“PEOPLE ARE SMART AND ANIMALS ARE DUMB”


That was the commonly held belief when I was a young girl and even later in my life as well. People who thought differently, like myself, were considered atheist or just plain weird. Humans used their lack of intelligence in those days to excuse the fact that we kill and eat them all the time, and too often treat them cruelly as well. The source for that belief is the Bible where it says that we have been "given dominion over" the animals. I believe the spiteful disregard for black people, whom many rightwing Whites do consider to be less intelligent than "we" are, is also due to this cause. I wish people would stop using the Bible to prove so many fallacious and often evil things. Christians should THINK and treat others as Jesus has told them to, as well as read the Bible.

In 1903 a famous physiologist named Ivan Pavlov did an experiment on conditioning in a dog, now called "Pavlov's dog," which was experimentally conditioned to salivate in response to a bell that signaled the coming plate of food. This, Pavlov decided was the beginning of learning, and he spawned a long line of experimental psychologists. Each studied one aspect of intellectual functioning after another during the 1900s and as a result most modern people of good conscience would not now beat a dog brutally because it had an accident on the floor. They did laboratory experiments on mice/rats, chickens, dogs and cats, and above all the primates, which have produced lots of evidence of intelligence of several kinds and in both birds and mammals. If you don't believe that, look up the chimpanzee named Kanzi and the gorilla Koko on the Net. The lower animals like turtles and frogs probably have very little intelligence, and they taste pretty good so I have no problem eating them. (The French are called “frogs” for their love of frog legs, snails and other gourmet dishes that some Americans won’t touch. We in the Southern US certainly do eat frog legs, though, and turtle as well. Southern farming families ate a lot of things that we don’t eat anymore.) But more on animal intelligence.

Now, chickens are really not as smart as mammals, but the crow and some parrots are quite a bit brighter than a chicken. A particular African Gray parrot called Alex – who only died within the last few years – was the pet/test subject of a young female psychologist. Alex not only recognized 4 or 5 shapes in their 4 or 5 materials and colors, he could name them accurately almost every time. The idea that parrots don’t really know what they are saying is no longer valid, as a result. Her work is recognized by other professionals in the field. Also some birds are thought to be able to tell if one of their nestlings is missing and therefore may be able to count.

In fact, intelligence in general, because it allows animals to do things that benefit them in their environment, has developed over time in many mammalian species and a few birds. Crows and parrots, not to mention the clever squirrel and rat -- tend to show some ability to solve problems, remember where they buried that nut, and even count. Rats are known for finding their way through mazes to get a bite of cheese. As a result of all that, I more strongly than ever differ with the Biblical view that the world was made for us humans alone, and that we have a perfect right to devastate all other life forms with God’s blessing. I believe the Buddhists, despite their having “a godless religion,” have a very intelligent, thoughtful and humane religion – good for building ancient societies. It shows “emotional intelligence,” as folks are fond of saying during the last ten or so years, to mean that an individual has a good social adjustment as well as a high IQ. One of their tenets, while not common to all Buddhist believers, is that we shouldn’t kill and eat animals. Some are Vegetarian and others are Vegan, and I personally don’t know the difference. I think some vegetarians will eat eggs and drink milk. I would need to have some source of animal protein, personally. To get “complete protein” (all of the necessary amino acids) in one meal you have to eat a combo like beans and rice to get the different amino acids. If they aren’t consumed in the same meal the body won’t translate them into “complete protein.” All animals, on the other hand are made up of complete protein. One girl I used to know was a highly advanced person philosophically and refused to eat any animal products, nor did she always go for “complete protein.” Unfortunately, her hair was falling out. I’m a bit more pragmatic about it all.

While I do still eat meat, especially chicken, I have enough respect for their relative status and worth on the chain of life to feel more than a little bit guilty about it. For one thing, how an animal is killed is important, as some methods are slower or more painful. The life of a veal calf is especially cruel. The technique of bleeding a calf to remove most of their blood so they will have “white meat” and before that raising them in narrow crates so they can’t move around and grow “tough” muscles is unspeakable to me. I have tasted veal a time or two and it is no better to me than any other kind of beef. Now the eating of tender young lambs is a guilty pleasure of mine, but lamb is expensive and I rarely buy it. It’s the taste of the meat that I really like, not its’ tenderness, so I suspect I could enjoy the meat of a fully grown sheep as well. At this point I am trying to eat mainly vegetables and fruit, or at least to see that I include them in a couple of meals daily.

The following article is about proven animal intelligence. See below.




http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/18/chimps-orangutans-have-human-like-memory/

Chimps, Orangutans Have Human-Like Memory
Posted by Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato in Weird & Wild on July 18, 2013

Photograph -- A chimpanzee named Frodo seems to pose in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania.

Forgot your Facebook password? Can’t remember if it’s one cup of sugar or two? Misplaced your keys—again?

Why we remember and forget is a big topic of study, and scientists at the Aarhus University Center on Autobiographical Memory Research in Denmark have turned to the animal kingdom for answers.

Now, a new study published today in Current Biology shows that captive chimpanzees and orangutans can quickly recall past events like people. Chimpanzees are our closest relatives.

“I think [the study] tells us that our memory systems are not unique,” said study co-author Gema Martin-Ordas, a postdoctoral researcher. (Read more about memory in National Geographic magazine.)

“We’re showing that there are some features we share with other animals.”

“Shocking” Primate Memory

Martin-Ordas and her team used specific cues to trigger memories of an experiment that the chimps and orangutans had learned three years prior.

During that previous experiment, researchers hid tools in strategically placed boxes and asked the primates to find them. When the scientists recreated the test, the primates had no trouble quickly remembering where the tools had been concealed.


This suggests that primates can quickly recollect past events, a feat that scientists previously thought only humans could do.

“I was shocked that the chimpanzees and orangutans found the tools,” Martin-Ordas said. “I was skeptical. I thought it wouldn’t work, and it did.”

“This is really impressive,” she added.

Memories Not Created Equal

If you have trouble remembering what you had for breakfast yesterday—let alone three years ago—don’t worry: Not all memories are created equal.

People remember general and specific events. General events are those that happen over and over, similar to our collective memory of attending school. Specific events are those that happen once, like our first day of school.

There are lots of triggers for memories. Martin-Ordas and colleagues used visual cues with the primates, using the same lab layout and technology to activate the animals’ remembrance of the experiment.

Other triggers like sound and smell can also prompt powerful memories.

“Every time I smell this perfume, it brings back memories of me going to school when I was five or six,” Martin-Ordas said. “It’s really intense.” (Test your memory with a National Geographic game.)

Memory recall is important for humans because it allows us to plan for future events, she added. When we’re thinking about what we’re going to pack for our next trip, for example, we usually have in mind what happened during the last one.

Memories also allow people to build their sense of self across time in a coherent way, which plays a big role in our personal wellbeing.

“We usually share memories with others,” Martin-Ordas said. “That’s important to establish relationships.”

Memory Research Still Ongoing

Next, researchers will look at whether chimpanzees and orangutans are aware that they’re recalling a personal memory.

Autobiographical memories are like movies that you store in your brain: When something triggers a memory, the movie replays in your head. You know that it’s your memory, but do animals have the same realization?

Chimps and orangutans “share some features of autobiographical memories that humans have, but we can’t be sure whether they’re aware of those memories, and that’s the debate,” Martin-Ordas said.

The science of memory storage and remembrance is still a field in its infancy: The brain is such a complex organ that it’s difficult to pinpoint exact memory-storage processes. (See a 3-D memory interactive.)

But further study of memory in the animal kingdom could provide valuable information that could someday prevent memory problems in people.

Tell us: What do you usually forget?



COMMENTS -- INCLUDING THE ONE OBLIGATORY HARD CORE BAPTIST AND CHARLES DARWIN HIMSELF


Kay

Santa Monica CA
April 19, 2014, 5:57 pm

I would have liked to read more information about any of the numerous topics in this article.- Sleep and memory and development, etc. Aren’t the same cells in the brain that store memory existent in all our organs? Is memory thought to only be located in the brain? …


Tyler Esmon

United States
November 6, 2013, 8:15 pm

This is an interesting article but it’s a shame there isn’t more information on the tests run on the chimps. I feel it would be important to tie emotional events or actions with the tests to see if that would alter or improve their memory. I am curious if chimps suppress things that traumatize them like humans do. I feel like that would be a great thing to test.


Memory Man

Singapore
October 14, 2013, 11:03 pm

The human brain is amazing when it comes to encoding information visually. That’s the trick that all memory experts use. I wonder if these chimps do the same? More research should be done here.

http://www.pinnacleminds.com.sg



grace javier

philippines
July 22, 2013, 10:09 pm

i usually forget simple things like where i have placed the pair of scissors or a coin i was holding just a while ago and placed it somewhere.. perhaps i think it’s because my brain is preoccupied because i have a baby and all my attention is on him because now he is just over a year old and it is during this time that he has to be watched 24/7 because he already tries to do lots of stuff like walking, climb up the stairs, and even puts everything that he can grab in his mouth!



Azmach Begashaw

ETHIOPIA
July 22, 2013, 12:31 pm

don’t undermine the work of GOD



Bipul Saha

Kolkata, India
July 21, 2013, 10:08 pm

quite interesting study. to study functions human brain, we have to work a lot with our closest primates. we also have to study how nervous system with brain evolved over geological time.



Charles Darwin

Westminster Abbey
July 21, 2013, 10:50 am

Argh!

I just rolled over ….

Why is this surprising? Where do these “surprised scientists” think we humans got our ability to remember past events?

I have written a couple of books on the subject that these scientists, or, more likely this journalist, might want to read….

C.D.



Justin Green

Atlanta
July 21, 2013, 9:36 am

So, you’re saying that apes have human like memory because humans have bad memories? Why not emphasize the good memory of chimps instead of bad memory of humans as in your tag line? Is this demeaning to our species, theirs or both, I guess it doesn’t matter since humans are apes anyway.



Paula Rice

Booneville Ky
July 21, 2013, 12:51 am

I usually forget why I went to the kitchen. To save face, I heat a cuppa coffee or grab a cold pop. I get back to the computer area and remember that I originally went to the kitchen to get some paper towels. Or some cookies, or or or lolol



Gabriel Frommer

July 19, 2013, 1:32 pm

I am not impressed. Put a pigeon back in a test chamber three years after training on some a rather elaborate task, and it will do the task (almost) immediately. A better test of human-like memory would be to train the chimpanzee (or other species) in a rather richly complex environment and return the animal to that environment, the basic layout of which remains largely unchanged must many of the specific features deleted, modified, or replaced.

The Cherokee People
July 24, 2015



The extensive and highly educational Wikipedia article below presents detailed information about Cherokee cultural elements including marriage rules, slave ownership and alignment with both the South and the North in the Civil War, relationship to freedmen, rules for admittance into the Cherokee tribe, a beautiful physical description of the Cherokee written in the early days of white association with them, a number of notable Cherokees, Cherokee writing samples, and prehistory/history back to their arrival in Appalachia from the Iriquois area of the Great Lakes. An official Cherokee website presents more archaeological information.

They did cultivate plants for food and medicine, so they were not simple hunter-gatherers even before the whites came, bringing many new cultural elements. The Cherokee adopted those advances widely, from government forms to the development of their own written language. See Sequoyah in www.encyclopedia.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyah and www.biography.com/people/sequoyah-41074. Sequoyah was a Cherokee blacksmith who sat down and dreamed up his own alphabet for the Cherokee language in 1809, which was quickly adopted by the Cherokees and by whites. He then traveled for the next 40 years, teaching his writing method. That may be one reason that the language has survived, unlike too many other American Indian tongues. A biography of Sequoyah was presented on A&E during this last year. For information on Cherokee medicine, see this article: Cherokee ethnobotany,
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.






http://www.amonsoquathbandofcherokee.org/cherokee-archaeology.html

CHEROKEE ARCHAEOLOGY

Cherokee Archaeology, by David G. Moore,Western Office,NC Division of Archives and History, Asheville, NC

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL SOVEREIGN AMONSOQUATH BAND OF CHEROKEE GOVERNMENT SPONSORED WEB SITE
PAGE MAINTAINED BY: Rainbow Eagle Woman. Current version, 2015

The history of the Cherokee Indians abounds with tales of military prowess and political intrigue in the 18th and 19th centuries, by which time their culture had been irreversibly altered by the advancing Anglo-American frontier. But the written history of the Cherokees actually begins with the 16th century accounts of the Spanish explorers Hernando DeSoto and Juan Pardo and the story of Cherokee prehistory is the subject of ongoing archaeological investigations.

Archaeologists have traced Cherokee culture back to nearly 500 years before DeSoto first met them in the southern mountains. The Pisgah phase, generally dated to between AD 1000 and AD 1500, is the name assigned by archaeologists to prehistoric Cherokee culture in western North Carolina. (A phase consists of a pattern of sites which exhibit close similarities in site structure and artifactual remains). Pisgah sites are located throughout the southern Appalachian region but are most common in western North Carolina, especially along the French Broad and Pigeon rivers and their tributaries.

Excavations at the Warren Wilson site (3lBn29) and the Garden Creek site (3lHwl) by the Research Laboratories of Anthropology, UNC-Chapel Hill, provide much of the evidence for our understanding of Pisgah culture. The Warren Wilson site is located on the Warren Wilson College campus, east of Asheville. The site is situated adjacent to the Swannanoa River and consists of a small palisaded village covering about three acres. The Garden Creek site is located on the Pigeon River west of Canton, and consists of two distinct village areas of about five acres each and three earthen mounds.

