ChiKamaka.org is Chikamaka Band of the South Cumberland Plateau.
Title
CHIKAMAKA, Ani Atari, People of the Mountain
Contact
- Chikamaka Band of the South Cumberland Plateau
- PO Box 1209
- Tracy City, Tennessee
- United States 37387
-
- +1.6158852973
Description
You probably have but don’t realize it because of the way the name has been translated. The term Chikamaka is not the anglicized spelling that most folks are more accustomed to seeing. Perhaps you are more familiar with the Americanized spelling of Chickamauga .
Chikamaka comes from the Chitimacha language meaning break-away people. Dragging canoe also known as "Tsiyugunsini" was the Chief. He formed a confederacy of various tribes disgruntled with the settler’s attempts to take their lands. This confederacy consisted primarily of Chikamaka, Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Delaware, Mohawk, Shawnee, Catawba, and their white allies the Tories (mainly Scottish and Irish). There were several smaller tribes allied but these were the main ones. In 1794, an expedition led by Major Ore destroyed most of the Chikamaka towns and killed many of their inhabitants. The survivors fled to the hills and coves of the South Cumberland Plateau, which was to be their "final stronghold.". They vowed to either be allowed to live there in peace or die. Their primary goal was to hold on to the land at all cost. This goal was accomplished with much personal loss. The Government refused to give the Chikamaka peoples any allotments or recognition due them for their 20 odd year long war. Laws were passed making it illegal to acknowledge their existence. The 1924 Citizenship Act repealed this law allowing us to publicly admit our heritage. Distrust for previous acts against our grandparent’s grandparents caused many to still be wary
Today, we as the descendants, are attempting to change this fear instilled by our previous generations and to hang on to the traditions and culture before it is lost. We are gathering the descendants of this once proud people. Our goals are to bring the people forth publicly as a whole. We encompass an area covering some of Coffee, Warren, Franklin, Sequatchie, Marion, and all of Grundy County. We meet monthly in Tracy City on the 3
