(Theme music plays) JENNIFER LOREN>> Coming up.... Tom Belt is a wealth of Cherokee knowledge.

We head back to our original homelands with Tom to learn how three foundational Cherokee towns are still shaping who we are today.

TOM BELT>> The reason why we come to these places is to re-connect, not just with the place itself, but with ourself.

JENNIFER>> And... VIVIAN COTTRELL>> In my opinion, Ella Mae was probably the best basket maker of buckbrush baskets.

JENNIFER>> Cherokee National Treasure, Ella Mae Blackbear has passed on.

But today we see how her basket weaving legacy lives on.

Plus, drummer Makayla Bearpaw shared a rock and roll dream with her late father.

Come along with us as she makes those dreams a reality.

MAKAYLA BEARPAW>> That adrenaline, that energy of just performing live, you know, it's like nothin' else.

(Theme music begins) MAN 1>> The Cherokees.

WOMAN 1>> A thriving American Indian tribe.

MAN 2>> Our history... WOMAN 2>> our culture... WOMAN 3>> our people... MAN 1>> our future.

MAN 3>> The principles of a historic nation MAN 1>> sewn into the fabric of the modern world.

WOMAN 2>> Hundreds of thousands strong... WOMAN 3>> learning... WOMAN 1>> growing... MAN 1>> succeeding... MAN 3>> and steadfast.

WOMAN 1>> In the past, we have persevered through struggle, WOMAN 2>> but the future is ours to write.

MAN 1>> Osiyo!

WOMAN 2>> Osiyo.

WOMAN 1>> Osiyo!

MAN 1>> These are the voices of the Cherokee people.

(Theme music fades out) CHUCK HOSKIN JR.>> Osiyo.

Welcome to the Cherokee Nation.

I'm Principal Chief, Chuck Hoskin, Jr.

For generations others have told the Cherokee story.

But now, through this groundbreaking series, we're taking ownership of our own story and telling it as authentically and beautifully as possible.

I hope you enjoy these profiles of Cherokee people, language, history, and culture.

Wado.

JENNIFER>> Osiyo.

It's how we say 'Hello' in Cherokee.

I'm your host, Jennifer Loren, in the Cherokee National Prison Museum where you can learn about law and order in the Cherokee Nation.

In this episode, we'll learn more about an early crime case involving a court trial (Upbeat music plays) and an infamous gun battle known as the Goingsnake Tragedy.

JACK BAKER>> U.S.

Marshals claimed, said it was the bloodiest day in the U.S.

Marshal history.

JENNIFER>> Coming up a little bit later in our Cherokee Almanac, we explore the true story of Ezekiel Proctor and the infamous gunfight known today as the Goingsnake Tragedy.

But first... (Upbeat music ends) Tom Belt is a fluent Cherokee speaker and a keeper of cultural knowledge who works to connect today's Cherokees with lifeways from our past.

Tom is currently working with archaeologists and anthropologists to uncover important new ideas connected to four foundational Cherokee towns.

(Slow music plays) TOM BELT>> My name is Thomas Belt.

I come from the Rocky Ford community in Oklahoma, north of Tahlequah.

I've been here for thirty years, and I have been a teacher of Cherokee language.

We are sitting here today, and this mountain behind me is the remnants of the great city of Cowee, located on the banks of the Little Tennessee River, in what is now called Macon County, North Carolina.

In Cherokee we would say, Anikawiyi, which would mean the Deer Clan Town or the Deer Clan Place.

Noted in history and documented as being one of the great towns of the Cherokee people, one of the first towns that was visited and used as a diplomacy center even by the British colonialists.

Nikwasi as it is called now in the Anglicized form in Franklin, downtown Franklin, comes from the Cherokee word No qui si.

No qui si is our word for star.

Watauga comes from our word for the goldfinch bird, and it is Wa Da Ga.

Wa Da Ga becomes Watauga.

So, it's Goldfinch Place, Star Town.

They are about three miles apart, almost virtually in a straight line.

And so the reason why we come to these places is to re-connect, not just with the place itself, but with ourselves because we come from these places.

We lived here according to the rules set down by our society to live in an environmental and biological cooperative state, a sustainable state with everything around us.

So, we not only lived with science, we lived in science.

And we lived it.

(Gentleman talking in background) Dr.

Riggs and Dr.