Pisgah villages ranged in size from about one acre to more than five acres and typically included houses situated around an open plaza and encircled by a palisade (stockade). Houses were constructed with upright wooden posts. They were generally square or slightly rectangular in shape and usually about 20 feet on a side. Wall coverings included bark and, perhaps, daub. House plans are determined by the identification of posthole patterns in the soil. Each posthole indicates the location of a single wooden post and patterns become discernible as each excavation unit is cleaned and mapped. The multiple palisades may represent the growth of the village over a period of time.

Although Pisgah sites have been found in many different settings the villages are most often located on the larger alluvial valleys where soils were most suitable for horticultural practices. The Pisgah folk grew maize, beans, squash, and gourds but their diet was by no means limited to these domesticated crops. Studies of carbonized plant remains from hearths, trash pits, and other village features show that wild plant foods including nuts, fruits, seeds, and greens were important components of the Pisgah diet. These studies, combined with the analysis of animal bone from the same features, indicate that the Pisgah people practiced a generalized subsistence pattern. While cultigens (domesticated plants) were important, wild plant foods and animals probably contributed equally to the overall diet.

Investigations at the Garden Creek site have provided additional evidence for the social, ceremonial, and political aspects of Pisgah culture. The two village areas are larger than the Warren Wilson site and both have associated earthen mounds which served as platforms on which civic/ceremonial structures were built. Two of the three mounds were apparently constructed prior to the Pisgah phase, though one of these was probably utilized during that time. Construction for the third mound was initiated during the Pisgah phase; however, its original form was that of a semisubterranean (partially below ground), earth-covered structure called an earth lodge. At a later date a second earth lodge was constructed adjoining the first and eventually both were covered with earth and capped with a clay mantle.

Not all Pisgah sites included mounds and it is likely that their presence at Garden Creek indicates it may have served as a central town with respect to social and political alliances and ceremonial activity.

The material culture of the Pisgah folk is represented by wide variety of artifacts fashioned from clay and stone, as well as bone, shell, and wood. Pisgah ceramics included jars and bowls, many with distinctive collared rims, that were usually decorated with stamped patterns impressed by carved wooden paddles. Other clay artifacts included pipes, small gaming discs, and beads. A variety of stone was used to make tools. Chert and quartz provided raw material for chipped tools like small triangular arrow points, drills, and scrapers while granite and gneiss were ground smooth and polished to make celts (axes) and chisels. Other stone artifacts included pipes, gorgets, hammerstones, mortars, and gaming stones. Mica was quarried and cut for ornaments. Beads and gorgets were also made from animal bone and marine shell. The walls of the conch shell were cut to form circular gorgets, often incised with a stylized snake design. The conch was also used to make ear pins, beads, and ceremonial bowls. The shell artifacts were normally associated with human burials.

Following the Pisgah is the Qualla phase (AD 1500 - AD 1850). Qualla is identified with the historic period Cherokee Indians. Because of similarities of artifact styles, house and village structure and burial patterns it is quite clear that the Pisgah folk were direct ancestors of the Cherokee people. However, it is also likely that other peoples (from east Tennessee and north Georgia) also contributed to the historic period Cherokee culture.

The first written record of the Cherokee comes from the accounts of Spanish explorers Hernando DeSoto and Juan Pardo who met the Cherokee in 1540 and 1567, respectively. Though the accounts provide little information on Cherokee culture they are valuable for understanding the political geography of the Cherokee and their neighbors. It is not until the mid-17th century that the historic records begin to record the Cherokees in any detail. By 1690 numerous records describe the activities of travellers and traders among the Cherokee.

In the early 1700's the British (South Carolina) government defined five Cherokee groups. In east Tennessee, the Cherokee lived along the Tellico and Little Tennessee rivers, in what were called the Overhill Towns. The Lower Towns were found in north Georgia, on the Tugalo, Keowee and upper Savannah rivers. Three divisions were present in North Carolina, including the Middle Towns, located on the headwaters of the Little Tennessee River; the Valley Towns, on the Hiwassee and Valley rivers; and the Out Towns on the Tuckaseegee and Occonoluftee rivers. The 18th century saw the Cherokees continually embroiled with their Indian neighbors and the governments of the frontier populations, first with the British Colonial and French governments and ultimately with the United States government. It was a period of shifting alliances formed to protect their lands and preserve trading relations. The Cherokees were often more favorably disposed towards the French, who were less interested in land than in trade; however, the Cherokee often found themselves allied with the English against their traditional enemies such as the Tuscarora and Creek Indians in the early 1700's.

In 1730 Sir Alexander Cuming embarked on a mission to secure Cherokee allegiance to the British. Cuming met with several Cherokee chiefs at the Town of Nequassee where he convinced them to submit to English rule. This first official treaty also established Chief Moytoy of Tellico (Overhill) as emperor and leader of the Cherokee Nation. (Today all that remains of the town of Nequassee is the large earthen mound preserved next to the Little Tennessee River within the city limits of Franklin in Macon County). By mid-century the Cherokee were drawn inexorably into regular and necessary trade with the British. However, the Cherokee continued to suffer the encroachment of the colonial frontier, leading to intermittent but sustained hostilities, particularly during the French and Indian War. The war had disastrous consequences for the Cherokee. In 1769 a large English force under Colonel Archibald Montgomery marched on and destroyed all 15 of the Middle Towns.

The wars' end served only to increase the numbers of settlers coming into Cherokee territory and by the time of the Revolution the Cherokee were rather easily persuaded to assist the English by attacking American frontier settlers. The Americans answered with armies directed at the Cherokees. In 1776 General Griffith Rutherford led a North Carolina militia against the Middle, Valley, and Out Towns while South Carolina forces attacked Lower Towns. Finally, a Virginia force destroyed the Overhill Towns. Sporadic actions occurred for the duration of the war and the end of the war saw additional land lost and the further disintegration of Cherokee political and social boundaries. In less than 60 years most of the Cherokees were forcibly removed from what remained of their homelands on the infamous Trail of Tears.





Cherokee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Cherokee (/ˈtʃɛrəkiː/; Cherokee Ani-Yunwiya (ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ) are a Native American tribe indigenous to the Southeastern United States (principally Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina). They speak Cherokee, an Iroquoian language. In the 19th century, historians and ethnographers recorded their oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples were.[4]

By the 19th century, European settlers in the United States called the Cherokee one of the "Five Civilized Tribes", because they had adopted numerous cultural and technological practices of the European American settlers. The Cherokee were one of the first, if not the first, major non-European ethnic group to become U.S. citizens. Article 8 in the 1817 treaty with the Cherokee stated Cherokees may wish to become citizens of the United States.[5] According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the Cherokee Nation has more than 314,000 members, the largest of the 566 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States.[6] In addition, numerous groups claiming Cherokee lineage, some of which are state-recognized, have members who are among those 819,000-plus people claiming Cherokee ancestry on the US census.

Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB) have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The UKB are mostly descendants of "Old Settlers," Cherokee who migrated to Arkansas and Oklahoma about 1817. They are related to the Cherokee who were forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the Indian Removal Act. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina, and are descendants of those who resisted or avoided relocation.[7] In addition, there are numerous Cherokee heritage groups throughout the United states, such as the satellite communities sponsored by the Cherokee Nation.

Name[edit]
The Cherokee refer to themselves as Ani-Yunwiya (ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ), which means "Principal People."

Many theories—though none proven—abound about the origin of the name "Cherokee". It may have originally been derived from the Choctaw word Cha-la-kee, which means "those who live in the mountains", or Choctaw Chi-luk-ik-bi, meaning "those who live in the cave country."[8] The earliest Spanish rendering of the name "Cherokee," from 1755, is Tchalaquei.[9] Another theory is that "Cherokee" derives from a Lower Creek word, Cvlakke ("chuh-log-gee").[10] The Iroquois in New York have historically called the Cherokee Oyata’ge'ronoñ ("inhabitants of the cave country").

Tsalagi (ᏣᎳᎩ) is sometimes misused as a name for the people; Tsalagi is actually the Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ) word for the Cherokee language.[11]

Origins[edit]

Great Smoky Mountains
There are two main theories of Cherokee origins. One is that the Cherokee, an Iroquoian-speaking people, are relative latecomers to Southern Appalachia, who may have migrated in late prehistoric times from northern areas, the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee nations and other Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Another theory is that the Cherokee had been in the Southeast for thousands of years.

Researchers in the 19th century recorded conversations with elders who recounted an oral tradition of the Cherokee people's migrating south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times.[4] They may have moved south into Muscogee Creek territory and settled at the sites of mounds built by the Mississippian culture. During early research, archeologists mistakenly attributed several Mississippian culture sites to the Cherokee, including Moundville and Etowah Mounds.

Pre-contact Cherokee are considered to be part of the later Pisgah Phase of Southern Appalachia, which lasted from circa 1000 to 1500.[12] Despite the consensus among most specialists in Southeast archeology and anthropology, some scholars[who?] contend that ancestors of the Cherokee people lived in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee for a far longer period of time.[13] During the late Archaic and Woodland Period, Indians in the region began to cultivate plants such as marsh elder, lambsquarters, pigweed, sunflowers and some native squash. People created new art forms such as shell gorgets, adopted new technologies, and followed an elaborate cycle of religious ceremonies. During the Mississippian Culture-period (800 to 1500 CE), local women developed a new variety of maize (corn) called eastern flint corn. It closely resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. The successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complex chiefdoms with several villages and concentrated populations during this period. Corn became celebrated among numerous peoples in religious ceremonies, especially the Green Corn Ceremony.

Early cultures[edit]

Much of what is known about pre-18th-century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions. The earliest ones of the mid-16th-century encountered people of the Mississippian culture, the ancestors to later tribes in the Southeast such as the Muscogee (Creek) and Catawba. Specifically, in 1540-41, a Spanish expedition led by Hernando de Soto passed through what was later characterized as Cherokee country based on historical encounter by English colonists. De Soto's expedition visited villages in present-day western Georgia and eastern Tennessee, recording them as ruled by the Coosa chiefdom. It is now considered to be an ancestral chiefdom to the Muscogee Creek people. The Spanish recorded a Chalaque nation as living around the Keowee River where North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia meet.[14] Some of this work was not translated into English and made available to historians until the 20th century, and alternative views had developed related to limited understanding by English colonists of historic Native American cultures in the Southeast. In addition, the dominance of English colonists in the Southeast led to a discounting of Spanish sources for some time.

The American writer John Howard Payne wrote about pre-19th-century Cherokee culture and society. The Payne papers describe the account by Cherokee elders of a traditional two-part societal structure. A "white" organization of elders represented the seven clans. As Payne recounted, this group, which was hereditary and priestly, was responsible for religious activities, such as healing, purification, and prayer. A second group of younger men, the "red" organization, was responsible for warfare. The Cherokee considered warfare a polluting activity, and warriors required purification by the priestly class before participants could reintegrate into normal village life. This hierarchy had disappeared long before the 18th century.

Researchers have debated the reasons for the change. Some historians believe the decline in priestly power originated with a revolt by the Cherokee against the abuses of the priestly class known as the Ani-kutani.[15] Ethnographer James Mooney, who studied the Cherokee in the late 1880s, was the first to trace the decline of the former hierarchy to this revolt.[16] By the time of Mooney, the structure of Cherokee religious practitioners was more informal, based more on individual knowledge and ability than upon heredity.[15]

Another major source of early cultural history comes from materials written in the 19th century by the didanvwisgi (ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ), Cherokee medicine men, after Sequoyah's creation of the Cherokee syllabary in the 1820s. Initially only the didanvwisgi adopted and used such materials, which were considered extremely powerful in a spiritual sense.[15] Later, the syllabary and writings were widely adopted by the Cherokee people.

Unlike most other Indians in the American Southeast at the start of the historic era, the Cherokee spoke an Iroquoian language, an indication of migration from another area. Since the Great Lakes region was the core of Iroquoian-language speakers, scholars have theorized that the Cherokee migrated south from that region. This is supported by the Cherokee oral history tradition. According to the scholars' theory, the Tuscarora, another Iroquoian-speaking people who inhabited the Southeast in historic times, and the Cherokee broke off from the major group during its northern migration.

