Bryan D. Jackson Author Q & A, Part 2
Cherokee Afternoon officially released today! Following last week’s teaser, Bryan now shares the moving emotional journey of writing about the Trail of Tears and his unique approach to character agency, alongside his personal exploration of Cherokee ancestry.
What was the most difficult part of Cherokee Afternoon to write?
Regarding the 1838 sections, the general, overall narrative of Cherokees being forced as a first people to leave their land for another was excruciating at times. Some of the specifics—as I’m sure you can imagine—were heart-wrenching. In both the present-day and 1838 chapters, I had to get up and walk away from my writing space in order to cope with what was spilling out of me. On at least one occasion, my wife walked by my writing table and said, “Are you crying?” That tells you something’s cooking on high in the author’s kitchen. I have often said that if you haven’t cried for an ancestor, you simply haven’t gone back far enough.
How do you decide what’s at stake for each character?
The majority of the time, I let the character decide that for me. I leave them to their own devices, and they seldom let me down. I trust them, but, admittedly as the author, I cut the cards.
Are you enrolled?
No. My Dawes Roll ancestor, Annie Rogers Lenoir, died before the final rolls closed, and her name was stricken from the census due to death. Being Cherokee is about both citizenship and verifiable ancestry. One is a legislative identity, and the other is a birthright. I do not agree with those who say that being Cherokee is a political-only specification. I am a certified lineal descendant who participates in a Cherokee Nation community that claims me. Lack of tribal citizenship does not negate authentic cultural identity with adequate documentation and community participation.
A sensitive issue arises when individuals claim Cherokee descent without verifiable documentation, sometimes despite professional genealogical findings to the contrary. This situation is particularly concerning when these individuals hold influential positions in academia or entertainment, as their claims can affect opportunities such as positions, scholarships, and even sovereignty from Cherokee citizens and community members. Additionally, many people may genuinely believe in their Cherokee heritage due to an inaccurate family lore, and this appears to be a widespread phenomenon.
Tell us about your Cherokee heritage.
I descend from the Ani-gato-gewi—the Wild Potato clan. The Blind Savannah clan was a sub-clan of the Wild Potato, and my fifth great-grandmother, Susannah Sonicooie, was a clan matriarch. The evidence points to her coming from the Etowah River area (present-day Cartersville, Georgia, with a migration to Old Suwanee Town, now the Suwanee/Johns Creek area of Georgia). My father was the product of a direct, matrilineal line of Blind Savannah women. Our Cherokee ancestors populate most of the Cherokee census rolls, from the Reservation Roll of 1817 to the 1909 Miller Roll. They can be found in chapter fourteen of Emmet Starr’s History of the Cherokee Indians, in the “Old Families and Their Genealogy” section. My grandaunt Mildred was the last officially enrolled Cherokee in the family. Mildred died at twenty-two of a sarcoma that spread from her leg to her lungs. I developed testicular cancer at the same age that Aunt Mildred was when she passed on, and there’s a mysterious, unbreakable space-time bond between us.
My ancestors were Eastern Cherokees from what was then Forsyth County, Georgia. That means that the earlier ancestors were members of the original Cherokee Nation. Eventually, some of them migrated to Swain County, North Carolina. My father and grandmother grew up not far from Kituwah Mound, considered the mother town of the Cherokee. After the Trail of Tears and into the 1870s, many of the North Carolina Cherokees who remained became what we now know as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, or EBCI. Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes—the Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokees, and the United Keetoowah Band—my ancestors hailed from the old Cherokee Nation.
