Citizens Creek by Lalita Tademy
(Simon & Schuster, 2014)

When I read that Lalita Tademy’s book, Cane River, was a previous Oprah Book Club Pick and a New York Times Best Seller, I had my doubts about the applicability of this novel as a “serious” work of literature appropriate for teaching in my university American Literature classes. I should not have prejudged it. I cannot remember when I have read a book that I did not want to end! Not only is it historical fiction, my favorite genre, but it is about the American West, one of my areas of specialization. I discovered that the protagonist was based the life of an historical Black Creek, who played a strong role in both African American and Native American history. Thus, it will be especially well suited for the multicultural unit I am preparing, for it chronicles Black history as told by a Black writer as well as little known events in the tragic tale of displacement during the settlement of the American West. Better yet, the plot is strong, the characters well-drawn, and the style riveting.

Briefly, the narrative follows the life of Cow Tom beginning in 1822 during his early years as a Black slave to his Creek owner, Chief Yargee. His single goal in life is to earn enough money to buy his freedom, and, eventually, the freedom of his wife and children. Because of his knowledge of raising cattle learned from his mentor, blind Old Turtle, he is steadily adding to the money Yargee is holding for him. When the Upper Creeks learn that they are to be removed to the Indian Territory, Yargee also discovers that the tribe must send seven hundred warriors and two translators to help the United States Army round up the Florida Seminoles for their Removal. Although Cow Town has recently married Amy and has a daughter, Malinda, he is eager to go as interpreter because Chief Yargee promises that part of the “rental” for his services will go toward Cow Tom’s freedom, and it will give him the opportunity to find his long-lost mother.

Cow Tom discovers that he must lead the military to the Seminole camps where the army destroys their villages and imprisons the Indians in forts where many succumb to illness and starvation before they are forced west. Cow Town follows orders so that he can hurry home to be removed to Indian Territory with his chief and family. I do not want to destroy the suspense that continues building in this novel except to say that even though he eventually meets up with his family and even finds his mother, the inevitable conflicts arise, most life-threatening. For the remainder of the novel, Cow Tom’s skills as negotiator and interpreter prove invaluable for the Creeks and the Black Creeks as they struggle though the years of the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation era, and adaptation to life in the Indian Territory as freedmen.

As Cow Tom’s granddaughter, Rose, grows older, she accompanies her grandfather as he negotiates for his people and interprets for the white men. Her story begins weaving in with that of Cow Tom, and when he dies of old age, the story continues with Rose as the main protagonist. It concludes when Rose’s children are grown, shortly after Indian Territory becomes the state of Oklahoma in 1907.

I knew about the Seminole Wars, the Five Civilized tribes, their Removal (except for the Seminoles) to the Indian Territory, the Dawes Act, and, of course, the effect of the Civil War on the West. I also knew that some of the southern tribes had slaves, but I did not realize the large number of Blacks held in servitude by the Five Civilized tribes nor did I ever think about it from a Black perspective. Needless to say, this novel was an eye opener. According to Atlanta Black Star‘s article, “Five Native American Communities Who Owned Enslaved Africans,” all of the Five Civilized tribes owned Black slaves. The largest of these tribes, the Cherokees, owned over 4,600 Black slaves by 1842. Only the Seminoles did not enslave the Blacks but worked out a sort of sharecropping system in return for sanctuary on their reservation.

“Read as a Reader but also as a Writer” I preach to my students, and what I focused on in this novel was how Tademy wove historical facts into the narrative. In this scene, Rose’s husband Jake has just returned from a cattle drive and has unwelcome news to report:

“Everyone’s in an uproar about the Dawes Roll in Haskell.”
“What’s that?” asked Rose.
“The government wants us to come in and register on the Dawes Roll. They are listing each person in the nation, every member recorded, child or chief. In town, some are for, some against.”
“We’re already on the list,” said Rose. “Been listed since I was nothing but a girl.”
“That’s Canadian Colored Town payroll,” Jake corrected. He shrugged. “This is different. Payroll is our fair share of the tribe money from Washington. Tribal Council decides who’s on that list. Fullbloods tried to outfox the government by refusing to turn over names. Foolish. Now Washington sidesteps the tribes to make their own list. Payroll is by Creek government, the Dawes Roll is United States government. Showdown’s coming” (366-367).

Tademy not only helps the reader understand the disastrous Dawes Act as Amy learns about it, but she also adds the human element to the facts, the complicated political ramifications as well as the fear and confusion felt by all involved in more government promises that would likely be broken.

Once the Cow Toms receive their allotments, greedy shysters descend, trying to convince the naive new property owners to give up their rights to white guardians. When Rose and Jake’s son Eugene (that, too, is compelling subplot) falls prey to one of the tricksters and plans to travel to Muskogee to sign over his allotment, the parents gallop to stop him. They are appalled at the scene when they arrive at the train station:

“They navigated and pushed their way through the men on the platform, many of whom were stinking drunk, falling-down drunk, sleepy drunk, mean drunk. One grabbed at her skirt, and another made lewd, slurred remarks, but for the most part, they’d drunk themselves into relative docility. The grafters among them were easy to spot, usually less inebriated, but not always, jealously guarding their marks, like shepherds, trying to keep another grafter from poaching their claimed territory, men persuaded to join them on the train ride to sell of their land allotments” (397).

That “our” Eugene is among those being taken advantage of heightens the horror of history. No longer are these facts in a history book; Tademy gives them human faces, faces we have grown to care about in the course of the narrative. That is showing, not telling, making her writing an excellent mentor text worthy of emulation.