Other historians hold that, judging from linguistic and cultural data, the Tuscarora people migrated South from other Iroquoian-speaking people in the Great Lakes region in ancient times. In the 1700s, the Tuscarora left the Southeast and "returned" to the New York area by 1722 because of harsh warfare in the southern region. The Tuscarora were admitted by the Iroquois as the Sixth Nation of their political confederacy.[17]

Linguistic analysis shows a relatively large difference between Cherokee and the northern Iroquoian languages. Scholars posit a split between the groups in the distant past, perhaps 3500–3800 years ago.[18] Glottochronology studies suggest the split occurred between about 1,500 and 1,800 BCE.[19] The Cherokee have claimed the ancient settlement of Kituwa on the Tuckasegee River, formerly next to and now part of Qualla Boundary (the reserve of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) in North Carolina, as the original Cherokee settlement in the Southeast.[18]

History[edit]

Main article: Cherokee history

17th century: English contact[edit]

In 1657, there was a disturbance in Virginia Colony as the Rechahecrians or Rickahockans, as well as the Siouan Manahoac and Nahyssan, broke through the frontier and settled near the Falls of the James, near present-day Richmond, Virginia. The following year, a combined force of English and Pamunkey drove the newcomers away. The identity of the Rechahecrians has been much debated. Historians noted the name closely resembled that recorded for the Eriechronon or Erielhonan, commonly known as the Erie tribe. This Iroquoian people had been driven away from the southern shore of Lake Erie in 1654 by the powerful Iroquois Five Nations. The anthropologist Martin Smith theorized some remnants of the tribe migrated to Virginia after the wars (1986:131–32). Few historians suggest this tribe was Cherokee.[20]

Virginian traders developed a small-scale trading system with the Cherokee in the Piedmont before the end of the 17th century; the earliest recorded Virginia trader to live among the Cherokee was Cornelius Dougherty or Dority, in 1690.[21][22] The Cherokee sold the traders Indian slaves for use as laborers in Virginia and further north.[23]

American colonist Henry Timberlake described the Cherokee people as he perceived them in 1761:

The Cherokees are of a middle stature, of an olive colour, tho' generally painted, and their skins stained with gun-powder, pricked into it in very pretty figures. The hair of their head is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked out by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head, about twice the bigness of a crown-piece, which is ornamented with beads, feathers, wampum, stained deers hair, and such like baubles. The ears are slit and stretched to an enormous size, putting the person who undergoes the operation to incredible pain, being unable to lie on either side for nearly forty days. To remedy this, they generally slit but one at a time; so soon as the patient can bear it, they wound round with wire to expand them, and are adorned with silver pendants and rings, which they likewise wear at the nose. This custom does not belong originally to the Cherokees, but taken by them from the Shawnese, or other northern nations.

They that can afford it wear a collar of wampum, which are beads cut out of clam-shells, a silver breast-plate, and bracelets on their arms and wrists of the same metal, a bit of cloth over their private parts, a shirt of the English make, a sort of cloth-boots, and mockasons (sic), which are shoes of a make peculiar to the Americans, ornamented with porcupine-quills; a large mantle or match-coat thrown over all complete their dress at home...[24]

18th century[edit]

Further information: Cherokee military history

The Cherokee gave sanctuary to a band of Shawnee in the 1660s, but from 1710 to 1715 the Cherokee and Chickasaw, allied with the British, fought Shawnee, who were allied with the French, and forced them to move northward.[25] Cherokee fought with the Yamasee, Catawba, and British in late 1712 and early 1713 against the Tuscarora in the Second Tuscarora War. The Tuscarora War marked the beginning of a British-Cherokee relationship that, despite breaking down on occasion, remained strong for much of the 18th century. With the growth of the deerskin trade, the Cherokee were valuable trading partners, since deer-skins from the cooler country of their mountain hunting-grounds were of a better quality than those supplied by lowland tribes that were neighbors of the English colonists.

In January 1716, Cherokee murdered a delegation of Muscogee Creek leaders at the town of Tugaloo, marking their entry into the Yamasee War. It ended in 1717 with peace treaties between the province of South Carolina and the Creek. Hostility and sporadic raids between the Cherokee and Creek continued for decades.[26] These raids came to a head at the Battle of Taliwa in 1755, present-day Ball Ground, Georgia, with the defeat of the Muscogee.

In 1721, the Cherokee ceded lands in South Carolina. In 1730, at Nikwasi, a former Mississippian culture site, a Scots adventurer, Sir Alexander Cumming, crowned Moytoy of Tellico as "Emperor" of the Cherokee. Moytoy agreed to recognize King George II of Great Britain as the Cherokee protector. Cumming arranged to take seven prominent Cherokee, including Attakullakulla, to London, England. There the Cherokee delegation signed the Treaty of Whitehall with the British. Moytoy's son, Amo-sgasite (Dreadful Water), attempted to succeed him as "Emperor" in 1741, but the Cherokee elected their own leader, Cunne Shote (Standing Turkey) of Chota.[27]

Political power among the Cherokee remained decentralized, and towns acted autonomously. In 1735 the Cherokee were estimated to have sixty-four towns and villages, and 6,000 fighting men. In 1738 and 1739 smallpox epidemics broke out among the Cherokee, who had no natural immunity. Nearly half their population died within a year. Hundreds of other Cherokee committed suicide due to their losses and disfigurement from the disease.


After the Anglo-Cherokee War, bitterness remained between the two groups. In 1765, Henry Timberlake took three of the former Cherokee adversaries to London to help cement the newly declared friendship.
From 1753 to 1755, battles broke out between the Cherokee and Muscogee over disputed hunting grounds in North Georgia. The Cherokee were victorious in the Battle of Taliwa. British soldiers built forts in Cherokee country to defend against the French in the Seven Years' War, called the French and Indian War in North America. These included Fort Loudoun near Chota. In 1756 the Cherokee were allies of the British in the French and Indian War. Serious misunderstandings arose quickly between the two allies, resulting in the 1760 Anglo-Cherokee War. King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbade British settlements west of the Appalachian crest, as his government tried to afford some protection from colonial encroachment to the Cherokee and other tribes. The Crown found the ruling difficult to enforce with colonists.[28]

In 1771–1772, North Carolinian settlers squatted on Cherokee lands in Tennessee, forming the Watauga Association.[29] Daniel Boone and his party tried to settle in Kentucky, but the Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo, and some Cherokee attacked a scouting and forage party that included Boone's son. The American Indians used this territory as a hunting ground; it had hardly been inhabited for years. The conflict sparked the beginning of what was known as Dunmore's War (1773–1774).

In 1776, allied with the Shawnee led by Cornstalk, Cherokee attacked settlers in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina in the Second Cherokee War. Overhill Cherokee Nancy Ward, Dragging Canoe's cousin, warned settlers of impending attacks. Provincial militias retaliated, destroying over 50 Cherokee towns. North Carolina militia in 1776 and 1780 invaded and destroyed the Overhill towns. In 1777, surviving Cherokee town leaders signed treaties with the states.

Dragging Canoe and his band settled along Chickamauga Creek near present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they established 11 new towns. Chickamauga Town was his headquarters and the colonists tended to call his entire band as the Chickamauga. From here he fought a guerrilla war against settlers, which lasted from 1776-1794. These are known informally as the Chickamauga wars, but this is not an historians' term. The first Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse, signed November 7, 1794, finally brought peace between the Cherokee and Americans. In 1805, the Cherokee ceded their lands between the Cumberland and Duck rivers (i.e. the Cumberland Plateau) to Tennessee.

Scots (and other Europeans) among the Cherokee in the 18th century[edit]
The traders and British government agents dealing with the Southern tribes in general, and the Cherokee in particular, were nearly all of Scottish extraction, especially from the Highlands. A few were Scots-Irish, English, French, even German (see Scottish Indian trade). Many of these men married women from their host people and remained after the fighting had ended; some fathered children who would later become significant leaders among the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast.[30]

Notable traders, agents, and refugee Tories among the Cherokee included John Stuart, Henry Stuart, Alexander Cameron, John McDonald, John Joseph Vann (father of James Vann), Daniel Ross (father of John Ross), John Walker Sr., John McLemore (father of Bob), William Buchanan, John Watts (father of John Watts Jr.), John D. Chisholm, John Benge (father of Bob Benge), Thomas Brown, John Rogers (Welsh), John Gunter (German, founder of Gunter's Landing), James Adair (Irish), William Thorpe (English), and Peter Hildebrand (German), among many others. Some attained the honorary status of minor chiefs and/or members of significant delegations.

By contrast, a large portion of the settlers encroaching on the Native American territories were Scots-Irish, Irish from Ulster of Scottish descent, a group who also supported the Revolution. But Scots-Irish also comprised Loyalists in the backcountry; for example, Simon Girty).

19th century[edit]

Acculturation[edit]

The Cherokee lands between the Tennessee and Chattahoochee rivers were remote enough from white settlers to remain independent after the Chickamauga Wars. The deerskin trade was no longer feasible on their greatly reduced lands, and over the next several decades, the people of the fledgling Cherokee Nation began to build a new society modeled on the white Southern United States.

George Washington sought to 'civilize' Southeastern American Indians, through programs overseen by the Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins. He encouraged the Cherokee to abandon their communal land-tenure and settle on individual farmsteads, facilitated by the destruction of many American Indian towns during the American Revolutionary War. The deerskin trade brought white-tailed deer to the brink of extinction, and as pigs and cattle were introduced, they became the principal sources of meat. The government supplied the tribes with spinning wheels and cotton-seed, and men were taught to fence and plow the land, in contrast to their traditional division in which crop cultivation was woman's labor. Americans instructed the women in weaving. Eventually Hawkins helped them set up blacksmiths, gristmills and cotton plantations.

The Cherokee organized a national government under Principal Chiefs Little Turkey (1788–1801), Black Fox (1801–1811), and Pathkiller (1811–1827), all former warriors of Dragging Canoe. The 'Cherokee triumvirate' of James Vann and his protégés The Ridge and Charles R. Hicks advocated acculturation, formal education, and modern methods of farming. In 1801 they invited Moravian missionaries from North Carolina to teach Christianity and the 'arts of civilized life.' The Moravians and later Congregationalist missionaries ran boarding schools, and a select few students were educated at the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions school in Connecticut.

In 1806 a Federal Road from Savannah, Georgia to Knoxville, Tennessee was built through Cherokee land. Chief James Vann opened a tavern, inn and ferry across the Chattahoochee and built a cotton-plantation on a spur of the road from Athens, Georgia to Nashville. His son 'Rich Joe' Vann developed the plantation to 800 acres (3.2 km2), cultivated by 150 slaves. He exported cotton to England, and owned a steamboat on the Tennessee River.[31]

The Cherokee allied with the U.S. against the nativist and pro-British Red Stick faction of the Upper Creek in the Creek War during the War of 1812. Cherokee warriors led by Major Ridge played a major role in General Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Major Ridge moved his family to Rome, Georgia, where he built a substantial house, developed a large plantation and ran a ferry on the Oostanaula River. Although he never learned English, he sent his son and nephews to New England to be educated in mission schools. His interpreter and protégé Chief John Ross, the descendant of several generations of Cherokee women and Scots fur-traders, built a plantation and operated a trading firm and a ferry at Ross' Landing (Chattanooga, Tennessee). During this period, divisions arose between the acculturated elite and the great majority of Cherokee, who clung to traditional ways of life.

Around 1809 Sequoyah began developing a written form of the Cherokee language. He spoke no English, but his experiences as a silversmith dealing regularly with white settlers, and as a warrior at Horseshoe Bend, convinced him the Cherokee needed to develop writing. In 1821, he introduced Cherokee syllabary, the first written syllabic form of an American Indian language outside of Central America. Initially his innovation was opposed by both Cherokee traditionalists and white missionaries, who sought to encourage the use of English. When Sequoyah taught children to read and write with the syllabary, he reached the adults. By the 1820s, the Cherokee had a higher rate of literacy than the whites around them in Georgia.


Photograph -- Cherokee National Council building, New Echota

In 1819, the Cherokee began holding council meetings at New Town, at the headwaters of the Oostanaula (near present-day Calhoun, Georgia). In November 1825, New Town became the capital of the Cherokee Nation, and was renamed New Echota, after the Overhill Cherokee principal town of Chota.[32] Sequoyah's syllabary was adopted. They had developed a police force, a judicial system, and a National Committee.

In 1827, the Cherokee Nation drafted a Constitution modeled on the United States, with executive, legislative and judicial branches and a system of checks and balances. The two-tiered legislature was led by Major Ridge and his son John Ridge. Convinced the tribe's survival required English-speaking leaders who could negotiate with the U.S., the legislature appointed John Ross as Principal Chief. A printing press was established at New Echota by the Vermont missionary Samuel Worcester and Major Ridge's nephew Elias Boudinot, who had taken the name of his white benefactor, a leader of the Continental Congress and New Jersey Congressman. They translated the Bible into Cherokee syllabary. Boudinot published the first edition of the bilingual 'Cherokee Phoenix,' the first American Indian newspaper, in February 1828.[33]

Removal era[edit]
See also: Thomas Jefferson and Indian Removal

Tah-Chee (Dutch), A Cherokee Chief, 1837
Before the final removal to present-day Oklahoma, many Cherokees relocated to present-day Arkansas, Missouri and Texas.[34] Between 1775 and 1786 the Cherokee, along with people of other nations such as the Choctaw and Chickasaw, began voluntarily settling along the Arkansas and Red Rivers.[35]

In 1802, the federal government promised to extinguish Indian titles to lands claimed by Georgia in return for Georgia's cession of the western lands that became Alabama and Mississippi. To convince the Cherokee to move voluntarily in 1815, the US government established a Cherokee Reservation in Arkansas.[36] The reservation boundaries extended from north of the Arkansas River to the southern bank of the White River. Di'wali (The Bowl), Sequoyah, Spring Frog and Tatsi (Dutch) and their bands settled there. These Cherokees became known as "Old settlers."

The Cherokee, eventually, migrated as far north as the Missouri Bootheel by 1816. They lived interspersed among the Delawares and Shawnees of that area.[37] The Cherokee in Missouri Territory increased rapidly in population, from 1,000 to 6,000 over the next year (1816–1817), according to reports by Governor William Clark.[38] Increased conflicts with the Osage Nation led to the Battle of Claremore Mound and the eventual establishment of Fort Smith between Cherokee and Osage communities.[39] In the Treaty of St. Louis (1825), the Osage were made to "cede and relinquish to the United States, all their right, title, interest, and claim, to lands lying within the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas..." to make room for the Cherokee and the Mashcoux, Muscogee Creeks.[40] As late as the winter of 1838, Cherokee and Creek living in the Missouri and Arkansas areas petitioned the War Department to remove the Osage from the area.[41]

A group of Cherokee traditionalists led by Di'wali moved to Spanish Texas in 1819. Settling near Nacogdoches, they were welcomed by Mexican authorities as potential allies against Anglo-American colonists. The Texas Cherokees were mostly neutral during the Texas War of Independence. In 1836, they signed a treaty with Texas President Sam Houston, an adopted member of the Cherokee tribe. His successor Mirabeau Lamar sent militia to evict them in 1839.