Eastman are archaeologists.

The idea of archaeologists and Native peoples, Native communities working together is a fairly new kind of a thing.

It hasn't been that long ago when archaeologists weren't considered as someone we would even talk to.

These folks are actively engaged in bringing those things back to life; not just finding them and putting them on display and documenting them, but trying to figure out how those things worked, what they meant, and how important they were to the people that lived then.

Thereby is understanding that if it was important to our ancestors, to our grandmothers and grandfathers, then it's very likely it's very important to us, too.

And that needs to be kept.

So, they're helping us to revive that.

DR.

BRETT RIGGS>> Archaeology is a tool that can be used to do all kinds of things.

It can be used to illuminate the past to give people access to their own past in ways that they don't have otherwise.

So, what we've done most recently in, in our work at the town of Watauga is we very much focused on, on non-invasive technologies to try to understand the structure of this place, which before we started we knew very little about.

DR.

JANE EASTMAN>> One of the things that we have come to understand is that the public building built on top of the northern mound there at Watauga was very precisely aligned with the winter solstice sunrise, summer solstice sunset.

And I mean by precision, I mean that if you get on the axis of that building, it is perfectly aligned with the last moment that the sun shines on the longest day of the summer.

DR.

RIGGS>> So we, we cast around in some, some astronomical programs and found that in mid-February there's a big vertical cluster of stars that rises above the horizon right on that bearing DR.

EASTMAN>> In a vertical... DR.

RIGGS>> in a vertical line.

It would look like a column of stars.

Plus, the very beginnings of the Milky Way when it's re-appearing after its winter shows up.

From Watauga it would be right over Nikwasi.

I think just on the face of it, what it tells us is that astronomy was extremely important to these communities.

What we've known in the past about Meso-American civilizations, you know the Maya were, were just consummate astronomers.

A lot of things are centered around that astronomy.

We just didn't have the evidence for it in the Cherokee case.

And now we're starting to see the evidence of extremely complex astronomies.

TOM>> They deduced and were able to adjudicate cycles of time in the universe, in the cosmos, from those towns.

All of these places had a purpose, and we connect with these.

And that tells us that when we do that, then that connects us with these places and makes it a part of what we are.

And it completes us as human beings.

DR.

RIGGS>> These folks had a scientific system that governed everything.

DR.

EASTMAN>> And sort of thinking about place and where you are, it's not just where you are on this surface.

It's where you are within everything going on around you, with the cosmos, and the cycles.

And, and you know where you are in such a rich way that I don't even think most of us can even appreciate what that would feel like to know truly where you are in time and space.

TOM>> We know what to plant.

We know what to harvest.

We know when things are growing, when things aren't growing.

We know when to, when to promulgate food and medicine sources for our livelihood and, and how to do it in a sustainable manner with all the things that lives around us; every plant, every animal, every bird, so that that kind of sustainability, that kind of cycles will continue in an apex fashion.

That seems to me to be the purpose for knowing about these things.

Not to manipulate them, not to change them, not to use them for our advantage, but to be able to live in a healthy manner with those cycles so that life itself can promulgate and can go on.

The meaning of life was to understand these things not control them.

That's our purpose here is to be helpers; not takers but helpers.

(Slow music fades out) (Theme music) JENNIFER>> Chapter National Treasure and basket weaver, Ella Mae Blackbear, helped to bring a spotlight to traditional Cherokee baskets.

We explore her legacy of art and tradition through those her baskets have touched.

(Slow music plays) VIVIAN COTTRELL>> In my opinion, Ella Mae was probably the best basket maker of buckbrush baskets.

CAROLYN BRADSHAW>> The shapes and the symmetry, I've never seen any baskets that are any more perfect than hers.

MAN #1>> There's just something about it that's unique to her style that you can recognize they have an essence.

JENNY KELLER>> The act of weaving is an act of defiance which is ultimately an act of love for holding on to these traditions.

And that's what we see when we look at Ella Mae's baskets.

MAN #1>> Ella Mae passed away in the early 90's, and I was never able to meet Ella Mae.

Fortunately, though, I was able to get in contact and meet Ella Mae's daughter, Elaine Rattlinggourd.

ELAINE RATTLINGGOURD>> Siy nigad, Sinasdi dawado'a.

Hello.

My name is Elaine RattlingGourd.

