for blocks around. You probably won’t hear them because Cherokees are generally very polite, traditional ones especially, but laugh they will.
The Cherokee princess myth seems to be one of the most prevalent among non- Native people. That fact is somewhat incomprehensible to Cherokees because it is indicative of a complete and total lack of knowledge of Cherokee history and governance among the majority population. The term princess in this context is a royalist title, and as such would have no place in a society governed in a democratic tradition.
Cherokee governance, for the last several thousand years anyway, has been a participatory democracy. Every member of a Cherokee town had a say in how the town was governed. Prior to the colonial period, the town was the basic unit of Cherokee government, there was no national government as such. Some towns were more influential than others but they did not hold any sort of coercive authority over their neighbors. The same was true for the leadership of individual towns, and for individual Cherokees. Every Cherokee guarded their inherent rights and freedoms jealously. They would not respond well to anyone trying to set themselves over the people in any sort of monarchical fashion.
Furthermore, there were no hereditary offices among the Cherokee. Not for the last thousand plus years at least. Every Cherokee had the opportunity and the responsibility to earn their own place in Cherokee society regardless of who their parents were or what their family history was. One earned one’s place in a Cherokee town through the qualities of courage, oratory, and skill.
The title of “chief” was unknown to the Cherokee prior to the colonial era. The title of the leader of a town roughly translated to “First Beloved Man”, this
was the leadership position that later came to be called “Chief”. This was also the position occupied by Moytoy of Tellico, and which Alexander Cuming tried to turn into a “Cherokee Emperor” with his lies, flatteries, and manipulations of that particular headman.
It is unlikely that Moytoy had any real understanding of the title of Emperor in a European sense. It is more likely that he was looking for allies in his rivalry with the leaders and warriors of Chota for regional preeminence among the Overhill Cherokees. If there is any validity at all to the “Cherokee princess” myth, the lady claiming that title would have to be descended from Moytoy. Even then, one would do well to remember that the Cherokee never recognized the position of “Cherokee emperor.”
There are Cherokee princesses of course, just as there are Jewish American princesses, and Mexican American princesses, and other demographics have their own versions I’m sure. I have a few cousins who qualify, they are very much princesses. But that is a very different type of princess. I would venture to say that probably every family has a princess, regardless of the family’s ethnic background. In that sense, I suppose, every little girl is her daddy’s princess. A fellow who once worked for me taught is daughter to tell people she was a “White Trash Princess.” Not sure how that worked out, but to each their own I suppose.
So, the next time you go to a Cherokee gathering just remember, if you have Cherokee blood, then it is well and good to bring your own Cherokee princess with you, tell stories and show pictures. Everyone will share your joy and pride, and sincerely so. Just remember one thing, while my granddaughter may well be a Cherokee princess, my grandmother was not.