Trail of Tears

During the first decades of the 19th century, Georgia focused on removing the Cherokee's neighbors, the Lower Creek. The Georgia Governor George Troup and his cousin William McIntosh, chief of the Lower Creek, signed the Treaty of Indian Springs (1825), ceding the last Muscogee (Creek) lands claimed by Georgia. The state's northwestern border reached the Chattahoochee, the border of the Cherokee Nation. In 1829, gold was discovered at Dahlonega, on Cherokee land claimed by Georgia. The Georgia Gold Rush was the first in U.S. history, and state officials demanded that the federal government expel the Cherokee. When Andrew Jackson was inaugurated as President in 1829, Georgia gained a strong ally in Washington. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the forcible relocation of American Indians east of the Mississippi to a new Indian Territory.

Andrew Jackson said the removal policy was an effort to prevent the Cherokee from facing extinction as a people, which he considered the fate that "the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware" had suffered.[42] But, there is ample evidence that the Cherokee were adapting modern farming techniques. A modern analysis shows that the area was in general in a state of economic surplus and could have accommodated both the Cherokee and new settlers.[43]

The Cherokee brought their grievances to a US judicial review that set a precedent in Indian Country. John Ross traveled to Washington, D.C., and won support from National Republican Party leaders Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. Samuel Worcester campaigned on behalf of the Cherokee in New England, where their cause was taken up by Ralph Waldo Emerson (see Emerson's 1838 letter to Martin Van Buren). In June 1830, a delegation led by Chief Ross defended Cherokee rights before the U.S. Supreme Court in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia.

In 1831 Georgia militia arrested Samuel Worcester for residing on Indian lands without a state permit, imprisoning him in Milledgeville. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that American Indian nations were "distinct, independent political communities retaining their original natural rights," and entitled to federal protection from the actions of state governments that infringed on their sovereignty.[44] Worcester v. Georgia is considered one of the most important dicta in law dealing with Native Americans.

Jackson ignored the Supreme Court's ruling, as he needed to conciliate Southern sectionalism during the era of the Nullification Crisis. His landslide reelection in 1832 emboldened calls for Cherokee removal. Georgia sold Cherokee lands to its citizens in a Land Lottery, and the state militia occupied New Echota. The Cherokee National Council, led by John Ross, fled to Red Clay, a remote valley north of Georgia's land claim. Ross had the support of Cherokee traditionalists, who could not imagine removal from their ancestral lands.

Photograph -- Cherokee beadwork sampler, made at Dwight Mission, Indian Territory, 19th century, collection of the Oklahoma History Center.

A small group known as the "Ridge Party" or the "Treaty Party" saw relocation as inevitable and believed the Cherokee Nation needed to make the best deal to preserve their rights in Indian Territory. Led by Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot, they represented the Cherokee elite, whose homes, plantations and businesses were confiscated, or under threat of being taken by white squatters with Georgia land-titles. With capital to acquire new lands, they were more inclined to accept relocation. On December 29, 1835, the "Ridge Party" signed the Treaty of New Echota, stipulating terms and conditions for the removal of the Cherokee Nation. In return for their lands, the Cherokee were promised a large tract in the Indian Territory, $5 million, and $300,000 for improvements on their new lands.[45]

John Ross gathered over 15,000 signatures for a petition to the U.S. Senate, insisting that the treaty was invalid because it did not have the support of the majority of the Cherokee people. The Senate passed the Treaty of New Echota by a one-vote margin. It was enacted into law in May 1836.[46]

Two years later President Martin Van Buren ordered 7,000 Federal troops and state militia under General Winfield Scott into Cherokee lands to evict the tribe. Over 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly relocated westward to Indian Territory in 1838–1839, a migration known as the Trail of Tears or in Cherokee ᏅᎾ ᏓᎤᎳ ᏨᏱ or Nvna Daula Tsvyi (The Trail Where They Cried), although it is described by another word Tlo-va-sa (The Removal). Marched over 800 miles (1,300 km) across Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, the people suffered from disease, exposure and starvation, and as many as 4,000 died.[47] As some Cherokees were slaveholders, they took enslaved African Americans with them west of the Mississippi. Intermarried European Americans and missionaries also walked the Trail of Tears. Ross preserved a vestige of independence by negotiating for the Cherokee to conduct their own removal under U.S. supervision.[48]

In keeping with the tribe's "blood law" that prescribed the death penalty for Cherokee who sold lands, Ross's son arranged the murder of the leaders of the "Treaty Party". On June 22, 1839, a party of twenty-five Ross supporters assassinated Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot. The party included Daniel Colston, John Vann, Archibald, James and Joseph Spear. Boudinot's brother Stand Watie fought and survived that day, escaping to Arkansas.

In 1827, Sequoyah had led a delegation of Old Settlers to Washington, D.C. to negotiate for the exchange of Arkansas land for land in Indian Territory. After the Trail of Tears, he helped mediate divisions between the Old Settlers and the rival factions of the more recent arrivals. In 1839, as President of the Western Cherokee, Sequoyah signed an Act of Union with John Ross that reunited the two groups of the Cherokee Nation.

Eastern Band[edit]

Photograph -- Cól-lee, a Band Chief, painted by George Catlin, 1834

The Oconaluftee Cherokee of the Great Smoky Mountains were the most conservative and isolated from European-American settlements. They rejected the reforms of the Cherokee Nation. When the Cherokee government ceded all territory east of the Little Tennessee River to North Carolina in 1819, they withdrew from the Nation.[49] William Holland Thomas, a white store owner and state legislator from Jackson County, North Carolina, helped over 600 Cherokee from Qualla Town obtain North Carolina citizenship, which exempted them from forced removal. Over 400 Cherokee either hid from Federal troops in the remote Snowbird Mountains, under the leadership of Tsali (ᏣᎵ),[50] or belonged to the former Valley Towns area around the Cheoah River who negotiated with the state government to stay in North Carolina. An additional 400 Cherokee stayed on reserves in Southeast Tennessee, North Georgia, and Northeast Alabama, as citizens of their respective states. They were mostly mixed-race and Cherokee women married to white men. Together, these groups were the ancestors of the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and some of the state-recognized tribes in surrounding states.

Civil War

The American Civil War was devastating for both East and Western Cherokee. The Eastern Band, aided by William Thomas, became the Thomas Legion of Cherokee Indians and Highlanders, fighting for the Confederacy in the American Civil War.[51] Cherokee in Indian Territory divided into Union and Confederate factions, with most supporting the Confederacy.

Stand Watie, the leader of the Ridge Party, raised a regiment for Confederate service in 1861. John Ross, who had reluctantly agreed to ally with the Confederacy, was captured by Federal troops in 1862. He lived in self-imposed exile in Philadelphia, supporting the Union. In Indian Territory, the national council of those who supported the Union voted to abolish slavery in the Cherokee Nation in 1863, but they were not the majority slaveholders and the vote had little effect on those supporting the Confederacy.

Reconstruction and late 19th century

After the Civil War, the US government required the Cherokee Nation to sign a new treaty, because of its alliance with the Confederacy. The US required the 1866 Treaty to provide for the emancipation of all Cherokee slaves, and full citizenship to all Cherokee freedmen and all African Americans who chose to continue to reside within tribal lands, so that they "shall have all the rights of native Cherokees."[52] Both before and after the Civil War, some Cherokee intermarried or had relationships with African Americans, just as they had with whites. Many Cherokee Freedmen have been active politically within the tribe.

The US government also acquired easement rights to the western part of the territory, which became the Oklahoma Territory, for the construction of railroads. Development and settlers followed the railroads. By the late 19th century, the government believed that Native Americans would be better off if each family owned its own land. The Dawes Act of 1887 provided for the breakup of commonly held tribal land into individual household allotments. Native Americans were registered on the Dawes Rolls and allotted land from the common reserve. The US government counted the remainder of tribal land as "surplus" and sold it to non-Cherokee individuals.

The Curtis Act of 1898 dismantled tribal governments, courts, schools, and other civic institutions. For Indian Territory, this meant abolition of the Cherokee courts and governmental systems. This was seen as necessary before the Oklahoma and Indian territories could be admitted as a combined state. In 1905, the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory proposed the creation of the State of Sequoyah as one to be exclusively Native American, but failed to gain support in Washington, D.C.. In 1907, the Oklahoma and Indian Territories entered the union as the state of Oklahoma.

By the late 19th century, the Eastern Band of Cherokee were laboring under the constraints of a segregated society. In the aftermath of Reconstruction, conservative white Democrats regained power in North Carolina and other southern states. They proceeded to effectively disfranchise all blacks and many poor whites by new constitutions and laws related to voter registration and elections. They passed Jim Crow laws that divided society into "white" and "colored", mostly to control freedmen. Cherokee and other Native Americans were classified on the colored side and suffered the same racial segregation and disfranchisement as former slaves. They also often lost their historical documentation for identification as Indians, when the Southern states classified them as colored. Blacks and Native Americans would not have their constitutional rights as US citizens enforced until after the Civil Rights Movement secured passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s, and the federal government began to monitor voter registration and elections, as well as other programs.

Marriage[edit]

Before the 19th century, polygamy was common among the Cherokee, especially by elite men.[59] The matrilineal culture meant that women controlled property, such as their dwellings, and their children were considered born into their mother's clan, where they gained hereditary status. Advancement to leadership positions were generally subject to approval by the women elders. In addition, the society was matrifocal; customarily, a married couple lived with or near the woman's family, so she could be aided by her female relatives. Her oldest brother was a more important mentor to her boys than was their father, who belonged to another clan. Traditionally, couples, particularly women, can divorce freely.[60]

It was unusual for a Cherokee man to marry a European-American woman. The children of such a union were disadvantaged, as they would not belong to the nation. They would be born outside the clans and traditionally were not considered Cherokee citizens. This is because of the matrilineal aspect of Cherokee culture.[59] As the Cherokee began to adopt some elements of European-American culture in the early 19th century, they sent elite young men, such as John Ridge and Elias Boudinot to American schools for education. After Ridge had married a European-American woman from Connecticut and Boudinot was engaged to another, the Cherokee Council in 1825 passed a law making children of such unions full citizens of the tribe, as if their mothers were Cherokee. This was a way to protect the families of men expected to be leaders of the tribe.[61]

In the late nineteenth century, the US government put new restrictions on marriage between a Cherokee and non-Cherokee, although it was still relatively common. A European-American man could legally marry a Cherokee woman by petitioning the federal court, after gaining approval of ten of her blood relatives. Once married, the man had status as an "Intermarried White," a member of the Cherokee tribe with restricted rights; for instance, he could not hold any tribal office. He remained a citizen of and under the laws of the United States. Common law marriages were more popular. Such "Intermarried Whites" were listed in a separate category on the registers of the Dawes Rolls, prepared for allotment of plots of land to individual households of members of the tribe, in the early twentieth-century federal policy for assimilation of the Native Americans.

Language and writing system

The Cherokee speak a Southern Iroquoian language, which is polysynthetic and is written in a syllabary invented by Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏉᏯ).[62] For years, many people wrote transliterated Cherokee or used poorly intercompatible fonts to type out the syllabary. However, since the fairly recent addition of the Cherokee syllables to Unicode, the Cherokee language is experiencing a renaissance in its use on the Internet.


Photograph -- Sequoyah's syllabary in the order that he originally arranged the characters.

Because of the polysynthetic nature of the Cherokee language, new and descriptive words in Cherokee are easily constructed to reflect or express modern concepts. Examples include ditiyohihi (ᏗᏘᏲᎯᎯ), which means "he argues repeatedly and on purpose with a purpose," meaning "attorney." Another example is didaniyisgi (ᏗᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ) which means "the final catcher" or "he catches them finally and conclusively," meaning "policeman."

Many words, however, have been borrowed from the English language, such as gasoline, which in Cherokee is ga-so-li-ne (ᎦᏐᎵᏁ). Many other words were borrowed from the languages of tribes who settled in Oklahoma in the early 20th century. One example relates to a town in Oklahoma named "Nowata". The word nowata is a Delaware Indian word for "welcome" (more precisely the Delaware word is nu-wi-ta which can mean "welcome" or "friend" in the Delaware Language). The white settlers of the area used the name "nowata" for the township, and local Cherokees, being unaware the word had its origins in the Delaware Language, called the town Amadikanigvnagvna (ᎠᎹᏗᎧᏂᎬᎾᎬᎾ) which means "the water is all gone from here", i.e. "no water".

Other examples of borrowed words are kawi (ᎧᏫ) for coffee and watsi (ᏩᏥ) for watch (which led to utana watsi (ᎤᏔᎾ ᏩᏥ) or "big watch" for clock).