And I am the oldest daughter of Ella Mae Blackbear.

She was buyin' all this stuff from people around close to her just to help them out financially.

She bought the sticks, the runners, from a buckbrush for a penny a stick.

And then, if they were stripped and cleaned from the knobs, they were two cents a stick.

CAROLYN>> She did so much to educate me about how she did her weaving and where she got her materials, her buckbrush.

ELLA MAE BLACKBEAR>> The best time for me to get 'em is after it frosts, and that way it's, there's no more snakes, and spiders, and stuff like that.

CAROLYN>> And then she showed me the next step how she cleaned the, the runners, and how she stored 'em, and then how she soaked 'em to make 'em soft before she started weaving.

So, I got to see her whole process.

VIVIAN>> Buckbrush was used for our utilitarian baskets, you know, the hampers and the big, big baskets.

And I really admired her baby cradles.

ELAINE>> This basket here belonged to my grandmother.

This is what I asked my mother for.

And thats when I asked her, I said, Can you make this?

I don't know.

I'll try.

And eventually come Christmastime one year, she showed up with this.

And this is her first one that she had made into a baby basket.

That's how this, these baby baskets started, from this little one right here.

JENNY>> The baby cradle is made from buckbrush, which is a round reed.

And it is a double-walled basket.

And so, this basket is, is woven in that same way, in a double-wall basket, which makes it very strong actually.

And so, she's kind of innovated the basket wall and kinda kept one end that goes up and over like the hood of a cradle, which is so sweet.

And again, the style that she's done this is the typical Cherokee weaving style.

She's just made it work for her use and, and the way that she wanted it.

CAROLYN>> When I was at the Cherokee holiday, I was 26 years old, and I saw these beautiful baskets, and I couldn't wait to go over there.

And I was pregnant, and walked up to see the baskets, and Ella Mae was so friendly with me.

We visited and she said, You need a baby basket.

You need a Moses basket.

And I said, Well, I would love one.

JENNY>> Baskets are vessels.

Right?

And a basket holds things that we can see.

But they also like hold those intangible things we can't see, like memory, and knowledge, and, and that continuity and survivance.

So, I think that's also a lovely thing, something else precious to hold the baby.

Right?

ELAINE>> She made, I don't know how many baskets, in her lifetime.

And I couldn't begin to tell you who has 'em, where they're at.

They're everywhere, even at the White House.

Wilma Mankiller was the Chief at the time.

Well, she was goin' up there to the White House to visit with the president, and they contacted my mother and said, Hey, can you make Wilma a basket to take with her as a gift to the president.

And she did.

He just praised it, she said, you know.

He thought that was really a gift.

JENNY>> A basket's never just a basket.

Right?

Like you weave in history from generations and generations of women who've already taught this knowledge and passed it on.

Like their children would sit at their knees and watch their mothers and grandmothers do this.

MAN #1>> She made baskets to provide for her family.

Cherokee women for hundreds of years have been making baskets for a lot of different things.

And one of them were for economic purposes.

ELLA MAE>> I was always running it, you know, strings on the same direction.

You know?

Over and over.

And then she'd make me rip it and said, If you're gonna sell this basket, you're gonna have to do it right.

That's what she'd tell me.

MAN #1>> Ella Mae is no different than the women that came before her.

VIVIAN>> I think Miss Blackbear has, had revitalized the, the buckbrush, not just being utilitarian, but in an artistic form.

ELAINE>> I just can't believe she made a livin' from these baskets.

Everybody just loved her baskets and just to think that's my mom that done all this.

MAN #1>> Sometimes there's not a lot of focus given to Oklahoma Cherokee basket makers.

But Ella Mae's contributions are undeniable in the way that she was prolific, she cared for her family, she influenced and impacted a lot of basket makers.

VIVIAN>> It's important to me because those that came before me taught for it to keep goin' forward.

Just keep goin' forward.

That's who we are, and be proud of who you are.

ELAINE>> I just didn't realize what a cultural thing it was because like I said, she done it as an income.

But she's done, she done wonders with her baskets.

ELLA MAE>> I just be like, Lord, I'm comin' home.

(Chuckling) (Slow music ends) (Theme music) JENNIFER>> Ezekiel Proctor is often incorrectly referred to as a Cherokee outlaw.

In this Cherokee Almanac, we take a look back at the true story of Zeke and the infamous court trial and gunfight remembered today as the Goingsnake Tragedy.

