The Brainerd Journal: A Mission to the Cherokees, 1817-1823 - Indians of the Southeast

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [548]-559) and index. Biographical Note: Joyce B. Phillips is supervisor of the English Writing Center at Grossmont College. Paul Gary Phillips, a member of the Cherokee Nation, is an English instructor at Grossmont College and a descendent of the superintendent of the Brainerd Mission. Philip H. Viles Jr. is Associate Justice of the Cherokee Nation. Publisher Marketing: The journal of the Brainerd Mission is an indispensable source for understanding Cherokee culture and history during the early nineteenth century. The interdenominational mission was located in the heart of Cherokee country, near present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. For seven years the Brainerd missionaries kept a journal describing their lives and those of their charges. The journal entries provide a richly textured and sensitive look at Cherokee life and American missionary activities during the early nineteenth, century. They shed new light on the daily lives and personalities of individual Cherokees, as well as on poorly understood aspects of Cherokee politics and religion. The journal provides interesting ethnographic details concerning Cherokee council meetings, ceremonial occasions, gender relations, and the internal social and political tensions among families. Of equal interest are the complex and often conflicted attitudes of the missionaries, who were interested in Cherokee traditional culture but simultaneously worked to change it. Publisher Marketing: A journal for understanding Cherokee culture and history during the early 19th century. It includes entries which look at Cherokee life and American missionary activities during the early nineteenth century. It focuses on the daily lives and personalities of individual Cherokees, as well as on various aspects of Cherokee politics and religion.

Contributor Bio:  Phillips, Joyce B Joyce B. Phillips is supervisor of the English Writing Center at Grossmont College. Paul Gary Phillips, a member of the Cherokee Nation, is an English instructor at Grossmont College and a descendent of the superintendent of the Brainerd Mission. Philip H. Viles Jr. is Associate Justice of the Cherokee Nation. Contributor Bio:  Phillips, Paul Gary Phillips is a member of the Cherokee Nation, and an English instructor at Grossmont College. Contributor Bio:  Viles, Philip H, Jr Viles is Associate Justice of the Cherokee Nation.