The following table is an example of Cherokee text and its translation:
ᏣᎳᎩ: ᏂᎦᏓ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᏂᎨᎫᏓᎸᎾ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏂᏠᏱ ᎤᎾᏕᎿ ᏚᏳᎧᏛ ᎨᏒᎢ. ᎨᏥᏁᎳ ᎤᎾᏓᏅᏖᏗ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏃᏟᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏌᏊ ᎨᏒ ᏧᏂᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᏗ ᎠᎾᏟᏅᏢ ᎠᏓᏅᏙ ᎬᏗ.[63]
Tsalagi: Nigada aniyvwi nigeguda'lvna ale unihloyi unadehna duyukdv gesv'i. Gejinela unadanvtehdi ale unohlisdi ale sagwu gesv junilvwisdanedi anahldinvdlv adanvdo gvhdi.[63]

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)[63]


Treaties and government

 See this website for a chart presenting a summary of important structural and governmental changes from 1794 to 1999.

After being ravaged by smallpox, and pressed by increasingly violent land-hungry settlers, the Cherokee adopted a European-American Representative democracy form of government in an effort to retain their lands. They established a governmental system modeled on that of the United States, with an elected principal chief, senate, and house of representatives. On April 10, 1810 the seven Cherokee clans met and began the abolition of blood vengeance by giving the sacred duty to the new Cherokee National government. Clans formally relinquished judicial responsibilities by the 1820s when the Cherokee Supreme Court was established. In 1825, the National Council extended citizenship to the children of Cherokee men married to white women. These ideas were largely incorporated into the 1827 Cherokee constitution.[65] The constitution stated that "No person who is of negro or mulatto [sic] parentage, either by the father or mother side, shall be eligible to hold any office of profit, honor or trust under this Government," with an exception for, "negroes and descendants of white and Indian men by negro women who may have been set free."[66] This definition to limit rights of multiracial descendants may have been more widely held among the elite than the general population.[67]


Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, led by Chief Michell Hicks, hosts over a million visitors a year to cultural attractions of the 100-square-mile (260 km2) sovereign nation. The reservation, the "Qualla Boundary", has a population of over 8,000 Cherokee, primarily direct descendants of Indians who managed to avoid "The Trail of Tears".

Attractions include the Oconaluftee Indian Village, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual. Founded in 1946, the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual is country's oldest and foremost Native American crafts cooperative.[70] The outdoor drama Unto These Hills, which debuted in 1950, recently broke record attendance sales. Together with Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Hotel, Cherokee Indian Hospital and Cherokee Boys Club, the tribe generated $78 million dollars in the local economy in 2005.


United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians formed their government under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and gained federal recognition in 1946. Enrollment into the tribe is limited to people with a quarter or more of Cherokee blood. Many members of the UKB are descended from Old Settlers – Cherokees who moved to Arkansas and Indian Territory before the Trail of Tears.[71] Of the 12,000 people enrolled in the tribe, 11,000 live in Oklahoma. Their chief is George G. Wickliffe. The UKB operate a tribal casino, bingo hall, smokeshop, fuel outlets, truck stop, and gallery that showcases art and crafts made by tribal members. The tribe issues their own tribal vehicle tags.[72]


Relations among the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes[edit]

The Cherokee Nation participates in numerous joint programs with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It also participates in cultural exchange programs and joint Tribal Council meetings involving councilors from both Cherokee Tribes. These are held to address issues affecting all of the Cherokee People.

The administrations of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation have a somewhat adversarial relationship. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians interacts with the Cherokee Nation in a unified spirit of Gadugi.[citation needed]

The United Keetoowah Band tribal council unanimously passed a resolution to approach the Cherokee Nation for a joint council meeting between the two Nations, as a means of "offering the olive branch", in the words of the UKB Council. While a date was set for the meeting between members of the Cherokee Nation Council and UKB representative, Chief Smith vetoed the meeting.[citation needed]


Contemporary settlement

Cherokees are most concentrated in Oklahoma and North Carolina, but some reside in the US West Coast, due to economic migrations caused by the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, job availability during the Second World War, and the Federal Indian Relocation program during the 1950s–1960s. Cherokees constitute over 2% of population of three largely rural communities in California–Covelo, Hayfork and San Miguel, one town in Oregon and one town in Arizona.[citation needed] Destinations for Cherokee diaspora included multi-ethnic/racial urban centers of California (i.e. the Greater Los Angeles and SF Bay areas), and they usually live in farming communities, by military bases and other Indian reservations.[74]

See also the Albuquerque Cherokee Nation Township (Cherokee Nation) about the Cherokee community of Albuquerque, NM.

Moon Shadow and other works by Cat Stevens are among my favorite memories of my life on the UNC campus at Chapel Hill. His musical touch is ever so delicate and gentle, but his subjects show bold, deep thinking. He, along with Judy Collins, Kris Kristopherson, Joe Cocker, and well over a dozen musicians soothed me, challenged me and enriched my personal experience of life. During that period I got divorced from my early first love, met and bonded with my true love, finished college and went to work. I was 25 years old. This song Moon Shadow expresses it all for me.



Moon Shadow Lyrics
from Teaser And The Firecat

Cat Stevens - lyrics Teaser And The Firecat Other Album Songs
1 Moon Shadow
2 Morning Has Broken
3 Changes Iv
4 How Can I Tell You
5 If I Laugh
6 Rubylove
7 The Wind
"Moon Shadow" is track #1 on the album Teaser And The Firecat. It was written by Yusuf Islam, Cat Stevens.


Read more: Cat Stevens - Moon Shadow Lyrics | MetroLyrics

MOON SHADOW
CAT STEVENS (

Yes, I'm bein' followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Leapin' and hoppin' on a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow

And if I ever lose my hands
Lose my power, lose my land
Oh, if I ever lose my hands
Ooh, I won't have to work no more

And if I ever lose my eyes
If my colors all run dry
Yes, if I ever lose my eyes
Ooh, I won't have to cry no more

Yes, I'm bein' followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Leapin' and hoppin' on a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow

And if I ever lose my legs
I won't moan and I won't beg
Oh, if I ever lose my legs
Ooh, I won't have to walk no more

And if I ever lose my mouth
All my teeth north and south
Yes, if I ever lose my mouth
Ooh, I won't have to talk

"Did it take long to find me?"
I asked the faithful light
"Oh, did it take long to find me
And are you gonna stay the night?"

I'm bein' followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Leapin' und hoppin' on a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow

Moon shadow, moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow

Songwriters
YUSUF ISLAM, CAT STEVENS

Published by
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC



Read more: Cat Stevens - Moon Shadow Lyrics | MetroLyrics





Cat Stevens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou, 21 July 1948), commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, humanitarian, and education philanthropist.[4] His 1967 debut album reached the top 10 in the UK, and the album's title song "Matthew and Son" charted at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. His albums Tea for the Tillerman (1970) and Teaser and the Firecat (1971) were both certified triple platinum in the US by the RIAA.[5]

His 1972 album Catch Bull at Four spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, and fifteen weeks at number one in the Australian ARIA Charts.[6][7] He earned two ASCAP songwriting awards in 2005 and 2006 for "The First Cut Is the Deepest", and the song has been a hit for four different artists.[8] His other hit songs include "Father and Son", "Wild World", "Peace Train", "Moonshadow", and "Morning Has Broken". In 2007 he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection.[9]

In December 1977, Stevens converted to Islam[10] and adopted the name Yusuf Islam the following year. In 1979, he auctioned all his guitars for charity[11] and left his music career to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. He was embroiled in a long-running controversy regarding comments he made in 1989 about the death fatwa on author Salman Rushdie. He has received two honorary doctorates and awards for promoting peace from two organisations founded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 2006, he returned to pop music – releasing his first album of new pop songs in 28 years, titled An Other Cup.[12][13] With that release and for subsequent ones, he dropped the surname "Islam" from the album cover art – using the stage name "Yusuf" as a mononym.[13] In 2009, he released the album Roadsinger, and in 2014, he released the album Tell 'Em I'm Gone, and began his first US tour since 1978.[14] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.[15]



Early life (1948–65)[edit]

Steven Georgiou, born on 21 July 1948 in the Marylebone area of London,[16] was the third child of a Greek Cypriot father, Stavros Georgiou (b. 1900),[17] and a Swedish mother, Ingrid Wickman (b. 1915).[18] He had an older sister, Anita, and a brother, David.[16] The family lived above the Moulin Rouge, a restaurant that his parents operated on the north end of Shaftesbury Avenue which was a short walk from Piccadilly Circus in the Soho theatre district of London. All family members worked in the restaurant.[16] His parents divorced when he was about eight years old, but they continued to maintain the family restaurant and live above it.

Although his father was Greek Orthodox and his mother a Swedish Baptist, Georgiou was sent to St. Joseph Roman Catholic Primary School, Macklin Street, which was closer to his father's business on Drury Lane.[19] Georgiou developed an interest in piano at a fairly young age, eventually using the family baby grand piano to work out the chords, since no one else there played well enough to teach him.[20] Inspired by the popularity of The Beatles, at 15 he extended his interest to the guitar,[10] persuaded his father to pay £8 for his first instrument, and began playing it and writing songs.[20] He would escape at times from his family responsibilities to the rooftop above their home, and listen to the tunes of the musicals drifting from just around the corner[16] from Denmark Street, which was then the centre of the British music industry.[10] Stevens emphasised that the advent of West Side Story in particular affected him, giving him a "different view of life".[21] With interests in both art and music, he and his mother moved to Gävle, Sweden, where he attended primary school (Solängsskolan) and started developing his drawing skills after being influenced by his uncle Hugo Wickman, a painter. They subsequently returned to England.[22]

He attended other local West End schools, where he says he was constantly in trouble, and did poorly in everything but art. He was called "the artist boy" and mentions that "I was beat up, but I was noticed".[23] He went on to take a one-year course of study at Hammersmith School of Art,[24] as he considered a career as a cartoonist. Though he enjoyed art (his later record albums would feature his original artwork on his album covers),[23] he wanted to establish a musical career and began to perform originally under the stage name "Steve Adams" in 1965 while at Hammersmith.[24][25] At that point, his goal was to become a songwriter. As well as the Beatles, other musicians who influenced him were the Kinks,[26] Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, blues artists Lead Belly and Muddy Waters,[27] Biff Rose (particularly Rose's first album), Leo Kottke,[23] and Paul Simon.[28] He also wanted to emulate composers who wrote musicals, like Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein. In 1965 he signed a publishing deal with Ardmore & Beechwood and recorded several demos, including "The First Cut Is the Deepest".[29]

Musical career (1966–70)[edit]

Early musical career[edit]

Georgiou began to perform his songs in London coffee houses and pubs. At first he tried forming a band, but soon realised he preferred performing solo.[20] Thinking that his given name might not be memorable to prospective fans, he chose a stage name Cat Stevens, in part because a girlfriend said he had eyes like a cat, but mainly because he said, "I couldn't imagine anyone going to the record store and asking for 'that Steven Demetre Georgiou album'. And in England, and I was sure in America, they loved animals."[30] In 1966, at age 18, he impressed manager/producer Mike Hurst, formerly of British vocal group the Springfields, with his songs and Hurst arranged for him to record a demo and then helped him get a record deal. The first singles were hits. "I Love My Dog", charting on the UK Singles Chart at number 28, and "Matthew and Son", the title song from his debut album, went to number 2 in the UK.[31] "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" was his second UK top 10, reaching number 6, and the album Matthew and Son reached number 7 on the UK Albums Chart.[32] The original version of the Tremeloes' hit "Here Comes My Baby" was written and recorded by Stevens.






"The First Cut is the Deepest" (1967)








Sample of "The First Cut is the Deepest", performed by Cat Stevens. Appears on New Masters.


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Over the next two years, Stevens recorded and toured with an eclectic group of artists ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Engelbert Humperdinck. Stevens was considered a fresh-faced teen star, placing several single releases in the British pop music charts.[33] Some of that success was attributed to the pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London, which gained him fans by playing his records. In August 1967, he went on the air with other recording artists who had benefited from the station to mourn its closure.[34]

His December 1967 album New Masters failed to chart in the United Kingdom. The album is now most notable for his song "The First Cut Is the Deepest", a song he sold for £30 to P. P. Arnold that was to become a massive hit for her,[35] and an international hit for Keith Hampshire, Rod Stewart, James Morrison, and Sheryl Crow. Forty years after he recorded the first demo of the song, it earned him two back-to-back ASCAP "Songwriter of the Year" awards, in 2005 and 2006.[36][37]

Tuberculosis[edit]

Stevens contracted tuberculosis in 1969[23][38] and was close to death at the time of his admittance to the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, West Sussex.[38] He spent months recuperating in the hospital and a year of convalescence. During this time Stevens began to question aspects of his life and spirituality. He later said, "to go from the show business environment and find you are in hospital, getting injections day in and day out, and people around you are dying, it certainly changes your perspective. I got down to thinking about myself. It seemed almost as if I had my eyes shut."[31]

He took up meditation, yoga, and metaphysics;[39] read about other religions; and became a vegetarian.[30] As a result of his serious illness and long convalescence,[39] and as a part of his spiritual awakening and questioning, he wrote as many as forty songs, many of which would appear on his albums in years to come.[11]

Changes in musical sound after illness[edit]

The lack of success of Stevens' second album mirrored a difference of personal tastes in musical direction, and a growing resentment at producer Mike Hurst's attempts to re-create another album like that of his debut, with heavy-handed orchestration, and over-production,[28] rather than the folk rock sound Stevens was attempting to produce. He admits having purposefully sabotaged his own contract with Hurst, making outlandishly expensive orchestral demands and threatening legal action, which resulted in his goal: release from his contract with Deram Records, a sub-label of Decca Records.[31] Upon regaining his health at home after his release from the hospital, Stevens recorded some of his newly written songs on his tape recorder, and played his changing sound for a few new record executives. After hiring agent Barry Krost, who had arranged for an audition with Chris Blackwell of Island Records, Blackwell offered him a "chance to record [his songs] whenever and with whomever he liked, and more importantly to Cat, however he liked".[39] With Krost's recommendation, Stevens signed with Paul Samwell-Smith, previously the bassist of the Yardbirds, to be his new producer.[40]

Musical career (1970–78)[edit]

Height of popularity[edit]





Stevens performing in Boeblingen, Germany in 1976
Around this time, Stevens had a catalogue of new songs that reflected his new perspective on what he wanted to bring to the world with his music. His previous work had sold at home in the UK, but Stevens was still relatively unknown by the public across the Atlantic. To rectify this, after signing with Island Records in 1970, an American distribution deal was arranged with A&M Records' Jerry Moss in North America. Stevens began work on Mona Bone Jakon, a folk rock based album.