(Slow music plays) CATHERINE FOREMAN GRAY>> There were rifts between the families, the Becks and the Proctors.

JACK BAKER>> U.S.

Marshals claimed, said it was the bloodiest day in U.S.

Marshal history.

DR.

JULIE REED>> This winds up being one of the deadliest encounters between federal marshals and Indigenous people.

JENNIFER>> In the late 1800's, a tragedy befell the Cherokee Nation's Goingsnake District in Indian Territory.

It all began on February 13, 1872, when a man named Ezekiel Proctor paid a visit to the Hildebrand Mill near modern-day Flint, Oklahoma.

CATHERINE>> Ezekiel Proctor was born in the 1830's in the old Cherokee Nation.

He was actually a small child whenever he traveled with his family on the Trail of Tears.

His family were Union supporters during the American Civil War, so he fought with the Union during that war.

Zeke was also a farmer here in the Cherokee Nation, and he was well liked and respected by a lot of the community members.

JACK>> Ezekiel Proctor's been termed many times as an outlaw.

But he actually was a law-abiding citizen who served the Cherokee Nation in various offices and was never an outlaw as he is so often termed as being.

JENNIFER>> Zeke's intention was to confront the owner of the mill, Polly Beck and her husband Jim Kesterson.

CATHERINE>> The Beck/Proctor feud is at it's height during the American Civil War.

One family had supported the Confederacy, the Becks.

And the Proctors had supported the Union side of things.

JACK>> It's not clear as to why Zeke Proctor went to the mill in February of 1872.

It's been stated that he had been accused of stealing cattle by the Hildebrand/Beck family, and he'd gone to confront them on that issue.

It's much more likely that he went to confront Kesterson, who had been married to Zeke's sister, abandoned her and the children, and Zeke had to go rescue her and bring her back to the Proctor family farm.

JENNIFER>> The exchange quickly became violent and Zeke drew his pistol aiming at Kesterson.

JACK>> And Polly jumped between them to try to stop it.

And Zeke pulled the trigger and accidentally killed Polly instead of Jim Kesterson.

JENNIFER>> Zeke fled the scene, but turned himself over to the authorities soon after.

CATHERINE>> What we have is a Cherokee citizen who had committed a crime against another Cherokee citizen.

And so, we're gonna stand trial here in the Cherokee Nation.

JENNIFER>> Kesterson and the Beck family opposed this.

CATHERINE>> Zeke was very well loved by the community, very well respected.

And so, they did not think that Polly was gonna receive justice here in the Cherokee Nation.

JENNIFER>> Preparations for the trial were already underway in the Cherokee Nation, when Kesterson traveled to Fort Smith, Arkansas, seeking a federal warrant for the arrest of Zeke Proctor.

DR.

REED>> But one of the things we can say about the federal courts is that they were often looking for opportunities to get their teeth into Indian Territory in all sorts of ways.

The federal court was more than happy to offer up some federal marshals to intervene.

But the marshals don't come alone.

They come with members of the Beck and Kesterson family.

So, then you've turned what is a legal body into arguably a vigilante group.

CATHERINE>> The Cherokees knew that there was gonna be issue with all of this.

And so, they actually moved the trial from the courthouse to a one-room schoolhouse that had one entry in and out.

JENNIFER>> On the morning of April 15, 1872, the posse arrived at the site of the trial and a disastrous confrontation began.

JACK>> According to most accounts, as White Sut Beck entered the courtroom, then he immediately pulled his gun and started opening fire against Zeke Proctor.

And then the Cherokee Nation deputies within the courthouse then returned fire.

JENNIFER>> For approximately the next 15 minutes, gunfire erupted from both sides in and around the schoolhouse.

CATHERINE>> The marshals will say that Cherokees fire first.

The Cherokees say that that marshals fired first.

What happens and ensues is a huge gunfight and we end up with eleven people that are killed that day.

JACK>> On the side of the marshals there were eight people killed.

And there were three that were basically on the side of the Proctors.

JENNIFER>> Once care was given to those injured, including Zeke himself, the trial continued the very next day.

And the jury promptly acquitted Zeke of all charges.

The infamous legacy of the deadly shootout continues to this day, remembered as the Goingsnake Tragedy.