Producer Paul Samwell-Smith paired Stevens with guitarist Alun Davies, who was at that time working as a session musician. Davies was the more experienced veteran of two albums which already had begun to explore the emerging genres of skiffle and folk rock music. Davies was also thought a perfect fit with Stevens in particular for his "fingerwork" on the guitar, harmonising and his backing vocals. They originally met just to record Mona Bone Jakon,[41] but developed a fast friendship. Davies, like Stevens, was a perfectionist,[42] appearing at all sound checks to be sure that all the equipment and sound were prepared for each concert.[43] He collaborated with Stevens on all but two of the succeeding albums Stevens released, and performed and recorded with him until Stevens' retirement. Their friendship continued, however, and when Stevens re-emerged as Yusuf Islam after 27 years, Davies appeared again performing at his side, and has remained there.






"Father and Son" (1970)








Sample of "Father and Son", performed by Cat Stevens. Appears on Tea for the Tillerman.


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The first single released from Mona Bone Jakon was "Lady D'Arbanville", which Stevens wrote about his young American girlfriend Patti D'Arbanville. The record, with a madrigal sound unlike most music played on pop radio, with sounds of djembes and bass in addition to Stevens' and Davies' guitars, reached number 8 in the UK.[32] It was the first of his hits to get real airplay in the US.[31] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold record in 1971.[44] Other songs written for D'Arbanville included "Maybe You're Right", and "Just Another Night".[45] In addition, the song "Pop Star", about his experience as a teen star, and "Katmandu", featuring Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel playing flute, were featured. Mona Bone Jakon was an early example of the solo singer-songwriter album format that was becoming popular for other artists as well. Rolling Stone magazine compared its popularity with that of Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, saying it was played "across the board, across radio formats".[46]

Mona Bone Jakon was the precursor for Stevens' international breakthrough album, Tea for the Tillerman, which became a Top 10 Billboard hit. Within six months of its release, it had sold over 500,000 copies, attaining gold record status in the United Kingdom and the United States. The combination of Stevens' new folk rock style and accessible lyrics which spoke of everyday situations and problems, mixed with the beginning of spiritual questions about life, would remain in his music from then on. The album features the Top 20 single "Wild World"; a parting song after D'Arbanville moved on. "Wild World" has been credited as the song that gave Tea for the Tillerman 'enough kick' to get it played on FM radio; and the head of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, was quoted as calling it "the best album we've ever released".[28] Other album tracks include "Hard-Headed Woman", and "Father and Son", a song sung both in baritone and tenor, about the struggle between fathers and their sons who are faced with their own personal choices in life. In 2001, this album was certified by the RIAA as a Multi-Platinum record, having sold 3 million copies in the United States at that time.[47] It is ranked at No. 206 in the 2003 list of "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[48]

After the end of his relationship with D'Arbanville, Stevens noted the effect it had on writing his music, saying, "Everything I wrote while I was away was in a transitional period and reflects that. Like Patti. A year ago we split; I had been with her for two years. What I write about Patti and my family ... when I sing the songs now, I learn strange things. I learn the meanings of my songs late ..."[48]





Stevens performing in Waikiki Shell, Oahu, Hawaii, 1974. The stage decor reflects his song, "Boy with a Moon & Star on His Head" from Catch Bull at Four
Having established a signature sound, Stevens enjoyed a string of successes over the following years. 1971's Teaser and the Firecat album reached number two and achieved gold record status within three weeks of its release in the United States. It yielded several hits, including "Peace Train", "Morning Has Broken", and "Moonshadow". This album was also certified by the RIAA as a Multi-Platinum record in 2001, with over three million sold in the United States through that time. When interviewed on a Boston radio station, Stevens said about Teaser and the Firecat:


I get the tune and then I just keep on singing the tune until the words come out from the tune. It's kind of a hypnotic state that you reach after a while when you keep on playing it where words just evolve from it. So you take those words and just let them go whichever way they want ...'Moonshadow'? Funny, that was in Spain, I went there alone, completely alone, to get away from a few things. And I was dancin' on the rocks there ... right on the rocks where the waves were, like, blowin' and splashin'. Really, it was so fantastic. And the moon was bright, ya know, and I started dancin' and singin' and I sang that song and it stayed. It's just the kind of moment that you want to find when you're writin' songs.[49]

For seven months from 1971 to 1972 Stevens was romantically linked to popular singer Carly Simon while both were produced by Samwell-Smith. During that time both wrote songs for and about one another. Simon wrote and recorded at least two Top 50 songs, "Legend in Your Own Time" and "Anticipation" about Stevens. He reciprocated in his song to her, after their romance, titled, "Sweet Scarlet".[50][51][52]

His next album, Catch Bull at Four, released in 1972, was his most rapidly successful album in the United States, reaching gold record status in 15 days, and holding the number-one position on the Billboard charts for three weeks. This album continued the introspective and spiritual lyrics that he was known for, combined with a rougher-edged voice and a less acoustic sound than his previous records, using synthesisers and other instruments. Although the sales of the album indicated Stevens' popularity, the album did not produce any real hits, with the exception of the single "Sitting", which charted at number 16. Catch Bull at Four was Platinum certified in 2001.

Movie and television soundtracks[edit]

In July 1970, Stevens recorded one of his songs, "But I Might Die Tonight", for the Jerzy Skolimowski film, Deep End.[53] In 1971, Stevens provided nine songs to the soundtrack of the black comedy Harold and Maude which became a popular cult film celebrating the free spirit, and brought Stevens' music to a wider audience, continuing to do so long after he stopped recording in the late 1970s. Among the songs were "Where Do the Children Play?", "Trouble", and "I Think I See the Light". Two of the songs, "Don't Be Shy" and "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out", were not released on any album until their inclusion in 1984 on a second "greatest hits" collection, Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2.

After his religious conversion in the late 1970s, Stevens stopped granting permission for his songs to be used in films. However, almost twenty years later, in 1997, the movie Rushmore received his permission to use his songs "Here Comes My Baby" and "The Wind", showing a new willingness on his part to release his music from his Western "pop star" days.[21] This was followed in 2000 by the inclusion of "Peace Train" in the movie Remember the Titans,[54] in 2000 by the use in Almost Famous of the song "The Wind",[55] and in 2006 the inclusion of "Peace Train" on the soundtrack to We Are Marshall.[56] Since then, permission has been given for Cat Stevens songs to be used in the soundtracks for several movies and tv shows, including the song "Tea for The Tillerman" used as the theme tune for the Ricky Gervais BBC-HBO sitcom Extras. A Christmas-season television commercial for gift-giving by the diamond industry aired in 2006 with Cat Power's cover of "How Can I Tell You".

In 2011, "Don't Be Shy" was used in the pilot episode of the ABC television series Once Upon A Time. In 2014, "Cat and the Dog Trap" (from the Tell 'Em I'm Gone album released as Yusuf) was used on an episode of the CBS television series Elementary.

Later recordings[edit]





Cat Stevens poster advertising a concert from WMMS in 1976.





"Later" (1973)








Sample of "Later", performed by Cat Stevens. Appears on Foreigner.


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Subsequent releases in the 1970s also did well on the charts and in ongoing sales, although they did not touch the success he had from 1970 to 1973. In 1973, Stevens moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a tax exile from the United Kingdom, however, he later donated the money to UNESCO.[57] During that time he created the album Foreigner, which was a departure from the music that had brought him to the height of his fame. It differed in several respects: entirely written by Stevens, he dropped his band and produced the record without the assistance of Samwell-Smith, who had played a large role in catapulting him to fame, and instead of guitar, he played keyboard instruments throughout the album. It was intended to show a funk/soul element rising in popularity that Stevens had come to appreciate. One side of Foreigner was continuous, much different from the radio-friendly pop tunes fans had come to expect. In November 1973 he performed side two of the album at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood, with a pre-arranged uninterrupted quadraphonic simulcast on the ABC network. The show was titled the "Moon and Star" concert. This performance did include his band, but they were all but overshadowed by an orchestra. The album produced a couple of singles including "The Hurt", but did not reach the heights he had once enjoyed. The follow-up to Foreigner was Buddha and the Chocolate Box, largely a return to the instrumentation and styles employed in Teaser and the Firecat and Tea for the Tillerman. Featuring the return of Alun Davies and best known for "Oh Very Young", Buddha and the Chocolate Box reached platinum status in 2001. Stevens' next album was the concept album Numbers, a less successful departure for him.






"(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard" (1977)








Sample of "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard" from Izitso. It was an early example of synthpop and his last top 40 hit single of the 1970s.



"Was Dog a Doughnut?" (1977)








Sample of "Was Dog a Doughnut?" from Izitso. It was one of the first examples of electro, or techno-pop.


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In April 1977, his Izitso album updated his pop rock and folk rock style with the extensive use of synthesisers,[58] giving it a more synthpop style.[2] "Was Dog a Doughnut" in particular was an early techno-pop fusion track and a precursor to the 1980s electro music genre,[3] making early use of a music sequencer.[59] Izitso included his last chart hit, "(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard", an early synthpop song[2] that used a polyphonic synthesiser; it was a duet with fellow UK singer Elkie Brooks.[59] Linda Lewis appears in the song's video, with Cat Stevens singing to her, as they portray former schoolmates, singing to each other on a schoolyard merry-go-round. This is one of the few music videos that Stevens made, other than simple videos of concert performances.[citation needed]

His final original album under the name Cat Stevens was Back to Earth, released in late 1978, which was also the first album produced by Samwell-Smith since his peak in single album sales in the early 1970s. Several compilation albums were released before and after he stopped recording. After Stevens left Decca Records they bundled his first two albums together as a set, hoping to ride the commercial tide of his early success; later his newer labels did the same, and he himself released compilations. The most successful of the compilation albums was the 1975 Greatest Hits which has sold over 4 million copies in the United States. In May 2003 he received his first Platinum Europe Award[60] from the IFPI for Remember Cat Stevens, The Ultimate Collection, indicating over one million European sales.[citation needed]


Religious conversion[edit]

While on holiday in Marrakesh, Morocco, Stevens was intrigued by the sound of the Aḏhān, the Islamic ritual call to prayer, which was explained to him as "music for God". Stevens said, "I thought, music for God? I'd never heard that before – I'd heard of music for money, music for fame, music for personal power, but music for God!"[61]

In 1976 Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu, California, United States, and said he shouted: "Oh God! If you save me I will work for you." He related that right afterward a wave appeared and carried him back to shore. This brush with death intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into "Buddhism, Zen, I Ching, numerology, tarot cards, and astrology".[30] Stevens' brother David Gordon brought him a copy of the Qur'an as a birthday gift from a trip to Jerusalem.[21] Stevens took to it right away, and began his transition to Islam.

During the time he was studying the Qur'an, Stevens began to identify more and more with the name of Joseph, a man bought and sold in the market place, which is how he said he had increasingly felt within the music business.[40] Regarding his conversion, in his 2006 interview with Alan Yentob,[62] he stated, "to some people, it may have seemed like an enormous jump, but for me, it was a gradual move to this." And, in a Rolling Stone magazine interview, he reaffirmed this, saying, "I had found the spiritual home I'd been seeking for most of my life. And if you listen to my music and lyrics, like "Peace Train" and "On The Road To Find Out", it clearly shows my yearning for direction and the spiritual path I was travelling."[63]

Stevens formally converted to the Islamic religion on 23 December 1977, taking the name Yusuf Islam in 1978. Yusuf is the Arabic rendition of the name Joseph. He stated that he "always loved the name Joseph" and was particularly drawn to the story of Joseph in the Qur'an.[40] Although he discontinued his pop career, he was persuaded to perform one last time before what would become his twenty-five year musical hiatus. Appearing with his hair freshly shorn and an untrimmed beard, he headlined a charity concert on 22 November 1979 in Wembley Stadium to benefit UNICEF's International Year of the Child.[64] The concert closed with a performance by Stevens, David Essex, Alun Davies, and Stevens' brother, David, who wrote the song that was the finale, "Child for a Day".[64]

After a brief engagement to Louise Wightman,[65] Yusuf married Fauzia Mubarak Ali on 7 September 1979,[64] at Regent's Park Mosque in London. They have five children and seven grandchildren and currently live in London, spending part of each year in Dubai.[12]

Life as Yusuf Islam (1978–present)[edit]

Muslim faith and musical career[edit]





Yusuf appearing at the Islam Expo in London (2008)
Following his conversion, Yusuf abandoned his music career for nearly three decades. In 2007, he said that when he became a Muslim in 1977, the Imam at his mosque told him that it was fine to continue as a musician, as long as the songs were morally acceptable, but others were saying "it was all prohibited", and he decided to avoid the question by ceasing to perform.[66] He has said there was "a combination of reasons, really", and that the continuing demands of the music business had been "becoming a chore, and not an inspiration anymore".[66] In a 2004 interview on Larry King Live, he said "A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing. You come to a point where you have sung, more or less ... your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living. You know, up until that point, I hadn't had a life. I'd been searching, been on the road."[19]

Estimating in January 2007 that he was continuing to earn approximately US$1.5 million a year from his Cat Stevens music,[67] he said he would use his accumulated wealth and ongoing earnings from his music career on philanthropic and educational causes in the Muslim community of London and elsewhere. In 1983, he founded the Islamia Primary School in Brondesbury Park, later moved to Salusbury Road,[68] in the north London area of Queen's Park[4] and, soon after, founded several Muslim secondary schools; in 1992, Yusuf set up The Association of Muslim Schools (AMS-UK), a charity that brought together all the Muslim schools in the UK. He is also the founder and chairman of the Small Kindness charity, which initially assisted famine victims in Africa and now supports thousands of orphans and families in the Balkans, Indonesia, and Iraq.[69] He served as chairman of the charity Muslim Aid from 1985 to 1993.[70]

Salman Rushdie controversy[edit]

Main article: Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie

Yusuf attracted controversy in 1989, during an address to students at London's Kingston University, where he was asked about the fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. The media interpreted his response as support for the fatwa. He released a statement the following day denying that he supported vigilantism, and claiming that he had merely recounted the legal Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In a BBC interview, he displayed a newspaper clipping from that period, with quotes from his statement. Subsequent comments made by him in 1989 on a British television programme were also seen as being in support of the fatwa. In a statement in the FAQ section of one of his Web sites, Yusuf asserted that while he regretted the comments, he was joking and that the show was improperly edited.[71] In the years since these comments, he has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa.[11][63]

11 September 2001 attacks[edit]

Immediately following the September 11 attacks on the United States, he said:
I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment.[72][73]
He appeared on videotape on a VH1 pre-show for the October 2001 Concert for New York City, condemning the attacks and singing his song "Peace Train" for the first time in public in more than 20 years, as an a cappella version. He also donated a portion of his box-set royalties to the fund for victims' families, and the rest to orphans in underdeveloped countries.[74] During the same year, he dedicated time and effort in joining the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism, an organisation that worked towards battling misconceptions and acts against others because of their religious beliefs or their racial identity (or both), after many Muslims reported a backlash against them due in part to the grief caused by the events in the United States on 9/11.[57]

Denial of entry into the United States[edit]

On 21 September 2004, Yusuf was on a United Airlines flight from London to Washington, travelling to a meeting with U.S. entertainer Dolly Parton, who had recorded "Peace Train" several years earlier and was planning to include another Cat Stevens song on an upcoming album.[62] While the plane was in flight, his name was flagged as being on the No Fly List. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers alerted the United States Transportation Security Administration, which then diverted his flight to Bangor, Maine, where he was detained by officers from the Department of Homeland Security.[75]

The following day, Yusuf was denied entry and flown back to the United Kingdom. A spokesman for Homeland Security claimed there were "concerns of ties he may have to potential terrorist-related activities".[76] The Israeli government had deported Yusuf in 2000 over allegations that he provided funding to the Palestinian organisation Hamas,[77] but he denied doing so knowingly.[78] Yusuf, who repeatedly has condemned terrorism and Islamic extremism, stated "I have never knowingly supported or given money to Hamas".[79] "At the time I was reported to have done it, I didn't know such a group existed. Some people give a political interpretation to charity. We were horrified at how people were suffering in the Holy Land."[78]

However, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) added him to a "watch list".[24] The removal provoked an international controversy and led the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to complain personally to the United States Secretary of State Colin Powell at the United Nations.[80] Powell responded by stating that the watchlist was under review, adding, "I think we have that obligation to review these matters to see if we are right".[81]

Yusuf believed his inclusion on a "watch list" may have simply been an error: a mistaken identification of him for a man with the same name, but different spelling. On 1 October 2004 he requested the removal of his name, "I remain bewildered by the decision of the U.S. authorities to refuse me entry to the United States".[82] According to a statement by Yusuf, the man on the list was named "Youssef Islam", indicating that Yusuf was not the suspected terrorism supporter.[19] Romanisation of Arabic names can easily result in different spellings: the transliteration of the Islamic name for Joseph (Yusuf's chosen name) lists a dozen spellings.

Two years later, in December 2006, Yusuf was admitted without incident into the United States for several radio concert performances and interviews to promote his new record.[83] Yusuf said of the incident at the time, "No reason was ever given, but being asked to repeat the spelling of my name again and again, made me think it was a fairly simple mistake of identity. Rumours which circulated after made me imagine otherwise."[84]

Yusuf wrote a song about his 2004 exclusion from the U.S., titled "Boots and Sand", recorded in the summer of 2008 and featuring Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, and Terry Sylvester.[85]

Libel cases[edit]

Lawsuit over News UK newspaper reports that he had supported terrorism[edit]

In October 2004 the News UK newspapers The Sun and The Sunday Times voiced their support for Yusuf's exclusion from the United States and claimed that he had supported terrorism. Yusuf sued for libel and received an out-of-court financial settlement from the newspapers, which both published apology statements saying that he had never supported terrorism and mentioning that he had recently been given a Man of Peace award from the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. However The Sunday Times managing editor Richard Caseby said that while there was an "agreed settlement", they "always denied liability" and "disagreed with Cat Stevens' lawyers interpretation", but took a "pragmatic view" of the lawsuit.[86]

Yusuf responded that he was "delighted by the settlement [which] helps vindicate my character and good name. ... It seems to be the easiest thing in the world these days to make scurrilous accusations against Muslims, and in my case it directly impacts on my relief work and damages my reputation as an artist. The harm done is often difficult to repair", and added that he intended to donate the financial award given to him by the court to help orphans of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.[86] He wrote about the experience in a newspaper article titled "A Cat in a Wild World".[87]

Lawsuit about false allegation that he would not talk to unveiled women[edit]

On 18 July 2008, Yusuf received substantial undisclosed damages from the World Entertainment News Network following their publication of a story that claimed the singer refused to speak to unveiled women.[88] The allegations first surfaced in the German newspaper B.Z. after Yusuf's trip to Berlin in March 2007 to collect the Echo music award for "life achievements as musician and ambassador between cultures".[89] Once again he was awarded damages after the World Entertainment News Network allowed an article to be published on Contactmusic.com alleging that Yusuf would not speak to unveiled women with the exception of his wife. His solicitor said "he was made out to be 'so sexist and bigoted that he refused at an awards ceremony to speak to or even acknowledge any women who were not wearing a veil'".[88][90] The news agency apologised and issued a statement saying that Yusuf has never had any problem in working with women and has never required a third party as an intermediary to function at work.[89] The money from this lawsuit went to Yusuf's Small Kindness Charity.[88]

On his website, Yusuf discussed the false allegation, saying, "The accusation that I do not speak or interact with ladies who are not veiled is an absurdity.... It's true that I have asked my manager to respectfully request lady presenters refrain from embracing me when giving awards or during public appearances, but that has nothing to do with my feelings or respect for them. Islam simply requires me to honour the dignity of ladies or young girls who are not closely related to me, and avoid physical intimacy, however innocent it may be." He added, "My four daughters all follow the basic wearing of clothes which modestly cover their God-given beauty. They're extremely well educated; they do not cover their faces and interact perfectly well with friends and society."[91]

Return to music[edit]

1990s–2006: as Yusuf Islam[edit]





Yusuf at the 2009 MOJO Awards in London
Yusuf gradually resumed his musical career in the 1990s. His initial recordings had not included any musical instruments other than percussion, and featured lyrics about Islamic themes, some in spoken word or hamd form. He invested in building his own recording studio which he named Mountain of Light Studios in the late 1990s, and he was featured as a guest singer on "God Is the Light", a song on an album of nasheeds by the group Raihan. In addition, he invited and collaborated with other Muslim singers, including Canadian artist Dawud Wharnsby. After Yusuf's friend, Irfan Ljubijankić, the Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was killed by a Serbian rocket attack, Yusuf appeared at a 1997 benefit concert in Sarajevo and recorded a benefit album named after a song written by Ljubijankić, I Have No Cannons That Roar.[92]

Realising there were few educational resources designed to teach children about the Islamic religion, Yusuf wrote and produced a children's album, A Is for Allah, in 2000[93] with the assistance of South African singer-songwriter Zain Bhikha. The title song was one Yusuf had written years before to introduce his first child to both the religion and the Arabic alphabet. He also established his own record label, "Jamal Records", and Mountain of Light Productions, and he donates a percentage of his projects' proceeds to his Small Kindness charity, whose name is taken from the Qur'an.[94]

On the occasion of the 2000 re-release of his Cat Stevens albums, he explained that he had stopped performing in English due to his misunderstanding of the Islamic faith. "This issue of music in Islam is not as cut-and-dried as I was led to believe ... I relied on heresy [sic],[95] that was perhaps my mistake."[93]

Yusuf has reflected that his decision to leave the Western pop music business was perhaps too quick with too little communication for his fans. For most, it was a surprise, and even his guitarist, Alun Davies said in later interviews that he hadn't believed that Stevens would actually go through with it, after his many forays into other religions throughout their relationship.[40] Yusuf himself has said the "cut" between his former life and his life as a Muslim might have been too quick, too severe, and that more people might have been better informed about Islam, and given an opportunity to better understand it, and himself, if he had simply removed those items that were considered harām, in his performances, allowing him to express himself musically and educate listeners through his music without violating any religious constraints.[96]

In 2003, after repeated encouragement from within the Muslim world,[97] Yusuf once again recorded "Peace Train" for a compilation CD, which also included performances by David Bowie and Paul McCartney. He performed "Wild World" in Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert with his former session player Peter Gabriel, the first time he had publicly performed in English in 25 years. In December 2004, he and Ronan Keating released a new version of "Father and Son": the song entered the charts at number two, behind Band Aid 20's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" They also produced a video of the pair walking between photographs of fathers and sons, while singing the song. The proceeds of "Father and Son" were donated to the Band Aid charity. Keating's former group, Boyzone, had a hit with the song a decade earlier. As he had been persuaded before, Yusuf contributed to the song, because the proceeds were marked for charity.

On 21 April 2005 Yusuf gave a short talk before a scheduled musical performance in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on the anniversary of Muhammad's birthday. He said:


There is a great deal of ignorance in the world about Islam today, and we hope to communicate with the help of something more refined than lectures and talks. Our recordings are particularly appealing to the young, having used songs as well as Qur'an verses with pleasing sound effects ...[98]

Yusuf observed that there are no real guidelines about instruments and no references about the business of music in the Qur'an, and that Muslim travellers first brought the guitar to Moorish Spain. He noted that Muhammad was fond of celebrations, as in the case of the birth of a child, or a traveller arriving after a long journey. Thus, Yusuf concluded that healthy entertainment was acceptable within limitations, and that he now felt that it was no sin to perform with the guitar. Music, he now felt, is uplifting to the soul; something sorely needed in troubled times.[99] At that point, he was joined by several young male singers who sang backing vocals and played a drum, with Yusuf as lead singer and guitarist. They performed two songs, both half in Arabic, and half in English; "Tala'a Al-Badru Alayna", an old song in Arabic which Yusuf recorded with a folk sound to it, and another song, "The Wind East and West", which was newly written by Yusuf and featured a distinct R&B sound.

With this performance, Yusuf began slowly to integrate instruments into both older material from his Cat Stevens era (some with slight lyrical changes) and new songs, both those known to the Muslim communities around the world and some that have the same Western flair from before with a focus on new topics and another generation of listeners.[96]

In a 2005 press release, he explained his revived recording career:


After I embraced Islam, many people told me to carry on composing and recording, but at the time I was hesitant, for fear that it might be for the wrong reasons. I felt unsure what the right course of action was. I guess it is only now, after all these years, that I've come to fully understand and appreciate what everyone has been asking of me. It's as if I've come full circle; however, I have gathered a lot of knowledge on the subject in the meantime.[97]




"In Islam there is something called the principle of common good. What that means is that whenever one is confronted by something that is not mentioned in the scriptures, one must observe what benefit it can bring. Does it serve the common good, does it protect the spirit, and does it serve God? If the scholars see that it is something positive, they may well approve of what I'm doing."

—Yusuf Islam[100]

In early 2005, Yusuf released a new song, titled "Indian Ocean", about the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami disaster. The song featured Indian composer/producer A. R. Rahman, a-ha keyboard player Magne Furuholmen and Travis drummer Neil Primrose. Proceeds of the single went to help orphans in Banda Aceh, one of the areas worst affected by the tsunami, through Yusuf's Small Kindness charity. At first, the single was released only through several online music stores but later featured on the compilation album Cat Stevens: Gold. "I had to learn my faith and look after my family, and I had to make priorities. But now I've done it all and there's a little space for me to fill in the universe of music again."[101]

On 28 May 2005, Yusuf delivered a keynote speech and performed at the Adopt-A-Minefield Gala in Düsseldorf. The Adopt-A-Minefield charity, under the patronage of Paul McCartney, works internationally to raise awareness and funds to clear landmines and rehabilitate landmine survivors. Yusuf attended as part of an honorary committee which also included George Martin, Richard Branson, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Klaus Voormann, Christopher Lee and others.[102]

In mid-2005, Yusuf played guitar for the Dolly Parton album, Those Were the Days, on her version of his "Where Do the Children Play?" (Parton had also covered "Peace Train" a few years earlier.)