(Slow music ends) (Language segment music begins) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) ARI>> (Speaking Cherokee language) SINASD>> (Speaking Cherokee language) (Language segment music ends) (Theme music) JENNIFER>> Makayla Bearpaw is a total rockstar.

As a powerhouse drummer based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mikayla pounds and grooves her way through countless sets of blues, punk, and good ol' rock and roll.

(Sound of door opening) (Sound of cymbal) (Flashing sounds) MAKAYLA BEARPAW>> Whenever I play my drums, I just feel empowered.

(Drums playing) I feel just this warm feeling, it's just this, this comfort.

I love it.

I could be having a bad day.

I could go to our rehearsal space and just let it out.

Osiyo.

Makayla dawado'a, tsitsalagi.

Hello, my name is Makayla.

I'm Cherokee.

I'm also a musician and I'm the event coordinator at Josey Records.

I was born and raise in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

I moved away from there when I was about nine, and we ended up settling in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

We've been here for about 13 years now.

Music was always in the house.

You know, the radio was always on.

None of my immediate family was musicians.

Becoming a musician, you know, learning how to play guitar, and learning how to play drums, and you know stuff like that, I was kinda the first, you know.

My dad'd always make the joke, Oh well, don't you play an instrument?

My dad'd be like, Yeah, I played the radio.

My dad passed away in June of 2014.

He had uncontrolled diabetes.

It's pretty hard on a kid, you know, and oh, I mean it's hard on anybody just honestly.

Whenever my dad started getting sick, we wanted to help take care of dad.

So, we started finding like other things to, to keep us, you know, kinda keep us busy.

Music was my thing.

And so, I really started digging deep into listening to things, you know.

And I wanted to be a musician.

Drums was just something I was just drawn to.

My dad, he was kinda the 80's metal head, so that was kind of how we bonded.

You know, we would like listening to a lot of the same music.

After my dad passed away, it took a while, honestly, to be able to go back and listen to those songs, or listen to those albums that my dad would play repetitively.

I started finding like, I guess kinda of like a comfort in it, you know, because I still have that connection.

I can listen to those songs and now I can play them on drums too.

Being a musician was one of my dream jobs.

But being able to work in a record store was my other.

I just started collecting records whenever I was about nine.

It's just exploded since.

My day job, like I work at Josey Records, and then like my night job is like being a drummer for Hector and the Hexed.

(Upbeat music plays) Fifties and sixties rock is a heavy influence, rock-a-billy, and we do like a lot of blues stuff.

We kinda do some like punk style stuff as well, you know.

So, it's just really cool having all these like random, you know, genres of music and being able to, to kind of mash them together.

And that's how we get our sound.

(Upbeat music ends) (Fast music plays) I've been told I'm an aggressive player.

And I'm like, I'm just up there having fun.

Regardless whether we've got 20 people watching us or we've got one person watching us, you know, we still put on the best show that we can.

That adrenaline, that energy of just performing live, you know, it's like nothin' else.

My parents were very supportive.

My mom, she's always been my biggest supporter, you know, biggest fan if you will.

I think there's been maybe two shows that she's missed.

But other than that, she's been, she's always been at the shows.

For Hector and the Hexed, I see a lot of songwriting, a lot of rehearsals, you know, 'cause we're all about just getting it as tight as we can.

And hopefully, maybe eventually start touring.

You know, we're just like a small, just kind of DIY tours around the surrounding states.

As for myself, I achieved one of my goals as a kid.

I was like, I just wanna be a musician.

I wanna be playing in a band, you know, and just making a living off of that, make a career out of it.

I'm doing that right now.

Being a musician, you know, being a drummer, okay there was a uniqueness of, okay, you're female.

That's cool.

Not a lot of female drummers are out there.

But then like being Cherokee on top of that, like yes, that's right.

I'm an Indigenous female drummer.

You know, you wanna puff your chest out a little bit, you know, just 'cause you're just proud of who you are.

But that's kinda what it means to be Cherokee to me is just, you know, being proud of myself, being proud of who we are, and where we came from, and hopefully where we're going.

(Fast music fades) JENNIFER>> We hope you enjoyed our show.

And remember, you can always watch entire episodes and share your favorite stories online at Osiyo.tv.

There is no Cherokee word for goodbye because we know we'll see you again.

We say, Dodadagohvi, Wado.

(Theme music) (Theme music)