Yusuf has credited his then 21-year-old son Muhammad Islam, also a musician and artist, for his return to secular music, when the son brought a guitar back into the house, which Yusuf began playing.[11] Muhammad's professional name is Yoriyos[12][103] and his debut album was released in February 2007.[104] Yoriyos created the art on Yusuf's album An Other Cup, something that Cat Stevens did for his own albums in the 1970s.

In May 2006, in anticipation of his forthcoming new pop album, the BBC1 programme Imagine aired a 49-minute documentary with Alan Yentob called Yusuf: The Artist formerly Known as Cat Stevens. This documentary film features rare audio and video clips from the late 1960s and 1970s, as well as an extensive interview with Yusuf, his brother David Gordon, several record executives, Bob Geldof, Dolly Parton, and others outlining his career as Cat Stevens, his conversion and emergence as Yusuf Islam, and his return to music in 2006. There are clips of him singing in the studio when he was recording An Other Cup as well as a few 2006 excerpts of him on guitar singing a few verses of Cat Stevens songs including "The Wind" and "On the Road to Find Out".[62]

In December 2006, Yusuf was one of the artists who performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, in honour of the prize winners, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. He performed the songs "Midday (Avoid City After Dark)", "Peace Train", and "Heaven/Where True Love Goes". He also gave a concert in New York City that month as a Jazz at Lincoln Center event, recorded and broadcast by KCRW-FM radio, along with an interview by Nic Harcourt. Accompanying him, as in the Cat Stevens days, was Alun Davies, on guitar and vocals.

2006–present: as Yusuf[edit]

2006–08: An Other Cup and appearances[edit]

In March 2006, Yusuf finished recording his first all-new pop album since 1978.[105] The album, An Other Cup, was released internationally in November 2006 on his own label, Ya Records (distributed by Polydor Records in the UK, and internationally by Atlantic Records)—the 40th anniversary of his first album, Matthew and Son. An accompanying single, called "Heaven/Where True Love Goes", was also released. The album was produced with Rick Nowels, who has worked with Dido and Rod Stewart. The performer is noted as "Yusuf", with a cover label identifying him as "the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens". The art on the album is credited to Yoriyos. Yusuf wrote all of the songs except "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood",[106] and recorded it in the United States and the United Kingdom.[105]

Yusuf actively promoted this album, appearing on radio, television and in print interviews. In November 2006, he told the BBC, "It's me, so it's going to sound like that of course ... This is the real thing ... When my son brought the guitar back into the house, you know, that was the turning point. It opened a flood of, of new ideas and music which I think a lot of people would connect with."[107] Originally, Yusuf began to return only to his acoustic guitar as he had in the past, but his son encouraged him to "experiment", which resulted in the purchase of a Stevie Ray Vaughan Fender Stratocaster[108] in 2007.

Also in November 2006, Billboard magazine was curious as to why the artist is credited as just his first name, "Yusuf" rather than "Yusuf Islam".[101] His response was "Because 'Islam' doesn't have to be sloganised. The second name is like the official tag, but you call a friend by their first name. It's more intimate, and to me that's the message of this record." As for why the album sleeve says "the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens", he responded, "That's the tag with which most people are familiar; for recognition purposes I'm not averse to that. For a lot of people, it reminds them of something they want to hold on to. That name is part of my history and a lot of the things I dreamt about as Cat Stevens have come true as Yusuf Islam."[101]

Yusuf was asked by the Swiss periodical Das Magazin why the title of the album was An Other Cup, rather than "Another Cup". The answer was that his breakthrough album, Tea for the Tillerman in 1970, was decorated with Yusuf's painting of a peasant sitting down to a cup of steaming drink on the land. Yusuf commented that the two worlds "then, and now, are very different". His new album shows a steaming cup alone on this cover. His answer was that this was actually an other cup; something different; a bridge between the East and West, which Yusuf explained was his own perceived role. He added that, through him, "Westerners might get a glimpse of the East, and Easterners, some understanding of the West. The cup, too, is important; it's a meeting place, a thing meant to be shared."[100]

On CBS Sunday Morning in December 2006, he said, "You know, the cup is there to be filled ... with whatever you want to fill it with. For those people looking for Cat Stevens, they'll probably find him in this record. If you want to find [Yusuf] Islam, go a bit deeper, you'll find him."[11] He has since described the album as being "over-produced" and refers to An Other Cup as being a necessary hurdle he had to overcome before he could release his new album, Roadsinger.[citation needed]

In April 2007, BBC1 broadcast a concert given at the Porchester Hall by Yusuf as part of BBC Sessions, his first live performance in London in 28 years (the previous one being the UNICEF "Year of the Child" concert in 1979). He played several new songs along with some old ones like "Father and Son", "The Wind", "Where Do the Children Play?", "Don't Be Shy", "Wild World", and "Peace Train".[citation needed]

In July 2007, he performed at a concert in Bochum, Germany, in benefit of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Peace Centre in South Africa and the Milagro Foundation of Deborah and Carlos Santana. The audience included Nobel Laureates Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu and other prominent global figures. He later appeared as the final act in the German leg of Live Earth in Hamburg performing some classic Cat Stevens songs and more recent compositions reflecting his concern for peace and child welfare. His set included Stevie Wonder's "Saturn", "Peace Train", "Where Do the Children Play?", "Ruins", and "Wild World". He performed at the Peace One Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 21 September 2007.[109] In 2008 Yusuf contributed the song "Edge of Existence" to the charity album Songs for Survival, in support of the indigenous rights organisation Survival International.

2008–14: Roadsinger and tours[edit]

In January 2009, Yusuf released a single in aid of children in Gaza, a rendition of the George Harrison song, "The Day the World Gets Round", along with the German bassist Klaus Voorman, who had formerly collaborated with The Beatles. To promote the new single, Voormann redesigned his famous Beatles Revolver album cover, drawing a picture of a young Cat Stevens along with himself and Harrison.[110] Proceeds from the single were donated to charities and organisations including UNESCO, UNRWA, and the nonprofit group Save the Children, with the funds earmarked for Gaza children.[111] Israeli Consul David Saranga criticised Yusuf for not dedicating the song to all of the children who are victims of the conflict, including Israeli children.[112]





Yusuf in Sydney in 2012
On 5 May 2009, Yusuf released Roadsinger, a new pop album recorded in 2008. The lead track, "Thinking 'Bout You", received its debut radio play on a BBC programme on 23 March 2009.[113] Unlike An Other Cup, Yusuf promoted the new album with appearances on American television as well as in the U.K. He appeared on The Chris Isaak Hour on the A&E network in April 2009, performing live versions of his new songs, "World O'Darkness", "Boots and Sand", and "Roadsinger". On 13 May he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in Los Angeles, and on 14 May, on The Colbert Report in New York City, performing the title song from the Roadsinger album. On 15 May, he appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, performing "Boots and Sand" and "Father and Son". On 24 May he appeared on the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show, where he was interviewed and performed the title track of Roadsinger. On 15 August, he was one of many guests at Fairport Convention's annual Fairport's Cropredy Convention where he performed five songs accompanied by Alun Davies, with Fairport Convention as his backing band.[citation needed]

A world tour was announced on his web site to promote the new album. He was scheduled to perform at an invitation-only concert at New York City's Highline Ballroom on 3 May[114] and to go on to Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto, as well as some to-be-announced European venues.[12] However, the New York appearance was postponed due to issues regarding his work visa. He appeared in May 2009 at Island Records' 50th Anniversary concert in London.[12] In November and December 2009 Yusuf undertook his "Guess I'll Take My Time Tour" which also showcased his musical play Moonshadow. The tour took him to Dublin, where he had a mixed reception; subsequently he was well received in Birmingham and Liverpool, culminating in an emotional performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In June 2010 he toured Australia for the first time in 36 years,[115] and New Zealand for the first time ever.[116]

On 30 October 2010 Yusuf appeared at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's spoof Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, DC, singing alongside Ozzy Osbourne. Yusuf performed "Peace Train" and Ozzy performed "Crazy Train" at the same time, followed by The O'Jays performance of "Love Train".[117]

On 2 March 2011, Yusuf released his latest song, "My People", as a free download available through his official website, as well as numerous other online outlets.[118] Said to have been recorded at a studio located within a hundred yards of the site of the Berlin Wall, the song is inspired by a series of popular uprisings in the Arab world, known as the Arab Spring.[119]

On 1 April 2011, Yusuf launched a new tour website (yusufinconcert.com) to commemorate his first European tour in over 36 years scheduled from 7 May to 2 June 2011. The ten-date tour visited Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and cities such as Stockholm, Hamburg, Oberhausen, Berlin, Munich, Rotterdam, Paris, Mannheim, Vienna and Brussels.[120]

In May 2012, Moonshadow, a new musical by Yusuf, featuring music from throughout his career, opened at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. The show received mixed reviews and closed four weeks early.[121][122]

In October 2013, Yusuf was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work under the Cat Stevens name (this was his second nomination – the first being an unsuccessful nomination in 2005).[123][124][125][126] He was selected and was inducted by Art Garfunkel in April 2014 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he performed "Father and Son", "Wild World", and "Peace Train".[127][128][129] A record of his travel from Dubai to New York is captured in an episode of the NatGeoTV show Ultimate Airport Dubai S2, episode 6, first aired in China on 17 January 2015. In this episode he causally talks about his difficulty in entering the US and even boarding the airplane.[130]

2014–present: Tell 'Em I'm Gone and tours[edit]

On 15 September 2014, Yusuf announced the forthcoming release on 27 October 2014 of his new studio album, Tell 'Em I'm Gone, and two short tours: a November 2014 (9-date) Europe tour and a December 2014 (6-date) North America tour, the latter being his first one since 1976.[131][132] On 4 December 2014, he played to his first public US audience since the 1970s at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia.[133]

Awards[edit]

Humanitarian awards[edit]
2003: World Award (also known as the "World Social Award"), an award organised by Mikhail Gorbachev, for "humanitarian relief work helping children and victims of war".[134]
2004: Man of Peace Award of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates (an award organisation founded by Mikhail Gorbachev) for his "dedication to promote peace, the reconciliation of people and to condemn terrorism", the ceremony was held in Rome, Italy and attended by five Nobel Peace Prize laureates.[citation needed]
2009: Honorary Award of the German Sustainability Award

Honorary degrees[edit]
2005: Honorary doctorate by the University of Gloucestershire for services to education and humanitarian relief.[135]
2007: Honorary doctorate (LLD) by the University of Exeter, in recognition of "his humanitarian work and improving understanding between Islamic and Western cultures".[136][137]

Music awards and recognitions[edit]
2014: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[127]
2008: Nomination (unsuccessful) for Songwriters Hall of Fame[138]
2007: The Mediterranean Art and Creativity Award by the Fondazione Mediterraneo.[139]
2007: Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA).[9]
2007: ECHO "Special Award for Life Achievements as a Musician and Ambassador Between Cultures"[89]
2006: ASCAP Songwriter of the Year for "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (second time)[140]
2006: Ranked 49th in Paste's "100 Best Living Songwriters"[141]
2005: ASCAP Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year for "The First Cut Is the Deepest"[8]

Selected discography[edit]

Main article: Cat Stevens discography
As Cat Stevens1967: Matthew and Son
1967: New Masters
1970: Mona Bone Jakon
1970: Tea for the Tillerman
1971: Teaser and the Firecat
1972: Catch Bull at Four
1973: Foreigner
1974: Buddha and the Chocolate Box
1975: Numbers
1977: Izitso
1978: Back to Earth
As Yusuf2006: An Other Cup
2009: Roadsinger
2014: Tell 'Em I'm Gone

See also[edit]

Book icon Book: Cat Stevens

List of peace activists
List of best-selling music artists
List of converts to Islam
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Notes and references[edit]

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5.Jump up ^ RIAA – Gold and Platinum Recording Industry Association of America Retrieved 22 January 2011
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7.Jump up ^ Kent, David (1993) (doc). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W
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14.Jump up ^ Simon, Scott; NPR Staff (November 1, 2014). "'It's A Bit Of A Gift': Yusuf Islam On His Break And Return To Music". National Public Radio. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
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37.Jump up ^ 2006 PRS Awards, The American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers; Islam, Yusuf (2006). "Songwriter of the Year". "The First Cut is the Deepest" (2006 PRS Awards EMI Music Publishing). Retrieved 20 December 2008.
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Further reading[edit]
Cat Stevens Complete Illustrated Biography & Discography by George Brown, 2006 (finalist for the award for "Best Research in Recorded Rock Music" from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections)
My Journey From Cat Stevens to Yusuf Islam by Yusuf Islam (Mountain of Light, 2001), an autobiographical account ISBN 1-900675-35-8,
Cat Stevens biography by Chris Charlesworth (Proteus, 1985)
Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam by Albert Eigner (Hannibal Verlag GmbH, 2006), a German language biography
Why I Still Carry a Guitar by Yusuf Islam (Motivate publishing, 2014)
"Cat Stevens Breaks His Silence" Rolling Stone article, 14 June 2000
Q&A with Yusuf Islam, Billboard November 2006
Q&A with Yusuf Islam, The New York Times Magazine January 2007
Roadsinger album demo

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cat Stevens.
Official website
Cat Stevens at the Internet Movie Database
Small Kindness, Yusuf Islam's charity
Mountain of Light, Yusuf Islam's spiritual site



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